Outwitting the Devil: The Secret to Freedom and Success

Outwitting the Devil, by Napoleon Hill, does not read like a classic novel about good and evil, pain and pleasure, or success and failure. There is no archetypical hero to root for, nor villain to hate. Those needing a happy ending, where the good guy wearing the white hat rides to the rescue (the adult version of the fairy tale) may find this book disappointing. This is more of a "choose your own adventure" book. Therefore, the reader should be prepared to pony up a bit, in the intellectual honesty department.The more serious reader is uniquely drawn into considering the possibility we've been intelligently designed and created to be the masters of our own fate and, as such, the reader is also challenged to consider the inherent responsibilities and thought processes such a paradigm entails. Napoleon Hill conveys his ideas through an imagined and most enticing Q&A session he has with the Devil himself. The quality of the questions Hill deftly asks of the Devil leaves little maneuvering room for the Devil to avoid giving truthful answers. This powerful and dynamic Q&A exercise more than suggests that thoughtful and strategic questioning can be more important and relevant than the perceived "source" of the information. In this case the "source" of the information is the Devil which may scare away those readers who are apprehensive and fearful of truly "knowing their enemy." Hill suggests, much like the cartoon character Pogo aptly stated, "We have met the enemy, and the enemy is us" or more apropos to Hill's observations; we have met the Devil, and the Devil is us.The concept that makes this book a hard read for the faint of heart and those desiring 'someone' to rescue them from their failing paradigms, rather than taking personal responsibility, is that the power of the Devil can only manifest itself in our lives if we lend the Devil our energies. Outwitting the Devil suggests that we lend the Devil our energies, by default, when we are careless with our thoughts, words, and actions. In so doing, we "drift" along through life with the rest of the herd (society at large). Hill poignantly portrays, in his Q&A with the Devil, the various thought traps that can cause us to "drift" over to the dark side.The idea of lending our energies to the dark side through careless thoughts, words, and actions correlates quite nicely with biblical scripture in Proverbs that tells us, "For as he (man) thinketh in his heart, so is he..."Outwitting the Devil advises the reader that we must consciously choose associates with complimentary values to our own otherwise it will be more difficult, if not impossible, to maintain the "definiteness of purpose" critical to achieving happiness and success. If we allow ourselves to get sucked into the negative vortex of the "drifters," we risk becoming "drifters" ourselves. Takeaway: If you want to help a "drifter," don't become one.Books, such as this one, written in a period of history (the Great Depression) that seems to rhyme with our current economic condition have many benefits. History often points out to us that successful men such as Napoleon Hill and the icons of his generation are not always successful all of the time or in every aspect of their lives. Knowing the principles of successful living and having the courage to comprehensively apply them may seem to be more aptly suited to our childhood comic book super-heroes and somewhat out of our reach. This book illustrates, however, that we all have the capacity to achieve our dreams and we are our own unsung heroes every time we find the courage to overcome our own personal fears. By releasing ourselves from our chronic fears and the underlying negative thoughts that sponsor them, we offer hope and inspiration to others to do the same. So, if we need to find either a hero or a villain to give our own life story a happy ending, we need to look no further than the nearest mirror and look at the reflection in it. That's where the buck truly stops.Outwitting the Devil offers the reader the awareness and tools needed to better manage their thoughts, words, actions, and outcomes. It's a great book and well worth the price of admission.----Steven Wallace, co-author of The END TIMES Hoax and the Hijacking of Our Liberty

Amazing book full of powerful information. You can’t afford not to buy this book!!

This is one of the best books I've ever read. (If you're wondering the author is not actually having a conversation with the devil.) The "devil" is our own negative interpretations of life.Napoleon Hill's work is pure genius. Life changing if you interpret correctly.

Buy it

Whether real or not in its contents it is a facinating look at evil forces and what they look like. We can get tthe idea that evil is big and out there, easily spotted. This book just like The Screwtape Letters by C.S.Lewis show how simple evil can look and how unnasuming or even 'nice' it can look. If nothing else its a good thought exercise.In reference to my title - Hill didn't publish the book at his wifes request. She thought it would bring too much hate towards them as the book points to some major institutions who are meant to be giuding us towards what is good but who are actually subtly subverting the people. Fascinating book

First off, let me say that I would love to give this book 5 stars, but I can't because of Sharon Lechter's constant interruptions throughout the book. The book was written by Napoleon Hill, but she felt the need to add her two cents by interjecting her commentary all throughout the book, making it distracting to read; you, if you're like me, will end up skipping all her commentary, which adds no value to the book whatsoever. In some cases, she simply repeats the last line or quotes the last line and adds, "So says the Devil." Fortunately, each of her commentary blurbs are sectioned off and bold, so they are easy to skip over. I believe she was instrumental in getting this book into print, for which I am grateful, but she should have ended her contribution there - well, that and the foreword.Okay, concerning the original content by Hill: it's fantastic, enlightening, and inspirational. Reading this book and applying the tenets are what real repentance (the Greek work translated as such in the New Testament means "Changing ones mind") is all about. Shedding the old "skin" of programmed thought patterns is crucial for transformation, and this book is not one that states the negative aspects of humankind that lead us to failure and self-induced suffering and stops there; on the contrary, it states the cause of our undesirable issues and gives solutions for bringing about transformation, and all of this in a uniquely contrived dialogue with the Devil by the author. It made me think of Conversations With God, but I got far more out of Outwitting the Devil than that one - the former being mostly a theoretical mishmash of concepts from many of the world's religion, the latter presenting practical means by which one may rise from the self-made prisons of limitation and negativity and tap into that inner Source of being to bring about radical transformation within and without.If one is willing to spend the time and energy applying the thought processes laid out in the text, he or she can move into a new state of being, that in which the truly successful people (and not just financially successful) live and operate. This book is a treasure, and I'm grateful it materialized after being shelved so many years, and I'm thankful it was not buried with Hill.