"The Richest Man in Babylon" by George Clason (Book Review)
In ancient Mesopotamia there stood a city called Babylon. Babylon was known for is riches, education, and was a hub of culture and the arts (the NYC of its day). There was, however, one man richer than them all, Arkad. "The richest man in Babylon" is a story of his wisdom and lessons, how he was able to go from a metal worker to become the richest man in the city through his own merit and the wise council of one good man.
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The book "The Richest Man in Babylon" is an unexpected and very pleasant discovery. The book is small in volume, but contains a maximally rich in informativeness concentrate of useful information. Perhaps someone will think that all this is a common truth, long known to all, but it's not for nothing that they say: everything is simple genius. And something tells me that the suggested in the book advice on optimizing financial affairs and resolving debt issues really working, it is only necessary to show diligence and the will to implement them. I also liked the way of presentation of economic strategies in the form of a parable, because in this form the information is not a character of imposing or moralizing and at the same time allows you to understand the essence and better understand it, as in childhood from fairy tales we received the first and perhaps the most important lessons about world. Undoubtedly, I consider this book to be very useful and necessary for every reasonable person who lives in a society and, one way or another, who enters into economic relations on a daily basis. The book will be useful not only for entrepreneurs or those wishing to open their own business, but also for ordinary people. It will help to take a fresh look at the principles of the formation of the home budget, on the issue of loan and debt obligations, on the work of banking and insurance organizations, as well as on such important personal qualities as diligence and perseverance. It is written in a simple but beautiful language, reads easily and with interest. The book does not have to make you a millionaire, but with the proper evaluation and use of the information contained in it, such a development of events can become possible.
damn. you put that more elegantly than I ever could have. You are a really talented writer. I agree with everything you said, and I especially like your emphasis on the book being for entrepreneurs and ordinary people alike. "everything is simple genius" maybe my new favorite quote. Thank you for your thoughtful comment!
I read this book within the last year, too. Your mom has good book recommendations!
I also didn't like a lot of things about this book... but the good things in it make it worth reading.
On the criticisms I have. I also dislike the language style, not because it's old, but because it's from an author from the mid-twentieth century trying to make it seem like ancient wisdom by using language that hints at King James English in some places and like Greek history in other places. He's taking modern "American Dream" values and putting them in the story context of "ancient Babylon". Also, Babylon isn't a good source of wisdom. I think he just chose that because it's "old" and some people there may have been prosperous long ago, but the wisdom of the book doesn't actually come from Babylon, it's "good 'ol American values", right down to home ownership.
That said, there is a lot of wisdom in this book. I tried to implement it, but I had (and still have) too much of a percentage of my income going to pay off debt for the math to work out. The book recommends negotiating with lenders to reduce the monthly payments down to 20% of monthly income. There's just no way that I could do that. At one point this year, I was paying out over 50% of my monthly income to debt payments (bad business decisions on my part, not consumer debt). I'm still over 20% of my income going to debt payments, but it will soon be below that and then the math that's suggested in this book will actually start to work for me. This book helped me figure out what was going on and what needed to be done.
I also think that the examples of buying and selling and participating in the market that are still very applicable today. Instead of thinking of investments as "shares" that you can own in someone else's enterprise, think of what you can buy and sell for a profit. The warning in the book is that you should actually know about that part of the market, have some experience in it, or have the wise counsel of someone who does. Those are all very solid points and still work well today.
Glad you read this book and thanks for sharing your thoughts on it!
The language style did seem a little try hard at times. I didn't look too much into the author tbh, but what your saying makes a lot of sense as to why there was a disconnect. I also don't know too much about babylon lol. I just said what I said in the description above cause I had to go to work and didn't know what else to put hahaha.
I did find his home ownership point a bit weak. Makes sense in the context of "good ole American values." I obviously see the value of home ownership in terms of security for one's family, but I am not so positive about homeownership in terms of building wealth (but of course, im not wealthy, so i also am probably not a very reliable source on this point lol).
that was actually one of the best takeaways, the part about knowing how to buy and sell for a profit. I have a friend who is starting a VC fund with funding from one of his business partners parents, and I am a bit dubious cause I feel, how are you going to invest at seed level in businesses and companies, if not one of the partners has ever built a successful business. But i hope it works out for him! thank you for your thoughtful comment. they truly make my day!
Great video and yeah takin investments u know will work is s great idea but we do also need a lil risk in our life
safe investments are good. I feel because I am young, now is the time when I am able to take the MOST risk. so I have no intention of selling any of my crypto investments. But my mom has made me feel like I might be overleveraged. Only time will tell who is right! lol. thank you for your comment!
Aye go with your gut feeling that's what I learned