Book Review -The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale

This book is written by Norman Vincent Peale. Peale was born in Bowersville, Ohio and graduated from Bellefontaine, Ohio. He earned degree at Ohio Wesleyan University and Boston University School of Theology.

This book is written to suggest techniques and to example which demonstrate that you do not need to be defeated by anything, that you can have peace of mind, improved health and a never –ceasing flow of energy. In short your life can be full of joy and satisfaction. It is written with deep concern for the pain, difficulty and struggle of human existence. It makes us understand that the cultivation of peace of mind is not an escape from life into protected quiescence, but as a power come out of which comes driving energy for constructive personal and social living. It teaches positive thinking, not as a mean to fame, richness of power, but at the practical application of faith to overcome defeat and accomplish worthwhile creative value in life but one which offers great joy to the person who achieves victory over himself and the difficult circumstances of the world.

Peale’s work came under criticism from several mental health experts, one of whom directly said Peale was a con man and fraud. These critics appeared in the early 1950s after the publication of THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING.

But if you read this book thoughtfully and carefully absorbing its teachings over and above if you sincerely, persistently practice the principles and formulas set forth herein, you can experience an amazing improvement within yourself. By using these techniques you can modify or change the circumstances in which you now live, your relations with other people will improve. You will become a more popular, esteemed and well-liked individual. You will become a person of greater usefulness and will wield and expanded influence.

One of the major criticisms of THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING is that the book is full of anecdotes that are hard to substantiate. Almost all of the experts and many of the testimonials that Peale quotes as supporting his philosophy are unnamed and undefined. Peale’s philosophy is based on exaggerating that fears of his readers and followers and that this exaggerated fear inevitably leads to aggression and the destruction of those consider “negative.”

I Like Qollowing Quotations

.When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade.

Never talk about defeat. Use words like hope, belief, faith and victory.