Customer Reviews

Lack of Money is the Root of All Evil: Mark Twain's Timeless Wisdom on Money and Wealth for Today's Investor

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The blurbs for this book are very misleading. It is a text for beginning investors. Each chapter starts with a quote from Twain, but it has little else to do with him. The entire references to Twain probably don't exceed 5 pages of text. If you are interested in Mark Twain - forget it. Not much here. If you are interested in basic investing principles - likewise forget it - I have seen much better.

I was hoping this book would be more Twain and less Leckey. I was disappointed. Each chapter starts with one quote from Twain, and Leckey provides some background context. That's about 10% of the book. The other 90% is Investing 101 stuff.

This book does a great job of capturing Mark Twain's humor and bringing it into a modern day investment context. Investing is serious business, but we can still laugh at our mistakes while we learn from them because chances are we're not the first to make them.

If you loved reading Mark Twain growing up, you'll love both his wisdow and wit on investing.

The author intertwines Mark Twains' insight, humor, and timeless wisdom with the current investment landscape. This is a good, yet basic primer for someone wanting to understand investment opportunities and pitfalls available today. It provides perspective on speculative opportunities, scams, and solid investments, choices that have been available to the novice and savvy investor alike since Twains' time.

The book contains 49 easily digestible chapters including: "The Law of Averages Eventually Makes You Right", "He Who Hesitates Can Save a Lot More" "Mutual Fund Expenses Can Hoodwink You" "Every Period in History Had It's Fools Gold", all applicable to today's investor.

There are many similar books on the market offering the same or similar advice. If you enjoy Mark Twain, and prefer your investment reading to be sprinkled with his perspective, buy this one, otherwise keep looking, you'll find another equally good book that provides the basics.

I enjoyed reading this book and learned some valuable lessons on money and investing. I also learned a great deal about Mark Twain. He was a very funny man. It is well worth the money.

Clever and informative at the same time. This is a pretty book that weaves the funny quotes and practical advice from Mark Twain into a delightful story that will apply to everyone. I learned about Mark Twain, his successes and failures, along with some good insights into my own financial style. It is surprising to see that with all the changes in the world, common sense is still the way to go! I recommend to all.

Financial columnist and television commentator Andrew Leckey has produced a facinating book of humorous and useful investment advice drawing on the writings of Mark Twain. If Twain with his erratic investments and bittersweet results seems an unlikely investment adviser, guess again. He made (and lost) several fortunes and managed along the way to accumulate some wisdom that is pertinent today. Andrew Leckey gracefully takes Twain's amusing observations and connnects them to today's market where people still make (and lose) fortunes.

--Everette E. Dennis Larkin Distinguished Professor Fordham Graduate School of Business Lincoln Center, New York City