The Science of Being Well: Wallace Wattles’ Health Guide

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The Science of Being Well is Wallace Wattles’ 1910 companion to The Science of Getting Rich, applying the same Certain Way framework of thought and action to physical wellbeing rather than wealth. This breakdown covers what it actually teaches, how it’s structured, and what makes it distinct from Wattles’ better-known work on wealth.

What The Science of Being Well Is About

Wallace Wattles wrote The Science of Being Well as a direct companion piece to The Science of Getting Rich, describing it as a practical guide rather than a philosophical treatise for readers who want wellbeing. Where his first book applied the Certain Way to wealth, it applies the identical underlying framework to physical vitality and function.

The Science of Being Well presents thought as the primary factor shaping physical condition, arguing that a mind consistently held on ideas of wellness and vitality shapes the body’s condition over time. This is presented as a matter of consistent mental discipline paired with practical daily habits, following the same thinking-and-acting structure Wattles used throughout The Science of Getting Rich.

Wattles wrote this piece at a time when much popular health writing focused narrowly on diet fads or specific remedies. His decision to root physical wellbeing in the same philosophical system as wealth creation reflects his broader ambition — a single, unified framework applicable across every major area of life rather than a separate set of unrelated techniques for each one.

How The Science of Being Well Is Structured

The book moves through a series of short chapters covering both mental and practical territory. The early chapters lay out Wattles’ central premise and the foundations of faith that support it, while later chapters turn to everyday practical matters — when to eat, what to eat, how to eat, breathing, and sleep — treated as extensions of the same underlying principle rather than separate topics.

This structure mirrors The Science of Getting Rich closely, moving from a stated principle, through the mental disciplines needed to apply it, and finally into concrete daily practices. Readers already familiar with the earlier book will recognize the same direct, chapter-by-chapter approach in The Science of Being Well.

Each chapter of the book builds on the one before it, so the book is generally best read in order rather than skimmed for isolated tips, since later practical chapters assume the mental foundation established earlier on.

The Core Argument of The Science of Being Well

Wallace Wattles built The Science of Being Well around the same Certain Way principle central to his work on wealth — that consistent thought, held with genuine faith and paired with appropriate action, shapes outer results. In this book, the “outer result” in question is the condition of the physical body rather than financial circumstance.

Wattles was direct that it asks the reader to set aside preoccupation with symptoms or present limitation and instead consistently hold a mental picture of full vitality. This mirrors his consistent teaching pattern across all his books — attention and thought directed at what is wanted, rather than dwelling on current lack, whether that lack is financial or physical.

Faith and Attention in The Science of Being Well

A recurring emphasis throughout The Science of Being Well is the role of sustained faith, not as passive hope but as a disciplined mental habit maintained deliberately across ordinary daily life. Wattles argued that scattered or inconsistent attention toward wellness produces scattered results, while steady, faith-backed attention produces steady physical improvement over time.

This emphasis on consistency over intensity appears throughout the book, echoing the same pattern found in Wattles’ other books: results come from sustained, repeated practice rather than occasional bursts of enthusiasm followed by a return to old patterns of thought.

Practical Guidance in The Science of Being Well

Unlike the more purely mental focus of parts of The Science of Getting Rich, The Science of Being Well spends real space on everyday practical habits — eating, breathing, and sleep are each given their own chapters. Wattles treats these practical elements as important applications of the same underlying principle rather than as separate or competing advice.

This combination of mental discipline and ordinary daily habit found in The Science of Being Well is consistent with the pairing of thought and action found throughout Wattles’ other books, discussed in more detail in What Is the Certain Way? Wallace Wattles’ Core Teaching Explained.

Common Misreadings of The Science of Being Well

One misunderstanding worth addressing directly is the assumption that The Science of Being Well teaches thought alone can override physical reality, as though mental discipline is meant to substitute entirely for practical care of the body. Wattles is more measured than that reading suggests — The Science of Being Well consistently pairs mental practice with concrete daily habits around eating, breathing, and sleep, rather than presenting thought as a replacement for basic physical care.

A second common misreading treats The Science of Being Well as offering specific medical guidance comparable to a modern health resource. Written in 1910, well before contemporary medical understanding, The Science of Being Well should be read as a philosophical text applying Wattles’ broader framework to wellbeing, not as a source of current health information. Readers looking for medical guidance are better served by contemporary resources, while The Science of Being Well offers something different: a way of thinking about the relationship between mind and body consistent with the rest of Wattles’ work.

A third point of confusion involves treating The Science of Being Well as entirely separate from The Science of Getting Rich, when in fact Wattles intended the two to be read as expressions of the same underlying system. Readers who approach The Science of Being Well in isolation, without the context of the Certain Way framework established in the earlier book, sometimes find its arguments less persuasive than readers who come to it already familiar with how Wattles builds his case elsewhere.

Understanding The Science of Being Well correctly means holding these distinctions clearly: it pairs thought with action rather than replacing action, it functions as philosophy rather than medicine, and it makes the most sense when read as part of Wattles’ broader three-book system rather than as an isolated wellness guide.

How The Science of Being Well Compares to The Science of Getting Rich

The Science of Being Well shares its underlying framework with The Science of Getting Rich almost entirely, applying the same thinking-and-acting structure to a different area of life. Readers who found the wealth-focused book’s logic compelling will recognize the identical reasoning applied here to physical wellbeing.

The most noticeable difference is subject matter rather than method — where The Science of Getting Rich focuses on business, opportunity, and financial increase, The Science of Being Well turns that same lens toward daily habits, diet, and rest, making it a more domestically practical book in places than its predecessor.

Where The Science of Being Well Fits in Wattles’ Trilogy

Alongside The Science of Getting Rich and The Science of Being Great, The Science of Being Well completes what Wattles intended as a three-part exploration of his Certain Way philosophy applied to wealth, health, and character respectively. Read together, the three books present a fuller picture of Wattles’ complete system than any single title offers on its own.

Of the three, The Science of Being Well is often considered the most immediately actionable for daily life, since its practical chapters on eating, breathing, and sleep translate into concrete habits a reader can begin applying the same day, rather than requiring the longer-term application that wealth or character development generally demand.

How This Book Is Received Today

The Science of Being Well is less widely read than The Science of Getting Rich and has drawn more mixed reactions from modern readers, some of whom find its ideas dated or find the specific practical guidance thinner than the wealth-focused book’s business guidance. It remains, however, historically significant as an early and direct application of New Thought principles to physical wellbeing rather than only to finances.

Modern readers should also approach The Science of Being Well with the understanding that it predates virtually all contemporary medical knowledge, so its specific health claims shouldn’t be treated as medical guidance. Its lasting value lies in the philosophical framework it applies to wellbeing, not in any specific practical instruction meant to replace modern healthcare.

Readers approaching The Science of Being Well today generally do best treating it as a historical document reflecting Wattles’ complete philosophical system, alongside The Science of Getting Rich and The Science of Being Great, rather than as a modern, updated wellness guide.

Frequently Asked Questions About The Science of Being Well

What is The Science of Being Well about

The Science of Being Well is Wallace Wattles’ 1910 book applying his Certain Way framework of consistent thought and practical action to physical wellbeing rather than wealth.

How does The Science of Being Well compare to The Science of Getting Rich

Both books share the same underlying Certain Way framework. The Science of Getting Rich applies it to wealth and business, while The Science of Being Well applies the same structure to daily habits like eating, breathing, and sleep.

Is The Science of Being Well still widely read

It’s less widely read than The Science of Getting Rich today, though it remains available as part of Wattles’ complete body of work and offers useful historical context for his full philosophical system.