Looking for children’s books at my local library, I stumbled upon “Outwitting the Devil“. The book was written in the late 1930′s by the late Napoleon Hill, considered by many as the father of the “self-help” book genre, due in grand part to the success of “Think and Grow Rich”, one of the biggest best sellers of all time, written after 25 years of research into the underpinnings of human success and failure. In his own way, Mr. Hill also pioneered the “law of attraction” idea made so popular by “The Secret” the past decade. Although not scandalous in the eyes of today’s reader, Outwitting the Devil was never published during Mr. Hill’s life or his wife’s, as both believed its content would cause them trouble with the establishment of that time. In it, Mr. Hill narrates with detail an interview he had with the devil and the many questions he got to ask him for the benefit of those who read the book. Although I doubt Mr. Hill believed the premise of his own book, the interview style was quite compelling and educational. The devil talks about humans’ habit of “drifting” and how he takes advantage of this to rob us of our minds and will power, among other things. Not to spoil your reading experience, I’ll leave it at that. It is befitting that I paid nothing for the wisdom found in this book and that I got to read it right before my 35th birthday. I very much considered it a gift from the universe. Outwitting the devil talks about the limitations of fear and lack of definiteness of purpose that hinder human success, two things to which I can relate. I think I will go ahead and buy this book so I can re-read it. In simple and no uncertain terms Mr. Hill delivers some of the most profound insights I’ve come across since “A New Earth”.
I’ll see if I can find it. Have you ever read the “Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis? (letters from old scratch to his underlings) Also very enlightening about how the enemy uses our weaknesses against us.
I haven’t Nadall. I’ll check them out.