Free public domain · 1910

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The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles

The Science of Getting Rich was published in 1910 by Wallace D. Wattles, a largely unknown American writer who spent two decades testing his own ideas on poverty before committing them to paper. He does not promise luck. He claims that getting rich is a science with a cause-and-effect order, and that anyone who follows the order can move from want to abundance.

The book is direct to the point of bluntness. There is a certain way of doing things, Wattles writes, and that way is available to every person regardless of talent, capital or circumstance. His method is built on gratitude, purpose, value creation and the refusal to compete for what already exists. It was the main source behind Napoleon Hills later bestseller, which is why this book keeps getting rediscovered a century later.

About Wallace D. Wattles

Wallace Delois Wattles (1860-1911) was an American writer from Indiana who worked as a farmer, teacher and Methodist minister before turning to the New Thought movement. After years of financial struggle he wrote The Science of Getting Rich in 1910, publishing it himself. He died a year later, believing he had finally solved the problem of poverty.

Why you should read The Science of Getting Rich

This is the original of the genre. Where later books add systems, worksheets and hype, Wattles gives a compact philosophy you can test in one month: hold a clear picture, act with purpose, give more use value than you take in payment, and stay grateful while you build. Read it for the foundation, then decide which modern book you still need.

5 key lessons from the book

• There is a certain way of thinking and acting that reliably produces wealth — it is a cause-effect method, not a personality trait.
• Hold a clear mental image of what you want, and use it as a daily working blueprint rather than an occasional daydream.
• Create value instead of competing: add so much usefulness that people willingly pay for what you provide.
• Act now, in the present place, on what is in front of you — you cannot do tomorrows work today.
• Gratitude keeps the mind focused on what it wants, while complaint fixes it on what it lacks.