I don't like the book "How To Think And Grow Rich".
The way the author writes about himself and how this book has to be read. That one should found bible classes that read and examine this book.

He wants to write a bible. Something that lunatics tend to do (e. g. Nietzsche)

The author jerked himself so hard that I stopped reading even before the content started.
Idk. Maybe there was no content to begin with.

@saxnot I think you didn't miss much. :-)

@artsyhonker have you read it?

@saxnot No; I've skimmed some of Napoleon Hill's 1937 book, "Think and Grow Rich" (no "How to" in the title), and it sounds like the same genre.

@saxnot It's always tempting to believe that wealth or success or good health are entirely within our own control and not also dependent on random factors (basically, luck). Books peddling those beliefs tend to sell very well.

Then when we see someone who is poor or unsuccessful or sick, we can tell ourselves it's really their fault, because they didn't do the right things; not because of external factors beyond their control. >>

@saxnot
And that has two consequences:

1) We don't feel guilty or helpless about our unwillingness or inability to help people who need it

2) We feel we are safe from such misfortune ourselves.

It's a pernicious trap.

@artsyhonker yeah you're absolutely right.

Disclosure: I'm pretty deep into the "I can control it" thinking. I believe that I can modify myself, my beliefs, my habits, my job, … etc. as I wish as long as I reach out, make my own luck, build and publicise it. Don't expect to change my mind. This belief is textified in a small manifest I wrote for myself.

You're right that this thinking might lead to more unfairness and that life most probably is a gamble>>

@artsyhonker I believe a lie of a capitalistic system, you know. But it's not money I sought after.

Of course, money is a tool. A very useful tool.
But I still think that we as society are better off if we increase taxes and try to even out the imbalance between rich and poor. I think the scandinavian countries are much better at this than we are (@thor?).

Ancient USA had a 99 % tax if you made more than a million.

@thor (direct message) i will try to take care, not to mention you in the following discussion.

You were added without your consent. If this discussion interest you, just pop in and we'll include you into future messages.

@saxnot It's not all down to luck, nor is it all down to aptitude. We've all heard stories of lottery winners who foolishly squander their winnings. That's what you call a wasted opportunity. We've also heard stories of people who do all the right things and still lose all their money. That's what you call bad luck. What you don't hear about are all the people who stay low and make boring but profitable choices.

@saxnot Life is part a game of chance, part a game of skill. There are moves you can make to increase your chance of winning, or at least decrease your chance of losing everything.

The biggest obstacle to social mobility is that we leave the teaching of wise life choices and networking to parents, because it's not in the interest of the powerful to teach the general populace anything about social mobility.