I’ve found writings of his in the public domain at Google Books. I’m not an expert in his work, but I have to think this material is rare and possibly hasn’t been seen since it was first published.

Here is Hill taking on the subject that once got him fired from a job: Ambition!

Let Ambition Be Your Master

By NAPOLEON HILL
All rights reserved by the author.

LUCKY is the man who is driven by that determined little slave master called AMBITION! Those who have enjoyed the greatest success in life were literally driven to succeed by AMBITION! It made Harriman, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Hill, Roosevelt and a good many thousands of other successful men of whom we never hear.

Ambition is the mainspring of life, but we must keep it wound up! Self-confidence is the balance wheel which keeps ambition moving at an even momentum. Enthusiasm is the oil with which we keep the human machine greased and in smooth running order. The well organized, capable and productive man is AMBITIOUS, ENTHUSIASTIC, and, possesses plenty of SELF-CONFIDENCE. Without these success is uncertain, if not impossible.

One of the greatest men America has ever known divorced his first wife because she was beneath his mental plane, and therefore had a tendency to keep down his ambition. This great man is not with us any more, but the world is testifying to his greatness by quoting his writings and reading his books more than ever before. It is a commonly known fact that his second wife was his chief source of inspiration — that she was responsible for keeping his AMBITION alive and constantly on the alert. That is why he married her. He foresaw the need for a constant attendant who would see to it that his AMBITION let him have no rest.

Lucky is the man who has formed a partnership with such a wife. We all get lazy at times. We need someone to keep our AMBITION alive and spur us on to bigger and better accomplishment. The chief reason that I consent to my wife going back to the farm every summer is that while she is away she constantly writes me letters which fire me with AMBITION. She understands me as few wives understand their husbands. She knows how necessary it is to constantly remind me of my chief aims in life, and she has a way of doing it which is pleasing and inspiring.

When I secured my first $5,000 a year position I thought I was fixed for life, and probably I would have been, had it not been for that little master for whom I was slaving — AMBITION! My wife and AMBITION collaborated against me and made me resign that position — FOR A BIGGER ONE! Five thousand a year would have satisfied me had it not been for my master, AMBITION. In my bigger and broader field I serve a hundred of my fellowmen where I served one before, which means that I get a hundred times as much enjoyment out of life as well as financial returns which are adequate and in proportion to the service which I perform.

In addition to my regular work I lecture three times a week in one of the local colleges, on the subject of Advertising and Salesmanship. The course is a heavy one, covering a period of ten months. The students are taught everything about Advertising and Selling that I can teach them, both from my own experience and from that of a score or more of able advertising specialists. THE FIRST LECTURE IN THE COURSE IS ON THE SUBJECT OF THE VALUE OF AMBITION! I use every ounce of influence that I possess to fire these young men and young women with an everlasting knowledge of the value of AMBITION, SELF-CONFIDENCE and ENTHUSIASM! If I succeed no further than to cause my students to cultivate that wonderful power, AMBITION, my time and their’s will have been well spent in the effort.

AMBITION is what freed America from over-the-sea rulership.

Once in my life, while I was working for a salary, I was discharged from my position — just ONCE! The head of the institution for which I worked told me that I was too “ambitious.” That was the greatest compliment anyone ever paid me, even though it cut me off temporarily from my bread and meat.

I have always had my suspicions why this man “fired” me, although he claimed it was because his “help” were unanimously agreed that I ought to go! His “help” who objected to me was one of his brothers who had his eye on the General Managership of the institution. He knew what “AMBITION” might lead me to. I have never blamed the brother, for he has a wife and two babies to support, and “AMBITION” on my part seemed to him a dangerous barrier between him and his coveted goal.

That institution of which I write was organized nearly twenty years ago. It is doing a business of about $600,000 a year. Another institution, engaged in the same line of business, started in just six years ago, on a capital of less than $6,000. I was formerly Advertising Manager of this institution. It does not discourage “AMBITION.” It is now doing a business of $1,500,000 a year, and clearing more net profits every month than the other firm is doing in gross business. The older institution, the one which was organized and has been doing business for nearly twenty years, is headed by men who are afraid of the “AMBITIOUS MAN.” Those who are working for a salary are afraid he will get their jobs (which said fear is not without some foundation). The head of the firm is afraid of the “AMBITIOUS MAN” because he is afraid he will find in him a competitor in business (which.also, is not without well grounded foundation).

BUT– AND HERE IS THE CRUX OF MY WHOLE STORY OF THESE TWO FIRMS — THE MAJORITY OF BUSINESS FIRMS ARE LOOKING FOR MEN WHO HAVE PLENTY OF “AMBITION.” Do not worry because one firm is afraid of the ambitious man. The very fact that such a firm is afraid of him is, in itself, strong evidence of weakness on the part of those who manage the firm.

While I was Advertising Manager of the younger firm of which I have written, I had three young men in my department. I put them on notice that some day one of them would get my position, and I commenced training them for my job. I told them that the man who “made good” first would get the place, if my recommendations would help any. My Secretary landed the prize. He is still with that firm, making more money than he ever made in his life, and more money than the average man of his age receives. I did not discourage “AMBITION” for fear of losing my job. I encouraged it so that someone would grow to be big enough to push me out of the rut and into a bigger position. That is what happened. I have no patience to speak of, with the man who is so narrow that he is afraid to inspire “AMBITION” in his fellow-workers. Show me a man who believes he has a corner on the details connected with his job and I will show you, in the same person, a man who will never develop beyond petty selfishness.

I beseech you not to fall into the habit of neglecting to cultivate your “AMBITION.” You will need something more than mere services with which to succeed. You will need that ever alert little master which is the subject of this chapter. But, I must here give you a word of warning — do not let your ambition become a selfish one! The greatest object over which to develop ambition is the desire to serve our fellowmen. We cannot serve them if we are jealous of them. Remember, also, that AMBITION is a contagious thing. If you give it to the world the world will give it back to you in increased measure. But keep it unto yourself and you will lose it. It will take wings and fly!

Ambition finds expression in a thousand different forms. It is the foundation which underlies all invention, art, music, industry, commerce — nay, the very foundation upon which the progress of the world has been built. Within the present generation we have seen it expressed in the most wonderful inventions the world has ever known; the automobile, the telephone, the wireless, the submarines, the X-ray and the aeroplane. AMBITION was the very warp and woof out of which these things were constructed. Ambition leads us to think, and when we begin to think the nebulous problems in the world’s evolution begin to become clarified and simplified. BE AMBITIOUS IF NOTHING MORE. OTHER THINGS WILL TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES.

For those who want to see the source pages:

There are lots of little gems to be found in it.

One of them is from the November 1917 issue of a monthly called Modern Methods.

This periodical was aimed at businessmen (they were mainly men then), filled with practical advice about things like selling, organization, import/export, and other practical matters.

So it’s the last place I would have expected to see a full-page ad for something so un-businesslike as a collection of stories!

Yet there was a full-page ad for a collected set of Mark Twain’s works!

This is the ad as it appears in the Google Books PDF:

And this is an enhancement and enlargement of it so all of the tiny text can be read when it’s been clicked on (and I suggest you do; there’s something in it that will make you laugh for its cheek!):

It seems to me that at one time book publishers actually courted readers, not bookstores.

They need to return to that.

This is not a comprehensive comparison, just some of the things that I noticed or that annoyed me.

Major spoilers beyond the break! Do not go further if you have not seen at least one of the movies and read the book.

The entire book rests on a misinterpretation:

That the flowers arriving yearly are from a murderer and not, as intended, a secret signal from Harriet to confirm she’s alive.

This is reinforced by the original mysterious disappearance of Harriet taking place on an island with one way on and off it, a single bridge that was blocked by an accident.

Never asked:

1) Who else knows she gave you the flowers before she disappeared?
2) Did anyone else in the family travel to the places the flowers were posted from?

Because, gee, there’s the answer to the second right in the book:

“I assume it was Anita who posted the flowers.”

“She worked for an airline and flew all over the world. She posted them from wherever she happened to be.”

Decades of investigation and no one thought of something so fundamental? Occam’s razor!

Lisbeth’s first appearance, book and both movies:

Salander was dressed for the day in a black T-shirt with a picture on it of E.T. with fangs, and the words I AM ALSO AN ALIEN. She had on a black skirt that was frayed at the hem, a worn-out black, mid-length leather jacket, rivet belt, heavy Doc Marten boots, and horizontally striped, green-and-red knee socks. She had put on make-up in a colour scheme that indicated she might be colourblind. In other words, she was exceptionally decked out.

Studying the book and both movies is an education in how movies are made and the great difference between books and movies. Like here:

In the second week of February Salander’s laptop fell victim to an accident that was so uncalled for that she felt an urgent desire to kill someone. She had ridden her bike to a meeting at Milton Security and parked it behind a pillar in the garage. As she set her rucksack on the ground to put on the bike lock, a dark red Saab began reversing out. She had her back turned but heard the cracking sound from her rucksack. The driver didn’t notice a thing and, unwitting, drove off up the exit ramp.

However, in the movies, Lisbeth’s notebook is destroyed in, respectively, an attack and a bag snatch:

Interestingly, both happen in the subway. I think the American screenwriter was, ahem, influenced by the Swedish ones. The only time there’s subway violence in the book is a mention of Lisbeth having once kicked a guy in the head because he had groped her.

As a side note, for god’s sake, don’t do something like this in your book because look how ridiculous this is some seven short years later, in 2012:

Unsurprisingly she set her sights on the best available alternative: the new Apple PowerBook G4/1.0 GHz in an aluminium case with a PowerPC 7451 processor with an AltiVec Velocity Engine, 960 MB RAM and a 60 GB hard drive. It had BlueTooth and built-in CD and DVD burners.

Best of all, it had the first 17-inch screen in the laptop world with NVIDIA graphics and a resolution of 1440 x 900 pixels, which shook the PC advocates and outranked everything else on the market.

In terms of hardware, it was the Rolls-Royce of portable computers, but what really triggered Salander’s need to have it was the simple feature that the keyboard was equipped with backlighting, so that she could see the letters even if it was pitch dark. So simple. Why had no-one thought of that before?

Aside from that, Larsson mentions the iBook a lot, which also horribly dates the work.

Another way in which the American screenwriter was, um, influenced by the Swedish movie is another divergence from the book. This:

Bjurman was in pain. His muscles were no use to him. His body seemed to be paralysed. He could not remember if he had lost consciousness, but he was disoriented. When he slowly regained control over his body he discovered that he was lying naked on his bed, his wrists in handcuffs and his legs spread painfully apart. He had stinging burn marks where electrodes had touched his body.

In both movies, Bjurman is on the floor, not on the bed.

The Bible verses. Book:

“Pappa, I’m not going to proselytise. It doesn’t matter to me what you believe, and I’ll always love you. But I think you should continue your Bible studies.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I saw the quotes you had on the wall,” she said. “But why so gloomy and neurotic? Kisses. See you later.”

In the Swedish movie, it’s Lisbeth who cracks the code and emails Blomkvist:

In the American movie, it’s Blomkvist’s daughter who informs him:

Here’s something really, really weird in the book:

Salander was no Bible reader — she did not even own one — but that evening she went over to Högalid Church and with some difficulty she managed to borrow a Bible. She sat on a park bench outside the church and read Leviticus. When she reached Chapter 12, verse 8, her eyebrows went up. Chapter 12 dealt with the purification of women after childbirth.

How could Lisbeth not find a Bible online?

In the book, Lisbeth drives Blomkvist to a hospital to get stitches for his head wound. In the Swedish movie, a bandage is shown after a scene change. In the American movie, Lisbeth stitches the wound with dental floss.

The movies diverge from the book with the escape of Martin Vanger:

Salander turned her head just as Martin Vanger disappeared out the door. She got up, grabbed the pistol, checked the magazine and flicked off the safety. She looked around and focused on the keys to the handcuffs, which lay in plain sight on the table.

“I’m going to take him,” she said, running for the door. She grabbed the keys as she passed the table and tossed them backhanded to the floor next to Blomkvist.

He tried to shout to her to wait, but he managed only a rasping sound and by then she had vanished.

There is no gun in the Swedish movie. Lisbeth is still chasing Martin with the golf club:

The American version has the gun but also guts Lisbeth’s character by having her ask Blomkvist, “May I kill him?”

Here is something all of the screenwriters either missed or just chose to ignore:

She saw the headlights of a truck approaching. Martin Vanger did too. He increased his speed again and drove straight into the oncoming lane. Salander saw the truck swerve and flash its lights, but the collision was unavoidable. Martin Vanger drove straight into the truck and the sound of the crash was terrible.

Salander braked. She saw the trailer start to jackknife across her lane. At the speed she was going, it took two seconds for her to cover the distance up to the accident site. She accelerated and steered on to the hard shoulder, avoiding the hurtling back of the truck by two yards as she flew past. Out of the corner of her eye she saw flames coming from the front of the truck.

She rode on, braking and thinking, for another 150 yards before she stopped and turned around. She saw the driver of the truck climb out of his cab on the passenger side. Then she accelerated again. At Åkerby, about a mile south, she turned left and took the old road back north, parallel to the E4. She went up a hill past the scene of the crash. Two cars had stopped. Big flames were boiling out of the wreckage of Martin’s car, which was wedged underneath the truck. A man was spraying the flames with a small fire extinguisher.

The Swedish movie:

The American movie:

The similarity of how they ignored that is striking.

What they both missed is the symmetry of the book. Martin Vanger dies in the kind of crash that originally took place on the bridge the day Harriet disappeared!

The Swedish movie also throws in some dialogue in the aftermath of Martin Vanger’s death, between Blomkvist and Salander, that is nowhere in the book and changes both characters — Blomkvist becomes a lecturing prat and Salander a sadist.

Until I read the book, I favored Noomi Rapace’s portrayal of Lisbeth. But it turns out that, aside from that grating and weird faux Swedish accent she affected, Rooney Mara’s Lisbeth was closer physically and behaviorally (mostly) to the book’s Lisbeth. I’m not sure either actress actually understood Lisbeth, though.

This is Lisbeth:

“He said that he had never touched another man—except his father. That made me think that…well, the only possible conclusion is that his father raped him. Martin called it ‘his duty.’ The sexual assaults must have gone on for a long time. He was raised by his father, so to speak.”

“Bullshit,” Salander said, her voice as hard as flint.

Blomkvist stared at her in astonishment. She had a stubborn look in her eyes. There was not an ounce of sympathy in it.

“Martin had exactly the same opportunity as anyone else to strike back. He killed and he raped because he liked doing it.”

“I’m not saying otherwise. But Martin was a repressed boy and under the influence of his father, just as Gottfried was cowed by his father, the Nazi.”

“So you’re assuming that Martin had no will of his own and that people become whatever they’ve been brought up to be.”

Blomkvist smiled cautiously. “Is this a sensitive issue?”

Salander’s eyes blazed with fury. Blomkvist quickly went on.

“I’m only saying that I think that a person’s upbringing does play a role. Gottfried’s father beat him mercilessly for years. That leaves its mark.”

“Bullshit,” Salander said again. “Gottfried isn’t the only kid who was ever mistreated. That doesn’t give him the right to murder women. He made that choice himself. And the same is true of Martin.”

Blomkvist held up his hand.

“Can we not argue?”

“I’m not arguing. I just think that it’s pathetic that creeps always have to have someone else to blame.”

And this:

Salander stopped and filled her tank at a petrol station north of Uppsala. She had been riding doggedly, staring straight ahead. She paid quickly and got back on her bike. She started it up and rode to the exit, where she stopped, undecided.

She was still in a terrible mood. She was furious when she left Hedeby, but her rage had slowly dissolved during the ride. She could not make up her mind why she was so angry with Blomkvist, or even if he was the one she was angry with.

She thought of Martin Vanger and Harriet Fucking Vanger and Dirch Fucking Frode and the whole damned Vanger clan sitting in Hedestad reigning over their little empire and plotting against each other. They had needed her help. Normally they wouldn’t even have said hello to her in the street, let alone entrust her with their repellent secrets.

Fucking riff-raff.

And this:

Salander studied Berger’s elegant clothes and self-confident manner and decided after ten seconds that she was most likely not going to be her best friend.

And this:

She went around with the attitude that she would rather be beaten to death than take any shit.

And she always got revenge.

All of that was scraped away in both movies.

And although I thought Stieg Larsson understood his own character, I was disgusted to read, in here, this from him:

Lisbeth Salander is the exception to this quite simply because she is a sociopath with psychopathic traits, and does not function like ordinary people. She does not have the same concepts of “right” and “wrong” as normal people, but she also has to face up to the consequences of that.

Um, WTF?

I think I better just shut up and end this post right here.

Oh, one more thing: There is no cat in the Swedish movie.

Pinchable music: Pinch-out on track waveform and it separates out into all of the tracks that make up the music. <- Apple needs to do that.—
Mike Cane (@mikecane) January 29, 2012

I listened to a music track online today and it was displayed as a waveform.

This reminded me of the early Mac days when I showed someone a sound recording program and she asked if after the music had been digitized it could have all the tracks from a cut separated out to play each one.

It has to be at least twenty-five years since then.

And we still don’t have that.

Why the hell not?

Click = big

September 15, 2010: Twitter Misses The Metadata Boat

Title typeface and its color on the second one is a bit dicey, but if I had liked the first book, that wouldn’t have mattered to me.

Both are covers that would have intrigued me enough on a bookstore shelf to pick up and thumb through.

I don’t care that we’re moving to e — you still need covers as damn good as these.

I haven’t read these. Came across them in this article passed along on Twitter by @zumayabooks: Erotic books popular with e-readers. I’ve put them in one of my Kindle lists to investigate later.

Lady Mechatronic and the Steampunked Pirates [currently Kindle-only]
Journey to Pirate’s Cove (Lady Mechatronic and the Steampunked Pirates) [currently Kindle-only]

Barnes & Noble is trying to strike at Amazon with another device. At its labs in Silicon Valley last week, engineers were putting final touches on their fifth e-reading device, a product that executives said would be released sometime this spring. (A Barnes & Noble spokeswoman declined to elaborate.)

I wonder what that could be?

eInk? Color LCD? Pixel Qi? Mirasol? (I doubt Mirasol unless they have a Top Sekrit Second-Gen screen that’s good!)

Cheaper eInk Nook? Cheaper color Nook?

I was just wondering the other day about what both Barnes & Noble and Kobo could possibly introduce later this year, so an introduction as soon as Spring is very surprising.

Probably nothing more surprising than a 9″ or 10″ tablet.

Yet I’m still waiting to see if their Nook Community Edition trademark is ever used. Also unused are Nook Smart and NookCook.

Wait!

This is a photo I took on Sunday, January 22, 2012:

So the price was retreating?

No.

This is a photo from today Saturday, January 28, 2012:

This makes me so glad I don’t own a car.

But still, I’ll feel this in food prices going up, dammit!

Cropped-zoom:

I think that’s a RED camera.

Cropped-zoom:

He was taking footage of the skyscrapers while pointing up. This will probably be the kind of interstitial footage that Paul Haggis pioneered. I don’t know what show this will be for.

Cropped-zoom: