Reviews

The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason

dabersh's review against another edition

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0.25

A heaping pile of libertarian propaganda.

matthewabush's review

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4.0

Not a bad read. Most of the stuff is basic, but still important.

rebelreyek's review

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informative inspiring medium-paced

3.0

benkuver's review

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5.0

This book gives the reader very important wisdoms that everyone can implement in life. The only thing is whether the reader utilize the wisdom or not, it depends on the reader. Some wisdom might be repetitive in the book, but please go through the book, it’s worth your time.
With proper utilization of its wisdom,
- You’ll be able save up money and invest wisely with the money you saved up to multiply it.
- Even as a slave, you can regain freedom and repay your debt if you treat work as your best friend.
- Money saving tip:
o 10% of what you earned will go to your saving (do not touch it)
o 70% of what you earned will be for you and your family to enjoy the necessary expenses (spend wisely)
o The other 20% is for you to pay of your debts.
This book deserves several rereads and it is a classic for a reason, no regret reading it.
• Act upon the wisdom you have gain from reading it.

amaladaquilla's review

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funny informative inspiring relaxing medium-paced

3.0

bella_mckinnon's review

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Loved the sharing of financial wisdom through ancient tales and characters. Great book.

littlewebos's review

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informative inspiring

3.5

saybrina's review

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informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

merqri's review

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2.0

The Richest Man in Babylon is a financial advice book. This was published first in 1926. From that time a lot has changed, but the core financial tenets of this book still hold strong. However, a lot has changed in the ways of writing and information transfer too. This is where the book falls short.

There are some very valuable lessons here. The primary one being save at least 1/10th of what you earn no matter what. Rest of the book is a set of ground rules about how not to be stupid with your money. Then there is one thought-provoking quote,

That man who keepeth in his purse both gold and silver that he need not spend is good to his family and loyal to his king. “The man who hath but a few coppers in his purse is indifferent to his family and indifferent to his king. “But the man who hath naught in his purse is unkind to his family and is disloyal to his king, for his own heart is bitter."


This comes towards the end, coupled with another insight into repayment of debt. 20% of your income should be allocated to repayment of your debts and not much more. The point he makes twice is how an empty stomach loses sustainability. I liked how one of the protagonists limits his debt repayment outflow to 20% and justifies that, he also needs to feel happy and content with what he earns to continue doing the repayments regularly.

After reading this book I have started wondering if one should rate/recommend a book if its content has waned or better represented elsewhere. Do you still hold the book in high regard and apply to it the scales of the times when it was written? Or since you are reading it today, and applying what you gain from it in the society today, should they book strictly be valued for the current times? I don't have the answer to that, but this dilemma is here to stay for me.

If you feel this paragraph above, which is relevant considering I started thinking on those lines while reading this book, is a digression from a review, then this is what I continuously kept feeling when I was reading the book. Especially later chapters are verbose allegories written in archaic English for no discernable reason. dost, hast, thou are not the words often seen in a financial advisory. Not sure if these words were in vogue in 1926 when this book was first published, but in 2021, they make the prose much more opaque for no reason.

At ~90 pages, this is a quick read. Today, most of its core content can be well summarized in a blog post on a financial website. This book can still go through some serious editing to actually make it of a length of a blog post.

Overall, this is an okay read. If you read the first 3-4 paragraphs of this review, then you have pretty much covered the crux of the book.

florally_laurel's review

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informative medium-paced

3.25