‘Think and Grow Rich’ Is a Lie. (But The Advice Still Works)

**Sam Parr** (0:00)
Think and Grow Rich, amazing book, one of the best-selling books of all time, but the whole backstory, completely fake, and he's a total con man. What?

**Shaan Puri** (0:09)
What do you mean none of it's true?

**Sam Parr** (0:20)
I have to tell you this story. So, I'm rereading a bunch of old books because I like reading old books, and I started reading Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Have you read that one?

**Shaan Puri** (0:31)
I love that book, Sam.

**Sam Parr** (0:33)
Rule number one. Rule number one. A person's name is the most beautiful.

**Shaan Puri** (0:37)
Their favorite word in the English language.

**Sam Parr** (0:38)
The Golden Rule.
I love that book. The reason I like these old books is because some of them, the rules have stood the test of time and the writing is always like, the older writing for some reason, it's like cute. There's something about it.

**Shaan Puri** (0:50)
Can I tell you something stupid I did? I took the book and you know how people wear like, you're a denim guy, you know this, distressed jeans?

**Sam Parr** (0:57)
Oh yeah, I distressed the book.

**Shaan Puri** (0:58)
I roughed it up a little bit. I made it look like this is an heirloom that's been passed down from Napoleon himself.

**Sam Parr** (1:03)
Did you like doggy or certain pages even though you didn't even read the thing?

**Shaan Puri** (1:07)
Tattered, tattered and folded.

**Sam Parr** (1:09)
Folded it like a baseball hat?

**Shaan Puri** (1:09)
I'm still on the first 30 pages, but like, I made this book look like it has already won friends and influenced people. Okay, go on.

**Sam Parr** (1:16)
You just put it in the back of your pocket and just walk around with it?

**Shaan Puri** (1:19)
Wait, for people who don't know the book, people have heard of the book, but if it's been one of those things like, you know, like The Wire, it's like, I heard it's a great show, but it's kind of old now and I just, I guess I'm out on that. Like, if you know of the book, but you haven't actually cracked into it, could you tell the quick story of it?

**Sam Parr** (1:33)
Dale Carnegie, he originally was a public speaker and he taught public speaking classes. Then he created a book called How to Win Friends and Influence People. And I think it's like 15 or 20 rules on how to basically make friends and make people like you. So it could be saying their name, it could be asking them questions. So they do most of the talking. It's never arguing with someone because no one wins an argument when you guys fight. And there's like how many 15 or 20 rules. And it's just like an old timer book. It was released in the 1930s, so it's almost 100 years old and it's probably sold 50 to 100 million copies. And to this day, there's the Dale Carnegie Institute, which is a public speaking classes. And a lot of amazing people, including Warren Buffett have said that that book influenced them and helped them. And in fact, Warren Buffett, he was an instructor at the Dale Carnegie Institute, I believe. Love it.

**Shaan Puri** (2:18)
Okay, great. And you were going to say, so you've been reading, re-reading this book.

**Sam Parr** (2:21)
Re-reading that one. I'm reading. I just got The Power of Positive Thinking. That's another one from the 1930s. I just love these old books. And like I told you, I'm in the motivational phase of my life right now. I'm back at it. I just want to be influenced to be motivated and happy and all that stuff. It's a girl-dad thing. You know what I'm saying? Like once you have a girl, you're just emotional. And so I'm into this stuff. But there's one book that I started reading last night, and I was curious about it, the author, because it just got me interested. But it's called Think and Grow Rich. Have you read Think and Grow Rich?

**Shaan Puri** (2:57)
A classic. I've again read the first 30 pages. Loved it.

**Sam Parr** (3:00)
So you've read 30 pages, you get it. So let me tell you the story about Think and Grow Rich. Think and Grow Rich, one of the earliest self-help books. I think it predates How to Win Friends and Influence People. It sold around 100 million copies, making it one of the best-selling non-fiction books of all time. And to this day, it still regularly lands on the New York Times best-sellers list. I mean, it's a huge thing. And so basically, the story is that there's this guy named Napoleon Hill.