author
W. D. (Wallace Delois) Wattles
1860–1911
A New Thought writer whose slim, practical books helped shape early self-help literature, he is best remembered for The Science of Getting Rich. Though little-known in his own lifetime, his ideas have kept circulating for more than a century.
3 Audiobooks
The Science of Getting Rich
by W. D. (Wallace Delois) Wattles
The Science of Being Well
by W. D. (Wallace Delois) Wattles
What is truth?
by W. D. (Wallace Delois) Wattles
About the author
Born in 1860, Wallace Delois Wattles was an American author associated with the New Thought movement. He remains a somewhat shadowy figure biographically, but his work has had an outsized afterlife, especially in readers' interest in prosperity, personal growth, and the power of thought.
His best-known book, The Science of Getting Rich (1910), argues that success begins with a disciplined way of thinking and purposeful action. He also wrote The Science of Being Well and The Science of Being Great, presenting his ideas in short, direct books that were meant to be practical rather than abstract.
Wattles died in 1911, only a year after his most famous book appeared. Even so, his writing stayed in print and continued to influence later generations of motivational and self-help authors.