The Power of Positive Thinking

What Hacker News says

1. bookofjoeSep 2026
   Here are 3 non-fiction suggestions:

   1. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance — Robert Pirsig. I read it in 1974 when I was in medical school.

   2. The Power of Positive Thinking — Norman Vincent Peale. I read it when I was 14 years old in 1962 and it profoundly changed my life for the better. I wasn't "born again" nor did I become religious, rather it abruptly and completely changed for the better how I interacted with others.

   3. Alive — Piers Paul Read. Published in 1974.

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2. acqqJun 2019
   In fact there is even a relation to the current president:

   http://inthesetimes.com/article/20736/Trump-White-House-Self...

   "In the president’s biography and business career, the role of positive thinking is hiding in plain sight. From childhood on, Trump worshipped in the temple of the movement’s prophet, Norman Vincent Peale: Manhattan’s Marble Collegiate Church. Indeed, Peale presided over Trump’s first wedding in 1977. Trump’s father was a die-hard adherent of Peale’s preachments, as is his daughter Ivanka, who wrote in her 2009 self-help tract, The Trump Card, that “perception is more important than reality” and you shouldn’t “go out of your way to correct a false assumption if it plays to your advantage.”"

   "Peale’s midcentury self-help bible, The Power of Positive Thinking, is, at its core, a distillation of the message of the Christian faith into a series of achievement-minded axioms. “Picturize, prayerize, actualize” was Peale’s mantra, and he applied this simple formula to every facet of the believer’s life—but most especially to the sphere of material advancement, which was the surest sign of divine favor in the hermetic social world of Pealeism."

   "The Power of Positive Thinking remained on the New York Times bestseller list for 186 consecutive weeks and helped launch the modern self-help industry; more than five million copies remain in print today. Peale’s gospel became the success creed for a newly corporatized and prosperous American social order. "

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3. taxicabjesusSep 2017
   El Presidente (Señor Teflon Trump) has a unique set of skills that Mr. Zuckerberg probably doesn't have. These have been covered by the hypnotist cartoonist, Scott Adams:

     Like many of you, I have been entertained by the 
     unstoppable clown car that is Donald Trump. On 
     the surface, and several layers deep as well, 
     Trump appears to be a narcissistic blow-hard 
     with inadequate credentials to lead a country.
   
     The only problem with my analysis is that there 
     is an eerie consistency to his success so far. 
     Is there a method to it? Is there some sort of 
     system at work under the hood?
     
     Probably yes. Allow me to describe some of the 
     hypnosis and persuasion methods Mr. Trump has 
     employed on you. (Most of you know I am a 
     trained hypnotist and this topic is a hobby of 
     mine.)
     
     [...]
   

   - Clown Genius (August 15, 2015), http://blog.dilbert.com/post/126589300371/clown-genius

   Two posts later was Wizard Wars [1], which discusses some of the hypnosis training that El Presidente went through.

   [1] http://blog.dilbert.com/post/126916006856/wizard-wars

   Milton Erickson (the grand master) -> John Grinder -> Anthony Robbins -> Donald "Teflon" Trump

   The Clintons [Bill & Hillary] are also friends with Anthony Robbins. I don't know why Hillary didn't learn anything - maybe it's because she was a career politician who spent her formative years interacting with politicians, instead of with real people.

   Adams pointed out somewhere that Teflon Don's pastor growing up was Norman Vincent Peale, who wrote The Power of Positive Thinking and other books about effective mental habbits. Señor Trump used his persuasion training in his reality T.V. show, in building his twitter audience, and in his presidential campaign.

   One Saturday morning, when I was going to get the taxi, I heard a blurb on NPR about the screening of the Milton Erickson Foundation's new documentary, Wizard of the Desert [2] [3]. I called one of my "Project Passengers" [4] and let her know that we were going to this screening.

   Later I had a session with the president of the organization. Dr. Zeig precisely identified how I was sabotaging my efforts...

   [2] http://www.wizardofthedesertmovie.com/ (auto-play video, starts with Anthony Robbins)

   [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_YMCHDzLm4

   [4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13286085 - she is doing very well now, no thanks to the State's efforts. Her family & "art therapy" & "peer support" training were much more helpful with getting her alcohol use under control than was 2 years in minimum security prison.

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4. flycaliguySep 2016
   I've been watching a lot of Scott Adam's periscope videos about Trump as a "Master Persuader" and although Im not sold on the premise, it has made me reconsider the real role of a president. A job beyond detail work and one instead of setting direction and tone. It has definitly got me watching the campaign in a different way and I'll be watching the debate tonight with his periscope feed on my phone.

   Adams, creator of Dilbert, has a track record for predicting Trump's moves. He has a theory worth looking into about Trump's church pastor as a youth being Norman Vincent Peale, the author of The Power of Positive Thinking. Adams is a trained hypnotist and detects in Trump the influence of Peale's techniques.

   That said, I'm not American and enjoy my political theater with a pinch of conspiracy theory, so... grain of salt.

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5. AnimatsJun 2016
   This sort of thing has been around for a long time. See "The Power of Positive Thinking" (1952), by Norman Vincent Peale.[1]

   The short version: "Insecure", by Joan Jett.[2]

   The century-old version: YMCA Salesmanship Training Manual, 1920.[3]

   [1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC0SXM [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAVeAVvJIoo [3] https://books.google.com/books?id=CBFPAAAAYAAJ

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