Customer Reviews

The Richest Man in Babylon: The Success Secrets of the Ancients

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Our society is so obsessed with rich people, but we only pay attention to their expensive mansions, cars, and lifestyles. But few of us notice how these people got there. Their expensive possessions are the end result. So, what do we do? We borrow and spend to accumulate possessions so that we can be seen as wealthy. If you truly want to know how to build wealth, read this book first.

I absolutely loved it. I have read many books on personal finance, but this one gets the point across really well. The author teaches financial lessons through short stories. The main ideas behind this book are paying yourself the first 10% of your paycheck, spending less than you earn, and letting your money work for you. This is such a simple concept, but at the same time extremely hard for people to execute. Since this book was first written in 1929, I have to warn readers that it is written in old English so it might be a tough read for some people.

- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market

When I worked as a financial planner, several of my clients who were teachers asked me to "discuss money" with their 5th and 6th grade classes. Each child received a book, we chatted an hour and that was intended to be the end of it. HAH! It turned into a weekly meeting, the kids began "investing" with monopoly money .. they began reading the financial section of newspapers to "follow their stocks", the real estate section to follow the market on property they "bought" .. by the end of the year they were all asking parents for a share of stock instead of guns and dolls for holiday gifts; they bought savings bonds with gift money; they got part time jobs to add to their treasure chests .. it was AMAZING!

Thirty years later, I'm semi-retired, a number of the children from "my classes" have become very secure to wealthy, and their overall life path has been very stable .. from choosing life mates who shared their views of financial self-determination, to remembering to enjoy the lives they were building.

My children have been raised the same way and my grandchildren look forward to the day they're old enough to receive their own copy of this book. I've found "old enough" to vary according to the individual child -Wesley Woo Woo was an early bloomer and insisted it be read TO him when he was only 5. He makes "money chooses" according to whether he wants something or really NEEDS it (some of his self discussions are hilarious) and he's making some very good choices.

This book can be a guide to get people out of debt and on the road to success. It is not a get rich quick scheme, but sound advice that people should understand before graduating high school, and certainly before ever getting a credit card.

For minimal time and money investment, this book has a wealth of information.

Lots of successful people cite this book as having given them a solid grounding, which is why I was keen to read it.
OK, a lot of the language is dated - thee, thou, wilt, didst etc - but it is extremely readable. The language in fact enhances the reading experience - it underlines the timelessness of what is being written.
The book is a series of chapters, and each chapter has a truth, explained through a story, like a parable. The characters are, of course, from ancient times, but their thoughts and actions are exactly how people think and act today.
It is no new thing that people look for the "get rich quick" and the "lucky" roads to wealth, but in fact the right way is quite simple. There is discipline involved, sure, but it isn't hard.
The richest man in Babylon got where he did by working hard, taking advice, putting money aside and investing it wisely. What I particularly like about the book is that all the characters who succeed make mistakes along the way, but that doesn't stop them from ultimately getting to their goal.
A true classic.

This is a really bad print by BN Publishing. There's no indentation for Paragraphs and its very difficult to read. Its like someone cut and paste the text from MS Word, but was too lazy to fix the paragraph indentation.

BUY ANOTHER VERSION!!!!

This book should be mandatory reading for everyone on earth...it teaches such simple, basic, effective personal finance strategies through an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand story. I recommend it to every first-time investor I encounter.

Michael T. Hanley, CPA is the Managing Partner of the Smithtown, NY CPA Firm, Merl & Hanley, LLP and the author of Effective Tax Planning for the MicroBusiness: 30 Minutes With...A Certified Public Accountant: Effective Tax Planning for the MicroBusiness

I have studied finance. Yes, this book tells you the same thing that all the others do, but this book presented it in a different way. There are a few concepts that finally sunk in. One of the few books worth every penny it cost you. I wish I had read it when I was 18.

I like the old version better; there are some typos in this printing, but you can't get better financial advise than this!

I loved the book. I am giving a copy to each one of my grand-children.
It takes you thru very simple steps in an exceedingly entertaining manor.
Most importantly, any juvenile can understand the procedure proposed in the book.
Which, I believe to be the most important factor presented by the author, if we are to see future results.
Yet, obviously, from the sheer amount of sales and testimony, his technique is successful.
I was brought up in a environment, during the 60's, which cared little of teaching a woman to do much else but raise their children & be a housewife. Consequently, I had not given much thought to the financial dynamics of factual exchange.
I appreciate the crash course to financial abundance, albeit in my later years.
We should want to leave a Legacy.

The book arrived in just a few days, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it had large print, which I need from time to time. Thanks for the great price, too!!!