If it were not for his wife's persistence, this book - which is one of the all-time bestselling self-help titles and made Norman Vincent Peale a founder of the human potential movement - may never have been published. He was in his fifties when he wrote it, and had received nothing but a stack of rejection slips. Dejected, he threw the manuscript into the wastebasket and forbade his wife to remove it. She took him literally, next day presenting the manuscript inside the wastebasket, to the successful publisher.

The book has sold around 20 million copies in 42 languages. Along with How to Win Friends and Influence People and Think and Grow Rich, it is one of the original 20th century self-help classics.

Inevitably, Peale's classics became linked with a Pollyana-ish attitude to the world that sees no evil and hears no evil, and believes a happy smile can melt all obstacles. However, what we actually see when we open up the book is that it was written 'with deep concern for the pain, difficulty and struggle of human existence.' It was not a tool to get rich or famous; its aim was to foster 'the practical application of faith to overcome defeat and accomplish worthwhile creative values in life.'

For Peale there was no greater source of personal power or guidance than the Bible. Biblical quotes are the mainstay of the book (supplemented by the likes of Emerson, William James and Marcus Aurelius) and perhaps because it is based on this timeless wisdom, Peale's classic has an amazing power. When statements such as the following are highlighted for us, it is difficult to argue with Peale's conviction:

If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31

If thou can believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. Mark 9:23

According to your faith, be it unto you. Matthew 9:29

Peale's theme is that we don't have to depend on ourselves; there are incredible sources of power open to us if we only believe in their existence. We make life hard, but an appreciation of the universe's ability to make good and to provide would lead us to see life as flowing and abundant. Life seems difficult because we only believe in ourselves. He expresses the great secret of self-help that, in order to gain personal power and peace, we have to be willing to go beyond the merely personal to something greater than ourselves.

To really appreciate The Power of Positive Thinking you have to understand its background. Peale came from plain Mid-Western stock, and he believed he was writing, in his words, 'for the plain people of this world'. Most readers will find it quaint or amusing because the language conjures up simple church-going folk in the 1950s. It might be old-fashioned, but only a cynic would find it totally redundant - the book's principles are easily applied from its original time and place to your life, as you would expect of a classic. It is refreshing because there are no gimmicky techniques; expect to find only a bag of well-worn tools for chiselling away cynicism and hopelessness.