Besides, I only tried blowing through a few police blockades to get pictures of Elizabeth on the war path (with the kids in the car.) Conquered, we found ourselves rolling around the bounce house in front of Chili's unswervingly waiting for her to cross the finish line 6th overall in her bracket of the Chilis/St. Judes Rockwall 5K Classic!
On with the book review - The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles.
I must apologize ahead of time to all the Wattles fans out there ... but this has gone into my Colossal Waste Of Time bucket.
Rest assured, I do think Wallace was not recognized for his fine writing and extremely educated approach to thought and human process in the early 20th century. It makes sense that the extremely wealthy businessmen of today's culture site this as one of their most meaningful pieces of literary instruction.
Additionally, I will concede that there are plenty of people that consider my (re)views to be idiotic at best. That's not including the ones who express these feelings to me on a weekly basis. I am routinely out-thunk, out-degreed, and out-experienced on many levels.
But that's never stopped me before. And as I read, Wallace became more of man jaded by his own poverty stricken life than the self-proclaimed pioneer of New Thought.If I may quote one of my partners in idiocy, "... if it is self-promoting and not glorifying God, it makes me skeptical. I thought they told you to stay off of Joel O's website." Yes ... they did tell me to stay away from Squinty.
As promised, I will give you a snapshot of my notes. You will find that I ascertained nothing, found a few admirable quotes, and captured a noteworthy concept here and there. Overall - I give this read a 2 out of 10. Up from a 1 merely based on the fact that this writing is nearly a century old.
Chapter 1
- Agreed with nothing until the summary ... "for you can render to God and humanity no greater service than to make the most of yourself."
- Still speaking of getting rich but not by un-Godly promises.
- Eliminating the excuses of environment, sex, opportunity, geographic location, poor, drowning in debt, etc for being poor - known fact based on ignorance.
- Driving home the point of a "certain way" to get rich.
- He's simply stating that it is ignorant for us to ignore the certain ways one becomes successful in their chosen business.
- There are possibilities for anyone to take advantage of an opportunity they would like to pursue and become successful - known fact.
- Quote: "There is abundance of opportunity for the man who will go with the tide, instead of trying to swim against it."
- States the US alone has enough materials and resources to house, clothe and feed the World lavishly - true today as it was in 1910.
- God will provide even when we seemingly exhaust our resources - he will not let us go without ANY good things - well, no crap.
- "... everything which can possibly minister to life is bountifully provided; there can be no lack unless God is to contradict himself and nullify his own works." - is he stating that he is privy to how God reacts? This is a dangerous quote.
- Man is a thinking center and can originate thought. The problem lies in the fact we rarely want to work with the Father - we'd rather take matters into our own hands. Agreed.
- We must accept that there is only one Lord - one source of all that it is Good. He should have gone further here.
- Starting to lose me on the first of three principals simply by claiming that anyone that reads and follows this book will get rich ... not liking this (p15)
- To think truth regardless of appearance is laborious - yes - but he defines truth as thinking what you want to think ... not liking this either!
- The bastard then sums up his 3 principals like a preacher would - I'm conflicted.
** IMPORTANT NOTE: He appears Christian but there are heavy tones of mid-eastern thought and dabbling in other religions.Chapter 5
- Basic business ethics and the laws of nature can be found here.
- I would agree that many rich bastards need to here this stuff - but it's common sense to me - if I were to become monetarily rich, I would hope it would be by following these principals - but it wouldn't help me let go of it all - that should be in here somewhere.
- He, himself, writes that the very riches produced by the original American multi-millionaires are the very riches that disposed of them! - and forever for anyone that competes to get rich!
- There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the inter spaces of the universe.
- A thought, in this substance, produces the thing that is imaged by the thought.
- Man can form things in his thought, and, by impressing his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.
- Give every man more on use value than you take from him in cash value - I sure hope so.
- Praises Jesus a little here.
- Gets on a God trip - but loses me again with claims that my desire to be rich (monetarily) is the Infinite's desire to express Himself in me ... claiming the converse to be a track into poverty I believe is as ignorant as Wattle's claiming to not act a Certain Way is to say you won't be rich.
- Law of Gratitude?
- God has worked a long time to get us where we are and to provide the opportunities available - we should be in communion with him over this. Agreed.
By chapter 8 I have grown weary. I've gone back to try to finish this a half dozen times. But I have not been able to stomach topics such as Thinking in a Certain Way, How to Use the Will, Further Use of the Will, Acting in a Certain Way, Efficient Action, Getting into the Right Business, the Impression of Increase, The Advancing Man, etc.
Despite Wattles continued use of God's Word, the teachings of Jesus, and reliance on Faith, my attention could not be held through the overall objective or his mottled theology mixed within. I simply conclude that the idea of religion, biology, physics, psychology, and engineering working together to make one rich is clever, but all I found is the production of one COLOSSAL WASTE OF TIME (just like Blades of Glory)!!!The end. Hate mail is welcome.
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2 comments:
Props for being the first friend of mine to actually read this book that I recommended. Yes, the book is a bit rough around the edges and definitely touches too lightly on subjects such as Glorifying God for the success in life, "getting rich". But the ultimate underlining that I got from the book is similar to what I hear my ol' favorite Zig Ziglar talk about. YOU have to work, and work WELL,... at all aspects of your life. Ol' Wattles was just voicing his opinion about what could make people work better...by envisioning the end result, "getting rich"... if we are rich, then we can give more away, help more people, and just plum do more...
Thanks for reading the book. I challenge anyone to read the book and come up with your own review. Be prepared to write down notes about every 2 sentences, it is not a free flowing reading experience.
But ... I put it in the "Colossal Waste of Time Bucket" ...
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