Book Review: The Richest Man in Babylon
- Author
- George S. Clason
- Grade
- B
Provocative, but dense prose makes it a difficult read.
If you have been hearing good things about George S. Clason’s The Richest Man in Babylon, you’re not alone. I had heard some things myself, so when I saw it while browsing a shelf of used books, I snatched it up. Clason put this book together from a series of pamphlets he wrote giving financial advice in the form of Babylonian parables. This volume of homemade fables has spent time on the bestsellers list, which at least means Clason’s taught his readers to spend money trying to improve their finances.
It’s best to say up front that there isn’t much in this book that will be new to people who have read other personal finance books or who have read at least a few of the thousands of financial articles posted online every week. The advice is the same, though some of the details have changed. Clason tells readers to live on 70% of their income, whereas Mary Hunt, author of Debt Proof Living, suggests 80%, and MSN Money’s MP Dunleavey favors a 60% solution. Some percentages haven’t changed, such as saving 10% of your income.
The fact is, that while the strategies in this book are common in prevailing fiscal thought, they are effective and time-tested. It’s hard to argue with caveats such as, live on less than you earn and work hard. Clason even peppers his fables with likable characters and historical interest to keep his audience reading. The narrative flows better than many of the moral-laden fables that readers will be familiar with and helps to lubricate what can be a fairly clunky and dry subject matter. Even the setting in Babylon helps to simplify and familiarize what could otherwise be overwhelming ideas. Virtually anyone can understand the struggles of a baker or a craftsman, while the life of a stockbroker remains a little out of reach.
The book has other problems, such as repetitiveness, probably a holdover from the original pamphlets; predictability, since we know that the characters will find the path of wealth eventually; and triteness due to the fables’ simplicity and because the book was written as a feel-good tactic for the readers. The book remains, however, a good read for those who haven’t read any personal finance literature in the past or find it too dry. This book would also be a good gift for a friend or relative who may fall into the above category. You can tell them that it earned a solid B.
Copyright . Published 1 December 2007 in What’s New.
Reader comments
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I read this book years ago and loved it. It was the first book I ever read on the subject of fiscal management and was a fantastic introduction to the subject.
I work at a university where students are going into debt for their education and at the urging of the credit card vendors who set up on campus giving away free t-shirts. I would love to see someone giving away “The Richest Man in Babylon” to counteract some of that.
While not all debt is bad and it’s even sometimes necessary to achieve a greater goal later down the road, I feel like there’s a huge subset of the American population that is totally clueless about even the most basic aspects of fiscal management.
This book should be required reading in our high schools.
permalink — 2 December 2007, 08:54