Author Biography
Earl Nightingale (March 12, 1921 - March 28, 1989) was an American motivational speaker and author, known as the Dean of Personal Development. He was the voice in the early 1950s of Sky King, the hero of a radio adventure series, and was a WGN radio show host from 1950 to 1956. Nightingale was the author of the Strangest Secret, which economist Terry Savage has called .. .One of the great motivational books of all time. After the war Nightingale began work in the radio industry, which eventually led to work as a motivational speaker. In the fall of 1949, Nightingale was inspired while reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Quoting from the Earl Nightingale official website: When he was 29, Earl's enlightenment had come to him as a bolt out of the blue while reading, 'Think and Grow Rich'. It came when he realized that the six words he read were the answer to the question he had been looking for! That, 'we become what we think about'. He realized that he had been reading the same truth over and over again, from the New Testament...to the works of Emerson. 'We become what we think about.' 'As ye sow, so shall ye reap...' In 1956 he produced a spoken word record, The Strangest Secret, which sold over a million copies, making it the first spoken-word recording to achieve Gold Record status. In 1960, a condensed audio version of Think and Grow Rich was narrated by Nightingale. It was titled Think and Grow Rich: The Essence Of The Immortal Book By Napoleon Hill, Narrated by Earl Nightingale, produced by Success Motivation Institute. Also in 1960, he cofounded the Nightingale-Conant corporation with Lloyd Conant. Nightingale's radio program, Our Changing World, became the most highly syndicated radio program ever, and was heard across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, South Africa, the Bahamas, 23 countries overseas, as well as the Armed Forces Network. After his retirement, Nightingale and his wife, Diana formed Keys Publishing.
