Thoughts Are Things (Barnes & Noble Edition) (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading) [Paperback]

Prentice Mulford (Author)

Book Description

Series: Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading | Publication Date: August 30, 2007

Prentice Mulford's essays have been a spiritual inspiration for generations. Included in this volume are: "The Material Mind vs. the Spiritual Mind," "Thought Currents," "One Way to Cultivate Courage," "Look Forward!" "God in the Trees; or, The Infinite Mind in Nature," "Some Laws of Health and Beauty," "The God in Yourself," "The Healing and Renewing Force of Spring," "Immortality in the Flesh," "The Attraction of Aspiration," "The Accession of New Thought."

Editorial Reviews

Review

Prentice Mulford wrote this book in 1889, long before more well-known, contemporary authors began writing about the power of thought. Despite being over 100 years old, this is a powerful book on thought.

Mulford explains we have, in effect, two minds: the mind of the body and the mind of the spirit. The mind of the body is limited and fights change. It thinks things must always be the way they've always been. The mind of the spirit trusts in the Supreme Power which made all things and knows that anything is possible if you believe.

Long before the law of attraction became widely known, Mulford talked about the fact that what we talk about and think about is what we attract to ourselves. He explains that if a group of people talk about disease or suffering, they will eventually bring disease and suffering to themselves in some form. He also notes that the surest way for a woman to become ugly is to be discontented, cross, complaining and envious of others. He therefore encourages the reader to call on the help of the Supreme Power to get into the thought current of things that are healthy, natural, strong and beautiful, and leave the negative thinking behind.

While the book talks about many aspects of the power of thought that will be familiar to today's readers, he also covers some topics you don't hear discussed as much today. One of my favorite chapters is the one on cultivating courage. He notes that courage and presence of mind mean the same thing; and cowardice and lack of mental control mean about the same thing. He notes that courage comes from discipline regarding so-called little or trivial things. It means focusing on whatever you're doing at the moment, rather than allowing your thoughts to scatter in many directions. This focus allows you to have the presence of mind to do what needs to be done, rather than to panic.

A great example of courage he gives is: "It was this electric vigilance and mind watchfulness that gave an American officer during the Revolution, who, in the confusion of battle, suddenly found himself in front of a British regiment, the deliberation to ask, 'What troops are these?' 'The Royal Scots,' was the reply. 'Royal Scots remain as you are,' was his answer, and he rode off to his own lines. That man had a mind trained to give him time to think."

I have not read another book on thought quite like this one, and would encourage anyone interested in better understanding the power of thought to give this book a try! --Kara D. Lane, Author of "Wake up to Powerful Living" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"The best book I've ever read - bar one." I believe that we all read books for the same reason, it is a search for truth. I've been an avid and voracious reader for 18 years and often wondered if I would find my "Holy Grail" of a book, a book that would literally change my life. At long last, I've found it. This book is so full of wisdom and insight that I will continue reading over and over again. The insights are so mind blowing that I often find myself re-reading sentences and/or paragraphs 5 or 6 times. This is the kind of wisdom that I have never found anywhere else. This is the best kept secret. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble; 2007 edition edition (August 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934451207
• ISBN-13: 978-1435100978
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,251,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #82 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Religion & Spirituality > Occult > Spiritualism

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thought-provoking book!, January 20, 2008

By 

Kara D. Lane "Author, Wake Up to Powerful Living" (Carmel, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thoughts Are Things (Mass Market Paperback)

Prentice Mulford wrote this book in 1889, long before more well-known, contemporary authors began writing about the power of thought. Despite being over 100 years old, this is a powerful book on thought.

Mulford explains we have, in effect, two minds: the mind of the body and the mind of the spirit. The mind of the body is limited and fights change. It thinks things must always be the way they've always been. The mind of the spirit trusts in the Supreme Power which made all things and knows that anything is possible if you believe.

Long before the law of attraction became widely known, Mulford talked about the fact that what we talk about and think about is what we attract to ourselves. He explains that if a group of people talk about disease or suffering, they will eventually bring disease and suffering to themselves in some form. He also notes that the surest way for a woman to become ugly is to be discontented, cross, complaining and envious of others. He therefore encourages the reader to call on the help of the Supreme Power to get into the thought current of things that are healthy, natural, strong and beautiful, and leave the negative thinking behind.

While the book talks about many aspects of the power of thought that will be familiar to today's readers, he also covers some topics you don't hear discussed as much today. One of my favorite chapters is the one on cultivating courage. He notes that courage and presence of mind mean the same thing; and cowardice and lack of mental control mean about the same thing. He notes that courage comes from discipline regarding so-called little or trivial things. It means focusing on whatever you're doing at the moment, rather than allowing your thoughts to scatter in many directions. This focus allows you to have the presence of mind to do what needs to be done, rather than to panic.

A great example of courage he gives is: "It was this electric vigilance and mind watchfulness that gave an American officer during the Revolution, who, in the confusion of battle, suddenly found himself in front of a British regiment, the deliberation to ask, 'What troops are these?' 'The Royal Scots,' was the reply. 'Royal Scots remain as you are,' was his answer, and he rode off to his own lines. That man had a mind trained to give him time to think."

I have not read another book on thought quite like this one, and would encourage anyone interested in better understanding the power of thought to give this book a try!

45 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Edition, May 17, 2007

By 

MYOB (Radford, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thoughts Are Things (Barnes & Noble Edition) (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading) (Paperback)

This is not the Kessinger edition as the previous review suggests, but a new edition that has been taken from the same source material. Rather than create yet one more faded, hard to read facsimile edition Wilder Publications created a new layout making this book much easier on the eyes than the other editions I've seen.

66 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Awful reproduction, July 2, 2006

By 

John Chancellor "Mentor coach" (Spring Hill, TN) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Thoughts Are Things (Paperback)

This rating has nothing to do with the content of the book. Kessinger Publishing printed this book by scanning a very old edition. As a result the book is very difficult to read ... the typeset came out very blurry. Many words were impossible to discern. The orignial book was probably 4" X 7". The book was printed 8 1/2" X 11" leaving way too much white space. Many of the pages are not aligned properly. The poor quality of the printing was extremely distracting. I found I was contentrating more on the print that the content.

The main value of the book is in providing some historical prespective on the evolution of thinking about the power of thoughts. There are many modern authors who have expanded on Mulford's thoughts. In my opinion it is very easy to find many books which have better developed the ideas contained in this book.

Kessinger did a real disservice to Mulford. My experience with this book was so bad that I will never consider buying another Kessinger Publishing book.

If you can overlook the extremely poor quality reproduction, it is worth reading. To me there is just too many books worth reading to spend time laboring over a book that is so poorly printed.