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Financial journalist Andrew Tobias is so socially conscientious that he once mounted an antismoking campaign in Russia simply because it seemed like a good idea. He has likewise taken it upon himself to upgrade living conditions in south Florida, support auto insurance reform in California, and undertake other crusades that result from his lifelong internal conflict between capitalism and socialism. Tobias can take on such causes because he's made quite a bit of money through writing and investment. In
My Vast Fortune: The Money Adventures of a Quixotic Capitalist, he humorously reveals the details without hesitating to note that the joke is often on him.
From Library Journal
Tobias (The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Harcourt, 1996) claims to have started his own personal fortune when his father gave him five dollars for his fifth birthday. Rather than a primer on personal finance, this is more a memoir with a number of financial stops along the way. Tobias recounts buying real estate in Florida that made him something of a slum lord. He tells us about a personal campaign against cigarette smoking in Russia that resulted in his buying time and appearing on Russian television. He describes an almost obsessive quest to reform auto insurance. His advice for beginning investors: "Largely it's a matter of adopting good spending and saving habits." He even titles a section of his book "Giving It Away," in which he talks about philanthropy. Tobias writes with wit, grace, and, at times, a wide-eyed wonderment that such good fortune could have come his way. Recommended for larger nonfiction collections in public libraries.
-?Richard S. Drezen, Washington Post News Research Ctr., Washington, D.C.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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