The Top 5 Must-Read Books on the Law of Attraction
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With so much conflicting research out there, it can be daunting to even know where to start. You’ve stumbled upon the law of attraction on YouTube, or watched The Secret on Netflix, or heard someone in your life mention manifestation, but all the intrigue in the world couldn’t prepare you for the flood of information and misinformation coming at you in all directions. Luckily, we have a fantastic tangible resource at our disposal: books. The following is a list of the top books that law of attraction or manifestation newbies should read to get a proper understanding without all the fuss.
1: The Neville Goddard Collection
In fact, if you wanted to, you could just read this one. This is the exact book I started with, a collection of eleven books by Neville Goddard: “At Your Command,” “Your Faith is Your Fortune,” “Freedom for All,” “Prayer: The Art of Believing,” “Out of this World,” “Feeling is the Secret,” “The Power of Awareness,” “Awakened Imagination & The Search,” “Seedtime and Harvest,” and “The Law and The Promise.” In addition, this collection also includes transcriptions of Neville’s 1948 class lectures and radio talks. It’s packed full of content and is the perfect companion for all conscious creators both new and experienced.
Neville’s approach heavily references biblical stories, messages, and parables. He is well-known in the manifesting community for his interpretation of the Bible filtered through the lens of the teachings of his master Abdulla. Much of modern law of attraction is based on the lessons and metaphors in Neville’s teachings.
Neville’s work in the United States are now a part of the public domain – meaning, you can find most of his work digitally for cheap or even free. However, a physical copy is wonderful to have on hand to bring with you, highlight impactful passages, take notes from, and reread the moment the urge strikes you.
2: The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy
The work of Joseph Murphy is often seen as the other side of the Neville Goddard coin. They shared the same teacher, but while Neville Goddard explains the law from a mystic route focused on spiritual enlightenment, Joseph Murphy’s work leans towards the practical side of manifesting.
If you were to select only a single book from Murphy, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind is his most well-known and praised work.
3. The Miracle Power of Your Mind by Joseph Murphy
“The Miracle Power of Your Mind” is a collection of Joseph Murphy’s best work, further exploring the teachings detailed in The Power of Your Subconscious Mind. Note that this collection does includ POYSM, so like the Neville Goddard Collection is it a wonderful place to start.
4. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Napoleon Hill is another old teacher (the original release of “Think and Grow Rich” was released in 1937!). Unlike Joseph Murphy and Neville Goddard, however, Napoleon Hill came to learn of the law through his teacher, wealthy industrialist Andrew Carnegie. Much of “Think and Grow Rich” is written from an assumption of the desire of wealth and financial success; however, the lessons in this book can easily be applied to any area of life.
A disclaimer in my recommendation: due largely to the time period in which it was written, some anecdotes will need to be taken with a grain of salt, as some of them reflect the racism, ableism, and other social constructs of the time. (It is far from abhorrently intolerant, far from it, but some stories and phrasing may rub people the wrong way.) Napoleon Hill also covers sexual abstinence as a method of manifestation, which I cannot embrace nor endorse as a valid manifestation technique (unless, of course, you believe it to be so.)
Outdating even Neville’s work, “Think and Grow Rich” is available in the public domain as well, and it is certainly worth a read as a piece of work that details how the law was known not only to mystics and spiritualists, but also to practical and wealthy philanthropists like Andrew Carnegie.
5. The Collected Works of Florence Scovel Shinn
If you couldn’t tell by now, I hugely value the work of the early “new thought” teachers. Florence Scovel Shinn began releasing works on the law of attraction in 1925; you could say she is the grandmother of the laws we know today. She was an artist and illustrator by profession, but over her lifetime released several books detailing how our thoughts and especially our words create our physical experience. The works of Florence Scovel Shinn are tightly focused on the words we speak, and the manner in which we transform words into reality. Her work is likely where originally began the concept of “vibration” as it relates to the law of attraction.
So, now you have a starting reading list, all available for free online as well as physically on amazon. These five books are a fantastic place to begin for new conscious creators, as together they founded the rock on which modern law of attraction sits today.
Please keep on the lookout, though, for my full essential law of attraction reader’s guide, which as of the release of this article I am working on compiling into one comprehensive post. It may take a while to truly bring together the best and “essential” law of attraction written content, as I just won’t recommend something if I haven’t read it myself and found value in it. I would also really love to be able to provide some download links for the public domain content, and want to make the archive the best it can be.
If you are interested in more reading recommendations in the future, however, I would encourage you to sign up for my mailing list so you can be the first to know when it becomes available.
