Wallace D. Wattles was a man that was born in 1860 and lived until 1911 in the United States of America. He is perhaps one of the most mysterious historical figures for the simple reason that he did not become truly famous until well after his death, but a lot of his thinking has been used in the modern self help movement in order to help a number of people get the positive attitude that is so necessary for people to achieve in today’s competitive atmosphere.Wattles, as previously mentioned, is a figure whose life is mostly mystery, but what is known about his life is that he was a failure through much of it. This is confirmed by a letter written by his daughter Florence posthumously and what is also known from this letter is that Wattles did not start thinking about the ideas of self-help and new thought until much later in his life. It would be interesting to think about how much more he might have contributed to the world had he stumbled on these ideas earlier, but his current contribution is certainly noteworthy enough on its own merit.
After failing at a number of endeavors during the years, Wattles at some point decided to turn to religion and philosophy and ended up studying the works of the various giants in their respective fields. He read everyone from Descartes and Spinoza all the way to Hegel and Emerson and absorbed the knowledge that they gave him. How he got his own ideas about various subjects is a matter of debate amongst historians, but it is quite clear that his exposure to this wide depth of ideas eventually in some way led to his penning of The Science of Getting Rich in 1910.
