Popular Self-help and Self-development Texts
Summary: This page presents a scholarly compilation of influential self-help and self-development texts curated by Jayaram V. The collection includes foundational works such as P.T. Barnum's The Art of Money Getting, Robert Collier's The Secret of the Ages, and Charles F. Haanel's The Master Key System. These texts address practical principles of success, personal improvement, wealth creation, and self-development that remain relevant to contemporary readers seeking guidance on achievement and personal growth.
The Art of Money Getting - Revised Edition (May 2026): In this book, P.T.Batnum explains the art of making money by choosing the right vocation, selecting the right location, avoiding debt, persevering in your effort, doing what needs to be done with all your energy, using the best tools, learning the right skills, being organized, treating the customer with respect, and so on. This 19th-century document has been Revised, reformatted and reorganized by Jayaram V to meet current usage standards and archaic expressions.
The Secret of the Ages by Robert Collier: The Secret of the Ages should be rightfully called the original of "The Secret." Those who cannot afford to buy the latter, can conveniently go through this work and probably won't miss much.
The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel: According to one story in circulation, the Master Key played an important role in the life of Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft. It is said that after reading The Master Key System while he was studying at Harvard University, Bill Gates was so impressed by its contents and concepts that he dropped out of the university and went on to pursue his dream of "a computer on every desktop.
James Allen's Philosophy on Thought and Character: This little volume (the result of meditation and experience is not intended as an exhaustive treatise on the much-written- upon subject of the power of thought. It is suggestive rather than explanatory, its object being to stimulate men and women to the discovery and perception of the truth that they create themselves" by virtue of their predominant thoughts.
Supreme Personality by Dr. Delmer Eugene Croft: Supreme Personality by Delmer Eugene Croft is a short early‑20th‑century self‑help book that teaches readers how to develop inner strength, confidence, and a joyful outlook through simple daily practices. It presents a series of brief lessons—on controlling one’s mental states, cultivating vitality, improving attitude, and awakening one’s “supreme” inner nature—designed to be applied gradually over weeks or months.
The Formation of Solar System: This document describes the occult-theosophical view of solar system formation, beginning with primordial aether denser than matter . A great cosmic Being generates vortices that form bubbles, atoms, and seven interpenetrating worlds of varying density Current page+1. Gradual condensation produces nebulae, rings, and eventually planets fit for life .