8/03/2007

The Science of Getting Rich - Audio Version


Did this genial-looking fellow write the most valuable self-improvement book of the twentieth century?

I think there is a case to be made that he did.

For those of you who don't know him, let me introduce you to Wallace D. Wattles, and the book I refer to is The Science of Getting Rich, which he published in 1910.

The gist of the book is this:
"THERE is a Science of getting rich, and it is an exact science, like algebra or arithmetic. There are certain laws which govern the process of acquiring riches; once these laws are learned and obeyed by any man, he will get rich with mathematical certainty.

The ownership of money and property comes as a result of doing things in a certain way; those who do things in this Certain Way, whether on purpose or accidentally, get rich; while those who do not do things in this Certain Way, no matter how hard they work or how able they are, remain poor.

It is a natural law that like causes always produce like effects; and, therefore, any man or woman who learns to do things in this certain way will infallibly get rich."

And in roughly 60 pages he lays out the Certain Way, which begins with the concept of the Law of Attraction (though that term wouldn't be coined for some time), and describes a full program for getting rich. It's clearly written, and applicable by anyone, anywhere. It's complete, and unadorned with unnecessary extras. It eliminates any excuses for not following the program, but doesn't sugar coat the discipline required to succeed. Here is the entire program in a nutshell (also known as Chapter 17):
"THERE is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces 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.

In order to do this, man must pass from the competitive to the creative mind; otherwise he cannot be in harmony with the Formless Intelligence, which is always creative and never competitive in spirit.

Man may come into full harmony with the Formless Substance by entertaining a lively and sincere gratitude for the blessings it bestows upon him. Gratitude unifies the mind of man with the intelligence of Substance, so that man's thoughts are received by the Formless. Man can remain upon the creative plane only by uniting himself with the Formless Intelligence through a deep and continuous feeling of gratitude.

Man must form a clear and definite mental image of the things he wishes to have, to do, or to become; and he must hold this mental image in his thoughts, while being deeply grateful to the Supreme that all his desires are granted to him. The man who wishes to get rich must spend his leisure hours in contemplating his Vision, and in earnest thanksgiving that the reality is being given to him. Too much stress cannot be laid on the importance of frequent contemplation of the mental image, coupled with unwavering faith and devout gratitude. This is the process by which the impression is given to the Formless, and the creative forces set in motion.

The creative energy works through the established channels of natural growth, and of the industrial and social order. All that is included in his mental image will surely be brought to the man who follows the instructions given above, and whose faith does not waver. What he wants will come to him through the ways of established trade and commerce.

In order to receive his own when it shall come to him, man must be active; and this activity can only consist in more than filling his present place. He must keep in mind the Purpose to get rich through the realization of his mental image. And he must do, every day, all that can be done that day, taking care to do each act in a successful manner. He must give to every man a use value in excess of the cash value he receives, so that each transaction makes for more life; and he must so hold the Advancing Thought that the impression of increase will be communicated to all with whom he comes in contact.

The men and women who practice the foregoing instructions will certainly get rich; and the riches they receive will be in exact proportion to the definiteness of their vision, the fixity of their purpose, the steadiness of their faith, and the depth of their gratitude."


There are several online texts of the book (such as the linked one from Rick Cockrum at Shards of Consciousness), since the copyright has now expired in the United States and the book is in the public domain. I like to use my commuting time to listen to audiobooks, but didn't find a corresponding free audio version. So I created one. Now anyone with an internet connection and a set of speakers (or an MP3 player) can listen to the book. Have a listen, and I hope you enjoy and learn from this great book!

Table of Contents


Preface

Chapter 1: The Right to Be Rich

Chapter 2: There Is a Science of Getting Rich

Chapter 3: Is Opportunity Monopolized?

Chapter 4: The First Principle in the Science of Getting Rich

Chapter 5: Increasing Life

Chapter 6: How Riches Come to You

Chapter 7: Gratitude

Chapter 8: Thinking in the Certain Way

Chapter 9: How to Use the Will

Chapter 10: Further Uses of the Will

Chapter 11: Acting in the Certain Way

Chapter 12: Efficient Action

Chapter 13: Getting Into the Right Business

Chapter 14: The Impression of Increase

Chapter 15: The Advancing Man

Chapter 16: Some Cautions, and Concluding Observations

Chapter 17: Summary of the Science of Getting Rich

Note: Any comments or suggestions are always appreciated!



posted by Mike at 12:57 PM


45 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Mike,

Thank you for letting me know about the link. I've got it listed on my reading page.

You sound great!

10:43 PM  
Blogger sjs said...

'Science' is an interesting term to apply to getting rich, as it seems he views wealth accumulation with immutable hard and fast rules. But this science changes when social conditions change. It has a lot to do with the rules.

For example, if there were no tax breaks for home ownership, imagine how that would alter wealth distribution among real estate tycoons.

Or a silly example, if a basketball hoop was raised to 12 feet or if people ran clockwise around the bases in baseball instead of counter-clockwise, a whole new set of sports stars might emerge.

All this to say that the rules have a lot to say about peoples success in carrying out the general directives in Wally's text.

3:51 AM  
Blogger Mike said...

Rick,

Thanks for the kinds words, and I hope many people will find this because of your work.

8:41 AM  
Blogger Mike said...

Sjs,

Your points are well taken, and that sort of thing happens at regular intervals.

I think Wattles' point is that if you daily offer everyone you deal with more in use value than you receive in cash value and deal with the right attitude, that along will generally make you successful. Using the power of intention only multiplies that effect.

Mike

P.S. I think he uses the term science because his program contains the necessary and sufficient ingredients for success, and that, combined with "like causes always produce like effects", makes the program a science in the social science sense.

8:49 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Outstanding work, Mike. Thanks for creating this! SOGR is one of my favorite books, and I've read and listened to a lot of versions... yours is now my favorite audio version. :)

I'm off to add it to my personal development audio page now.

3:51 AM  
Blogger Mike said...

Lyman,

I am humbled by and grateful for your kind words.

By the way, I recently came across your blog through Aaron Potts, and have subscribed to your feed. The audio and video recommendations from Sunday should keep me busy for some time!

Mike

7:18 AM  
Blogger Mike said...

Anon,

You're very welcome; thanks for listening! And don't forget to tell your friends.

Mike

1:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks Mike for this great effort! I will share this powerful resources with others.

2:34 AM  
Blogger Mike said...

Jacklyn,

Thank you and please do share it!

Mike

8:16 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow; this is great to see. Many thanks for making this:)

2:57 PM  
Blogger Mike said...

mysterg,

Thanks, and look for "The Science of Being Well" in audio form, coming soon!

Mike

3:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Mike, I downloaded the "Science of Getting Rich" audio and felt compelled to go to your blog and thank you for taking the time to record this.

Best Regards,

Edo

6:55 PM  
Blogger Mike said...

Edo,

I am very glad you liked it. Thank you!

Mike

6:49 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello Mike,

thanks for this nice Audio-Book.

I enjoyed it very much. I have created a torrent and made it available to the torrent comunity.

I also enhanced the Quality by removing the Background Noise. I used Audacity.Exe 1.3 Beta for this.

Here you can find the torrent: http://www.mininova.org/tor/1308440

With best regards from Germany.

Freddy

7:24 AM  
Blogger Mike said...

Freddy,

Thanks for creating the torrent. I'll have to check out the cleaned up version. How do you like Audacity 1.3?

Mike

7:52 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Mike,

Audacity is a nice tool with 2 disadvantages:

1. It creates Gigabytes of data in the Temp-Folder while working in the Batchmode. I had to create a VB-Script to delete old data, since I use the Batch-Mode to Speed up Audio-Books like Yours. Else, my Hard-disk would run out of free space.

I have more than 100 Audio-Books and play them with 140% or 160% Speed in English or with 160% in German. So, I can listen to more Audiobooks in the same time.

2. The MP3-Encoder is not very good. Therefore I create Flac-Files with Audacity and convert the Flac-Files to 48 kBps mono MP3 using NCH Switch, which is a very good tool to create high Quality MP3s. Since I listen to AudioBooks while I am in the Car, flying, on a train, a Beach or a bicycle, I do not need the best Quality. There is always a loud environment.

The Version 1.3 is a Beta Version. I hope, the next release will be stable. Since I am a Software Engineer and an Electrical Engineer with Experience in Signal processing, I am considering to help to program the next version. But currently I have too much work to do and no time at all for any hobbys.

Best regards,

Freddy

1:19 PM  
Blogger Mike said...

Freddy,

Thanks for the information. Audacity DOES chew up disk space, but I like it.

Mike

1:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you.
It has saved me!!!!

9:52 PM  
Blogger Mike said...

Anonymous,

Your note brings me great joy and gratitude!

Mike

7:41 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You are an angel for posting this. Blessings and many many thanks to you. What a selfless generous and kind thing to do.My best thoughts to you XX

1:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is a master piece. However, the secret to really benefiting from the principles is to internalize them. To internalize them you need to listen and/or read the book repeatedly. By repeatedly, I mean 4-7 days a week, for at least the initial 90 days. Then as often as possible from there.

8:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Mike
Your audio is as listenable as Mr Wattles' book is readable. Lovely work - much thanks.

12:45 PM  
Anonymous Jamal said...

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.

9:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Mike
This is a wonderful piece of work. Thank you very, very much. Most grateful. Bless you.
Margaret

3:00 AM  
Blogger judyofthewoods said...

Thank you for your generous gift. I look forward to listening to the book on my MP3 player whilst pottering in the garden.

6:50 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Mike,

God Bless you for giving us this wonderful gift. Like many jewels in life it was not hard to find when I put my mind to it.
Many Thanks. Your Great

Simon (in Kenya)

12:08 AM  
Blogger Wams said...

Awesome is all i can say. I have just finished listening to the book and it has transformed my thinking. I hope to apply the principles there in and become RICH!

Thanks for this insight

5:13 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

i stumbled upon your blog when i searched for the science of getting rich audio.

thank you for your kindness

10:24 AM  
Anonymous Elinor Palm said...

Thank you very much!´
Right now I´m reading the book and will go on til the last page.
But then I´ll listen!
It´s a good way to have input to more than 1 sence, especially if the language isn´t your home language.
Have a wonderful day!
Elinor Palm

12:54 AM  
Anonymous Greg said...

Hi Mike,

Thank you for creating this audio-book version I am deeply grateful for it as I am building my collection of audiobooks, and at the same time, by finding the principle of gratitude, it changed my life tonight, as it led me to a search on gratitude online.

Just hearing chapter 7 on gratitude blew my mind. Will listen to the rest now,

Thanks

Greg

3:26 PM  
Blogger Mike said...

Greg,

Live it, and pass it along!

Mike

4:36 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

10^01-28 `wed
Mie trying to get in touch w/you regarding your audio recordings ; can't seem to find an email for you.
If you leave me an email at
contact08@webbstream.com
I can explain further. Think I have a very good idea to get wider distribution.
http://dionsmith.net
--DS

5:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

10^01-28 `wed
Sorry for the typo, I'll try it again, and somehow the blog system made an "oh" out of the "zero" in the reply email address.
Mike-- Trying to get in touch w/you regarding your audio recordings ; can't seem to find an email for you.
If you leave me an email at
contact08@webbstream.com
(contact"zero"8@webbstream.com
I can explain further. Think I have a very good idea to get wider distribution.
http://dionsmith.net
--DS

5:30 PM  
Anonymous susan said...

what a wonderful job you did on the audio! I found a couple other audio samples online but yours was by far the best! enjoying it very much - many thanks!!

4:29 AM  
Anonymous Sue said...

Thanks so much. Really appreciate you putting the effort in to creating this and then your generosity in sharing.

May you continue to more than fill your place :-)

Thank you!

7:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Mike,

Thank you so much for sharing your recorded audio versions of The Science of Getting Rich & The Science of Being Well. We are grateful to have people like you in the World. Abundant blessing to you & your family.

Sincerely,
Marivic

3:39 AM  
Blogger snehal said...

Thanks Mike I am grateful to you

1:44 PM  
Blogger alvaro said...

THANK YOU SOO MUCH! thank you for posting this i've heard a great deal about this book.. ima apply it here in Venezuela i have fait it'll work out if i fallow

8:42 PM  
Blogger Jetsetter said...

Hi Mike.

I hope this comment finds you well.

Thank you so much for reading and record into the audiobook. You are so kind. I have been listening to the records many times. The first time I read this book, it took me days to finish as I am Thai and English is my second language. Since I found the audiobook, it helps me a lot to review the book. I usually open your records and read the book at the same time and that I am able to finish the book within a day, even better within two hours. I also like that I can listen to the records before bed only just put the headphone on.

When was listening to the audiobook today I felt like I have to thank this guy who read the book. I feel happy that I found your blog so that I can thank you.

Keng

6:39 PM  
Blogger gaiawriter said...

I am so grateful to you for recording this version. Your voice often sounds like Mr Wattles speaking, and you present the certain way with great mastery and precision. Thank you and God bless.

8:35 AM  
Blogger חיים אחרים said...

thank you a lot!!!
and also,you have the perfect voice for that.
thank's agein.

2:01 PM  
Blogger Theresa Taylor Bayer said...

Thanks so much for doing this! I have the book but it's great to be able to listen to it. And I mean great in a Wallace D. Wattles kind of way. Thanks again.

6:55 AM  
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