i\u2019m finally reading The Richest Man In Babylon \u2013 I\u2019d seen in recommended several times in multiple contexts over the years, and I found a cheap copy at a book fair in a shopping mall. It\u2019s thinner than I expected; my copy is 147 pages with a fairly large typeface. The author, George S Clason, was born in 1874, and published the book in 1926. So in a couple of years it will be 100 years old. I didn\u2019t actually know that it was a \u201cpersonal finance\u201d book. I wasn\u2019t really expecting to enjoy the book, I thought it would be a straightforward skim read, a quaint curiosity, like watching an old movie that\u2019s not exactly enjoyable anymore because it feels dated, but you watch it anyway just to get the cultural references, and some sense of what things were like back then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m enjoying the book more than I expected, at multiple layers. I\u2019m 27 pages in as I paused to write this. I enjoy its introduction and its use of frame stories. I\u2019m assuming Clason was a legitimate Babylon nerd, Babylon must\u2019ve been \u2018his Roman Empire\u2019. I enjoyed the layers to the setup. On the first page is a summary of the lessons or learnings of the books. There\u2019s a confidence to the Foreword, which begins with \u201cOur prosperity as a nation depends upon the personal financial prosperity of each of us as individuals. This book deals with the personal successes of each of us.\u201d I like how crisp that frame is, being clear about what the limits of the book are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the Foreword comes \u201cA Historical Sketch of Babylon\u201d, beginning with \u201cIn the pages of history there lives no city more glamorous than Babylon. Its very name conjures visions of wealth and splendor\u2026 Babylon is an outstanding example of man\u2019s ability to achieve great objectives, using whatever means are at his disposal\u2026\u201d \u2013 it\u2019s a fairly short history, but it prepares the reader with context. Then comes \u201cThe Man Who Desired Gold\u201d, and we begin the parable with the story of a frustrated worker: \u201cBansir, the chariot builder of Babylon, was thoroughly discouraged. From his seat upon the low wall surrounding his property, he gazed sadly at his simple home and the open workshop in which stood a partially completed chariot.\u201d Clason spends several evocative pages talking about Bansir\u2019s struggles and ennui\u2013 how his wife wordlessly reminds him that he should be working so they can feed their family, how his friend Kobbi the musician pays him a visit to ask for a small loan, how dejected Bansir is to admit that he\u2019s equally penniless. Over several pages I find myself smiling, nodding, sighing at how familiar the conversation between Bansir and Kobbi is, two seemingly decent men who have done nothing wrong, and yet are quietly struggling and hoping for better. They end with the decision to seek out Arkad, The Richest Man in Babylon<\/em>, for his wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then comes the chapter with the same title as the book, and we learn about Arkad. Here I am struck by how succinctly and deftly Clason writes for several pages about the very same arguments I see people having on Twitter to this day,about the role of luck, preparation, opportunity. Arkad tells the story of how he himself was a mere scribe, who struck a deal with Algamish, a money-lender who would become his mentor in turn, and after a couple of failures (he makes a bad investment, and then he makes a good one but spends everything), the aging Algamish would be impressed by his newfound financial savvy, and give him a share of his estate to manage and ultimately inherit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I\u2019m reading this\u2013 \u201cAlgamish had returned to the room of the scribes each time because he was watching a man work his way out of darkness into light. When that man had found the light, a place awaited him. No one could fill that place until he had for himself worked out his own understanding, until he was ready for opportunity.\u201d \u2013 this isn\u2019t actually resonating for me so much about money, but it\u2019s resonating for me in the ream of writing, creativity, output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2731<\/p>\n\n\n\n in the next chapter, the King returns to Babylon after defeating his enemies to learn from his Royal Chancellor that the distribution of wealth in Babylon was severely warped. He summons Arkad, who is 70 years old. The King says, \u201cIt is my desire that Babylon be the wealthiest city in the world therefore it must be a city of many wealthy men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A quick note, i like how there are occasional sensory etails, like \u201ca scared lamp sending forth a strange and pleasing odor\u201d. And how there are little details like what one student whispers to another, \u201cbehold the richest man, he is but a man even as the rest of us\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n a big point about the \u201csave 10% for yourself\u201d seems to be that is it feels good to possess savings<\/p>\n\n\n\n interesting that everyone seems to be at their limit despite all earning different amounts and having different expenses<\/p>\n\n\n\n home ownership point is hm, idk if it was true during babylon\u2019s time and i\u2019m unsure about what was the situation in 1920s america<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" i\u2019m finally reading The Richest Man In Babylon \u2013 I\u2019d seen in recommended several times in multiple contexts over the years, and I found a cheap copy at a book fair in a shopping mall. It\u2019s thinner than I expected; my copy is 147 pages with a fairly large typeface.… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[86],"class_list":["post-14330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-books"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s5gxNz-babylon","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14330"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14332,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14330\/revisions\/14332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}