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Adventure Capitalist: The Ultimate Road Trip

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Jim Rogers may never hit the list of top 10 best selling authors but that's not because his latest book lacks any of the important characteristics of a bestseller. The only disqualifier is self-imposed by the author. The book is designed to blow away many common illusions and prejudices about the world we live in. It is not the stuff popular fiction is made of.

Jim is a former hedge fund manager who retired at 37, following a successful stint on Wall Street alongside George Soros. In the early nineties he published his first book Investment Biker, a story of his round-the-world trip by motorcycle.

His new book called Adventure Capitalist-The Ultimate Road Trip describes his second round-the-world trip, this time by a custom built Mercedes-Benz car. He set out with his wife Paige and a team of two other guys in 1999. The trip took them on a 240,000 kilometer journey through 116 countries and ended three years later.

I believe that this book should be required reading at schools and colleges not just because it beats Phileas Fogg's journey hands down in intellectual stimulation, but because the book is also a compendium of free-market ideas and live comparative social analysis.

Jim's starting point was to search for investment opportunities. He set out with the open mind of a moneymaker on pilgrimage to find the truth about market conditions. He is looking for profitable opportunities, businesses and countries to invest in and is not prepared to accept conventional wisdom, official or ideological distortions. He has equal contempt for the party politics in US as with those of any other country he visits. He lashes out against Turkmenbashi, the dictator in charge of Turkmenistan, for perpetuating his own brand of Stalinist cult of personality and destroying the country in the process. But then shows the same contempt for President Bush for confusing devaluation with depreciation and also with former President Clinton who he blames for failing to observe and react to the creation and bursting of the biggest market bubble in decades. "I would cast a pox on both their houses-the Democrats and the Republicans" he proclaims in exasperation.

Adventure Capitalist exposes some official and popular myths for what they are in a way that made me look at politics and religion from a very different perspective. In China, Jim tells of attending service in a Chinese Christian Church, where the local worshipers, while singing "Onward Christian Soldiers" never realized that in lands as far as North Carolina there are people like Jesse Helms who are frothing at the mouth while bemoaning religious persecution in their country.

Despite not being able to obtain a visa to drive freely though Iran, Jim still admits to holding some small investments in the country and suggests forgetting the official analysis coming from Washington. "...there is a lot of positive change coming from Iran." he claims.

Jim squarely lays the blame on the British for their Imperial invention of the passport and for the subsequent regulation of immigration by Government bureaucrats worldwide. His prediction is that in some parts of the world passports will not manage to stop the changing of borders.

He talks of countries where he likes to invest and economies that he believes are on the verge of collapse. Which ones are those? Well, let's say I don't expect he will be a best selling author in Moscow.

Jim Rogers will probably not be officially proclaimed as prophet any time soon, but I know there will be people who will quote passages of the Adventure Capitalist for the years to come.

I received "Adventure Capitalist" from Amazon less than 48 hours ago and with many other things to do I have still managed to read over half of it. ... I find it a great read, especially for couch adventurers who can take vicarious pleasures in crossing Siberia, eating exotic food, and meeting 10 years later some of the characters introduced in "Investment Biker."

As to financial advice I disagree with Publisher's Weekly. I think Jim Rogers is right on target for what he gives the reader, if the reader really pays attention, is effective criteria for deciding where to invest: look at the currency at borders, watch the black market, internal and external debt, and bureaucracy. Way back in October when I heard Jim on CNBC, I listened, bought euros, and made enough to re do my kitchen. He does not specifically say buy, this or that, but by looking at economies in a fresh, common sense and "real way," from Russia to Japan to China to Korea, he does get to the heart of the matter.

Rogers has has updated the fascinating material from his website which chronicled his journey. The pictures on the web site really give a complete picture of the journey. However, hopping and skipping through the journey on the web site I missed some of the personal events. The book puts those personal events in context. There is enough of the personal saga in the book to engage the reader, but not enough to distract from the title of the book, "Adventure Capitalist." It is a fun adventure that everyone can take along with Jim

Jim Rogers has been smashingly successful in two different areas - international investing and international travel. He tries to tackle both successes in this book but unfortunately doesn't adequately cover either. His remarkable achievement covered here is his three-year drive (with his wife and some suspiciously anonymous assistants) around the world, knocking off 116 countries and 152,000 miles, along with all the life-threatening travails and crises that you would expect in so many hostile territories. He was also on constant lookout for international investing opportunities, and his most interesting assertion is that you learn most about the dynamics of any foreign economy by talking to real people at street level. That's opposed to know-it-all politicians and bureaucrats who make vast judgments on places they have never been and couldn't nearly understand.

The main problem here is that the journey was so extensive that Rogers doesn't have the space to relate an effective travelogue about all the places he visited. Entire nations are often described in a sentence or less. Meanwhile, yes/no pronouncements on the viability of investing in each location are tossed off quickly like afterthoughts. Rogers does impart some great investment advice here, like the contention that the next bull market will be in commodities (raw materials) rather than securities, most of the currencies in the world are collapsing, and that the surprise up-and-coming nations will be Angola and Bolivia. But otherwise, Rogers quickly dismisses most of the visited countries due to political strife. He also spends a lot of time on his soapbox, making vast pronouncements on how to solve the world's ills, most of which involve a simplistic belief in free trade (the phrase "the miracles of international trade" pops up once), and the predictable disdain for globalization's critics that we keep hearing from those with vested interests. Rogers fails to notice that much of the political strife he encountered around the world resulted from mismanaged globalization efforts.

Rogers should have written two books inspired by his remarkable journey. The first would be a travelogue and adventure story about the perils and rewards of death-defying travel. The second book would be a solid examination of worldwide investing opportunities and the futures of developing vs. declining nations and their economies. Both would be much stronger than this book that unsuccessfully tries to blend the two, but leaves both poorly covered.

I have learned more about the world from Adventure Capitalist than from any other book I've ever read. In case you're not familiar with the author, Jim Rogers, he's an Alabama boy who moved to New York to become one of the most legendary investors in Wall Street history. He co-founded the Quantum Fund, one of the best-performing hedge funds of all time, in 1973 with partner George Soros and "retired" in 1980 at the age of thirty-eight. The Quantum Fund gained over 4,000% during its first ten years. In addition, Jim Rogers and George Soros are legendary for making a billion dollars for the fund during a single day of currency trading. Jim is particularly famous for investing in stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, and everything and anything else--long and short--all over the world. If a truck of coffee beans turns over in Columbia, Jim can tell you how it will affect pork belly futures the next day.

Jim chronicled his first trip around the world, on a motorcycle no less, in Investment Biker. Adventure Capitalist is his report of a three-year trip around the world at the turn of the millennium (1999, 2000, and 2001) through 116 countries. No motorcycle this time though. With his beautiful fiancee Paige accompanying him (they married during the trip), they traveled in a custom-built, four-wheel-drive, convertible, Sunburst Yellow Mercedes.

The book is non-stop adventure supplemented with Jim's excellent political and economic commentary. Here are some quotes that I highlighted in the book:

"Ulan Bator, the capitol of Mongolia, is perhaps the most technologically up-to-date city in the world, totally digital. With the fall of the Soviet Union, a free and independent Mongolia benefited from numerous sources of foreign aid, and with no infrastructure to upgrade, it leapfrogged about three generations of technology. The whole city is wired with fiber-optic cable, enabling you to jack into the Web from almost any phone in town... Everybody in Mongolia has a digital cell phone. The nation's nomads, crossing the country on horseback, carry them. There is a cell phone in most yurts."

"The liberator of the Ivory Coast and its first president was Felix Houphouet-Boigny... He was going to make the country's cathedral larger than Saint Peter's until the pope intervened. In the end, at the pontiff's urging, he made it two centimeters smaller."

"Tanzania, in my opinion, when it comes to tourism, is the single best country in Africa... it has not yet been overrun by foreign visitors... It has beautiful beaches on the Indian Ocean. It has the exotic, ancient island of Zanzibar... It has game parks that are unique in the world, teeming with animals... Tanzania is one of the safest countries in Africa. And it is cheap... There were animals everywhere. And no people."

"In India, self-described as a great incubator of information technology, we could not even use mobile phones universally. We had to buy a different phone for almost every city. A mobile phone in China works everywhere in the country. The Indians are extraordinarily resentful and jealous of the Chinese... China has grown far more than India in the last twenty years, and China has infrastructure--highways, telephones, mobile phones. India has virtually none of these."

"You will not find another city in the world that is as rich and as safe as Singapore."

"My chief impression of Paraguay today is that it should not exist. The place should be dismantled and sold for parts."

"In Buenos Aires I went to the bank, changed all my pesos into dollars, and got them out of the country. The banker handling the transaction scoffed at me, as did several politicians... in three months the collapse of the Argentine economy led the news all over the world."

Like anyone else working 9 to 5 I've often fantasized about around the world jaunts. Jim Rogers and his Wife, Paige actually did it in a bright yellow Mercedes. At times I found myself wondering what would have happened if the author hadn't had access to tons of cash, but for the most part this was an excellent book with an interesting perspective. Rogers blames government corruption for most of the problems in the world and views anti-American sentiment as the product of our idiotic governmental policies that alienate everyone. This book has brief, but telling statements to make about the future of investing and the state of the world to come. (Hint: Rogers is big on commodities). This book is hard to put down, but a little short on details.

The trip described in this book is undoubtedly the best investing adventure that anyone has ever experienced. The trip experience is a worthy sequel to Investment Biker. This time he travels in a bright yellow Mercedes with a trailer . . . accompanied by a camera crew in another Mercedes.

The book itself is extremely superficial, and has little to do with investing. Most of the material is about getting visas, crossing borders, bribing officials, eating foods you won't find at home, the local sexual tourism activities, the state of the buildings, whose picture he took with a Polaroid camera, and whether or not Mr. Rogers had to hire a military convoy. In most countries, he notes how wrong his opinions were on his last visit during Investment Biker. So why will he be right this time?

Where he does draw conclusions, there is little support for his findings. A major theme is the start of a new upward commodity price cycle upward. You'll look long and hard without finding any evidence to support that conclusion.

The most interesting parts come, however, where he draws the opposite conclusion from what you have heard reported. For instance, Mr. Rogers found religion to be freely practiced by all faiths throughout China. He says that tourism is better in Tanzania than in Kenya. He recommends avoiding the climb up Mount Kilimanjaro. He reports well on the many ways that Americans annoy the rest of the world, and the harm done by nongovernmental organizations. The scams involving charity from the United States will also be an eye-opener.

This book will be most appealing to those who are considering driving through some of these countries. It's the only book I know of that provides realistic information about the road conditions and personal safety issues for such a large number of countries. You'll learn that it's best to drive a Mercedes because of the amazing string of dealerships that are described in the book (because all of the corrupt officials and most successful criminals around the world favor Mercedes-Benz automobiles).

For the most part, though, this is just a self-indulgent book about how a rich man uses his wealth and ingenuity to amuse himself.

If you want to read an intriguing book about investment-oriented travel, I recommend Investment Biker over this one.

After you finish the book, if you decide to read it, I suggest that you think about how you can help someone be a better investor. Who needs that help? What do they need to know? How can they learn those important facts?

Of all the books you read this year, this may be the one you will remember best. As you journey around the world there will be times you may envy Jim Rogers, while at others you may be thankful you were not with him, but always you will have to know what he is going to be doing on the next page. Rogers reveals to you the wonders of places many of us have dreamed of visiting but never will. He does the same for places many have never even known existed. His is not the tourist view, but the genuine article with both the roses and the thorns carefully examined.
As in his earlier classic, "Investment Biker," you may even get a few investment ideas, but Rogers never tells you what to do or not do. Rather he clears away the smoke, reveals the true picture, and lets you make your own decisions. Along the way he also gives the careful reader deep insights into who he is and what he believes. There is much depth here for those who can understand, and it adds greatly to the authenticity of the narrative he relates.
In the last chapter of the book Rogers examines how Americans see the world and in turn are perceived by other nations. If it would not violate the refreshing spirit of freedom that runs throughout this volume, it would be a good idea to make these final pages required reading in our schools, government offices, and corporate board rooms.
I thought I knew a lot about the world. Jim Rogers taught me a lot I did not know. Whenever Rogers writes a book it is always a great privilege to be able to make the journey with him.

This book is a travelogue, adventure story, investment advisory, a lesson in world history and global economic commentary. It is an engaging account of a presumptuous man's self-indulgent travels. It takes you around the world and gives you an exclusive peak into many economies; and you don't even need a ridiculously expensive modified Mercedes. But be warned, this book is also full of immature, under informed predictions.

Only 2 yardsticks - the number of young people in a country and its prostitutes - measure each nations investment opportunity. It is obvious that the author is by no means qualified to make the comments he makes. They are arrogant and irresponsible statements.

These predictions are also highly inductive. With degrees from Oxford and Yale I am surprised the author does not realize that reasoning from the particular to the general can be a serious logical flaw. A waitress runs to your beck and call so China is efficient, another waitress would not serve rice that was not on the menu therefore Japan is inflexible, India is not liberalized because he needed an import license to replace his car mirror. Central Europe is a disaster.... the world is disintegrating into smaller nations...people who learn ancient languages are in a time warp. The rest of us would shudder to make such sweeping generalizations.

The wife all along is an intellectual subordinate whose only role in this adventure is to squirm at silkworm snacks, weep about Hiroshima, traumatize over civil wars, shop for exotic expensive goods and most importantly slap the men who touch her bottom.

Buy this book if you are curious about the adventure, it makes for good armchair travel. If you are looking for something more you will not find it. This book by the `Indiana Jones of Investment' is a poor intellectual and bibliographic investment.

Investment Biker, Jim Rogers' first book, about his motorcycle trip around the world, was so original and entertaining that I read it twice. So when I found out he had taken a sequel trip and written a new book, I couldn't wait to read it.

Adventure Capitalist just doesn't compare well to Investment Biker. Rather than take motorcycles, Rogers and his new girlfriend (the girlfriend from the Investment Biker trip is gone) take a custom-built car and a spare (car), just in case. Right away, we can see that this is not going to be the impromptu, go-anywhere journey that Investment Biker was.

From almost skidding off the road in the rain just before they start their trip, to narrowly avoiding thieves in Africa when they unexpectedly have to sleep overnight in the car, the dangers often seem self-inflicted. After all, how can you cruise around in a fancy yellow sports car (with storage trailer and support staff) and not attract attention?

I really can't blame Rogers for taking another trip, and what the heck, he's got the money, why not go first class? It's just that it doesn't make for an especially gripping book.

Jim Rogers has taken the great American notion of a road trip, and made it into a sensational read. I was really taken by his first book, i.e. Investment Biker, and followed his next trip via his website. Each time I checked his site, my interst in the book to come increased, and I was not disappointed.

I think that Mr. Rogers might have about 5 more books from this one trip, and each one would be better and more insightful as he mulls over the things that he saw and experienced and has the time to take a longer view. I will look forward to buying those future books should they come to pass.

The book is well written, thoughtful and persuasive as to the the failings of our foreign policy. It's too bad that national leadership seems to be fashioning a neo-isolationist policy, when the real goal should be to understand how those in the rest of the world really see us.

I wanted the book to be longer, to provide more detail as to how he got things done, the stuff that worked, and more on what he saw and experienced. As I wrote this review, I found myself listening to the BBC World news trying to connect with the world that Rogers so eloquently describes.

This is a great book, and the kind that should be required reading for students of all ages!