The Science of Getting Rich

Wattles's 1910 New Thought manual argues that wealth flows from aligning mental images of desire with a universal 'thinking substance' through faith, gratitude, and action taken in a 'Certain Way.' Its historical influence is undeniable — it directly inspired Rhonda Byrne's The Secret and much of the subsequent Law of Attraction industry — and the emphasis on gratitude and abundance mindset has genuine psychological appeal regardless of the metaphysical framework. The cautions are significant: the claims are pseudoscientific, there is no practical financial advice here, systemic economic realities go entirely unacknowledged, and the New Thought theology (a universal thinking substance, not a personal God) is meaningfully different from orthodox Christian or Jewish teaching. Faith-conservative readers should approach with that theological distinction clearly in view. Worth knowing as a foundational text; worth reading critically rather than prescriptively.