Interesting to see what the top selling books you guys are buying (referred from this site to Amazon):
1. Richest Man in Babylon 27 sold (19 new + 8 used)
2. More Than You Know 23 (21 + 2)
3. Unexpected Returns: Understanding Secular Stock Market Cycles 22 (22 + 0)
4. Hedgehogging 17 (12 + 5)
5. Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science 12 (10 +2)
Kind of fascinating; I would have thought the more expenseive books would have seen more used buying; The Richest Man in Babylon was about the same used or new if you qualified for free shipping
How much commission does Amazon give you guys?
BR: The Amazon Associate Program referal fees are 2-4% of sales.
Quints, could it be that a major reason Barry’s bloggers are interested in trading advice is that they’ve developed the habit of careful spending of EVERYTHING they buy… so that they’ll have more to invest?
Re: yachts. I have several friends who owned ’em. Two of the three got rid of them. Pure money drains, they said.
“Where are all the blog – readers’ yachts?”
That’s a good one lol!
Barry’s advice hasn’t bought me a yacht….yet, but I’m doing a lot better now than I was before I started reading (and subscribing) [thank-you mid year top call]
I got “Richest Man in Babylon” off paperbackswap.com. Will list it again as soon as I’m done with it.
The others look interesting too.
BTW, paperback swap is great if you’re a heavy reader – lots of cheap reads, and a pretty wide variety of subjects. All you pay is shipping for books you want to trade.
Some free advice: A boat is a hole you pour money into; the bigger the boat, the bigger the hole.
Personally, I’ve never read any of the books in the top 5, nor do I have any interest in doing so. The latest books I’ve read are The Third Reich in Power (fascinating, with some scary parallels to the present-day situation here in the US), The Ancestors’ Tale (also fascinating, but not as good as Dawkins’ other works such as The Selfish Gene or The Blind Watchmaker), Does Anything Eat Wasps? (fun and interesting, with questions such as “how fat would I have to be to be bulletproof?”), and An Inconvenient Truth (say what you will about his wooden-ness, but Mr. Gore has more vision than any political leader since Churchill and FDR).
Thank god Robert Kiyosaki (sp?) wasn’t on that list – it might make me skip the comments in future posts from Barry.
Bynocerus, you’re right about the money pit that a yacht represents. On the other hand, the friend who kept his yacht until the end of his life (he died unexpectedly), really, really enjoyed it. He could afford it; his joy in owning and using it to take long trips, including to the islands, could be described as priceless. After building a successful business, why not enjoy a massive infusion of pleasure, indeed, of joy?
Donna, thank you for the information about paperbackswap.com. I’m telling EVERYONE!
Barry, just an idea. You’ve got a lot of very knowledgeable people commenting here whose opinion I would love to know about some of the books you (and they) recommend. Sort of an Amazon Review subset without the agenda some seem to have there. Plus, the advantage of “knowing” them through having read their comments on other posts.
I haven’t thought through quite how you would implement it, but would love to be able to click on a book over in the right column there and learn what some of these folks think in addition to your recommendation. Thanks.
I’m planning on purchasing a copy of “The Richest Man in Babylon” for everyone of my employees (35) so the numbers might jump a bit… I try to send out a book or two a year that gives clear and reasonable advice that will help everyone who works for me become rich. I know the salaries, and there’s no excuse for anyone here to retire poor, except ignorance.
~ Nona,
I love boats, it’s just that at this point in my life, I’d rather relax on someone else’s than pour my dough into one. Hell, I’ll buy their gas and the Pepsis (one of the few rules I have in this world is no drinking on a boat (or in a car, or while hunting), but I digress) as long as I’m not the one stuck with the maintenance bills.
Didn’t want to give anyone the impression that I don’t like boats. Just don’t like owning them any more.
Given the measly skim you’re getting from Amazon, you might want to move over to goodstorm (http://mecommerce.goodstorm.com/) at the end of the month.
“Richest Man in Babylon” topping the rest shows that everyone is dreaming of financial success and money. Or is it just me?