Thought Vibration
Or, The Law of Attraction in the Thought World
William Walker Atkinson 1906
Short chapters present New Thought teachings about mental focus and the supposed power of thoughts to attract experiences. Atkinson compares thoughts to waves sent by wireless telegraphy.
85 pages 1h 39m reading time
- One of the early, widely read books of the New Thought movement, which taught that the mind shapes a person's life.
- Claims that thoughts attract similar thoughts, people, and events, so a hopeful, determined mind draws success while a fearful one draws failure.
- Argues that fear and worry are habits a person can break, and that willpower can be trained through daily mental exercises.
- Helped make the phrase "law of attraction" (from its subtitle) a common self-help idea, one later central to popular books like "The Secret."
From a burned-out lawyer
Atkinson turned to New Thought after stress wrecked his health, and he wrote from that personal recovery.
Born in a magazine office
He wrote it while working as an editor for "New Thought," a Chicago magazine spreading the movement's ideas.
Sold by mail order
Small New Thought publishers in Chicago sold it cheaply, often through magazine ads, to readers seeking self-help.
Revived a century later
Readers rediscovered it in 2006, when "The Secret" sent many searching for older law of attraction books.
From the 1906 New Thought Publishing first edition
