The Richest Man in Babylon
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George S. Clason
George S. Clason (1874-1957) was a financial writer and businessman best known for his classic work "The Richest Man in Babylon." Born in Louisiana, Clason served in the United States Army during the Spanish-American War before pursuing a career in finance. His timeless book, originally published in 1926, imparts financial wisdom through ancient Babylonian parables. Clason's impactful writings continue to inspire generations with practical advice on wealth-building and financial success.
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Reviews for The Richest Man in Babylon
559 ratings22 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Although I know this book is considered a classic, I didn't find it very helpful. There was nothing in it that is new to me. For someone who is just learning to manage their money, it might be a helpful book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was an interesting book to listen to due to the biblical style and the setting of ancient Babylon. There are great concepts in regards to money management and wealth, however nothing that I not heard before. Whilst these financial concepts to provide great tips and advice on how to become more financially secure, I feel that in today's society it is easier said than done for the average person due to the increase in economic inequality and instability. Whilst I think that one's financial habits has a lot to do with how well off a person is, I don't think this is all the story as so much depends on the financial advantages or disadvantages that a person begins with in life.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book, considered a "classic" by professional networkers, home-based business owners, self-help aficionados, and Network Marketers, comes close to living up to its potential.Written in the 1920s, it has some dated aspects which make it somewhat distracting in today's politically-correct culture. Yet, the narrative, which reads like a translation of an ancient text, actually helps set it apart from all the other books out there, dealing with personal finance.The question is, how does one become wealthy?And we get basically the same answer that any reputable book will provide: save some money (they use the requisite 10 percent here), and spend less than you make. But there are a couple emphases placed in this book, in which it does add some real value:First - there are only three real major pieces of advice found throughout the book. Each of the three are sliced and diced in many different ways. But I like the simplicity of having only three major points.The first is found everywhere else: save some money, and spend less than you earn. And the classic ten percent is recommended.The next two, of the three, are different:1) Increase your earning potential.2) Pay back your debts.I found the third to be the most instructive, and even convicting. The person that pays back debts in a timely way, may still need to ask for loans - but if you are good about attempting to pay them back, it will be easier to obtain money in the future. And personal loans from friends and family are always to be preferred over institutional loans.So - this book is not all it is cracked up to be, but good nevertheless. You can read it in a day, and should.Now - here's to paying back all my debts, first, and quickly!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5THE RICHEST MAN IN BAYLON provides a few very basic concepts, but ones that are at the root of financial success: pay yourself first, live frugally, invest wisely, don't chase returns, and don't give out your hard-earned dollars to someone who doesn't have the skills and discipline to safeguard them as you would. Whether this is the right book for you depends on whether you enjoy reading these concepts presented in an awkward, ancient style as if you're sitting around with Yul Brynner, Charleton Heston and the golden calf waiting for the Red Sea to open. What's here is certainly shorter than most other financial success tomes on the market today, so in that regard, it provides more pop per page. Worth a read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book provides the reader with sound financial advise all the while being disguised as ancient parables. The advice is practical, and is easy enough for anyone to follow in establishing ones own financial freedom. The steps to follow are all there in black and white. I found myself nodding in agreement as I read this book. I only have one problem.......I am not financially stable. Why you may ask? I never practiced what I read. Shame on me. Hmph!!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is one of the best books of all time about finance. Follow the simple rules in this book and you will be wealthy.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book used a fable format to impart financial advice. It was a good way to get you to think about your finances from another point of view.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Babylon a city dating back to 1792 BC. In this book the author states that several number of stone tablets were unearthed through excavation about the city of Babylon these tablets did not just detail the everyday lives of Babylonians but gave advise on how to manage and invest ones money in order to produce wealth. Lessons which are still as viable today as they were back in Babylonian times.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If nothing else, this was an entertaining read. Reading about finances is usually dead boring. This book avoided that pitfall by presenting itself as a series of narratives focused around the principles it wanted to teach.I'm not sure Babylon is a model I wish to emulate, given that it was considered one of the more depraved cities of the world and now stands as an allusion to pride and idolatry. Riches, yes, but great sins as well. But these tales are not, of course, actually from Babylon, so I suppose that's not much of a problem.As for the "laws of gold" themselves, they seem fairly simple and logical. It's actually living by their principles that would be hard. The income distribution map that he highlights in the last few chapters doesn't exactly fit my purposes - I donate regularly to my church, and he has no room in his budget for tithing or taxes - but the model of self-control and of being the master of your own money is solid.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Parables about money management set in ancient Babylon, that were originally released as individual pamphlets and distributed by banks & insurance companies. I had seen this recommended a lot on the Motley Fool boards, and I can see why. Read this book to learn the secrets of making your gold into a hardworking slave.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great beginning primer on basic financial management
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/55 Stars. Inspiring. An excellent quick read about business thinking and money management. Really basic powerful principles. This book provides so much wisdom. I highly recommend.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I enjoyed reading the book. A classic novel on the timeless principles of personal finances. I believe all young adults just starting out on their own should read this book. It also is a good read for those who desire to take back control of their financial but don't know where to start.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Just because something is old, doesn't automatically mean that it is outdated. A good example for this is "The Richest Man in Babylon". The original version was written in the 1920's yet its financial advice is as current as it was back then. I enjoyed listening to these ancient tales while noting all the important money lessons. Especially now that we are faced with a weak economy it is important to remind ourselves of some of these basic rules when it comes to handling money and building wealth. For example: Pay yourself first. Live on less than you make. Live on a budget. Invest your money. Diversify. And don't go into debt. I believe that these rules will always hold true no matter how advanced our society becomes. This book is definitely a good way to refresh some of our financial common sense. Short and straight to the point.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The best book I have read this year! Thank you.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Simplistic, and engaging. The book serves the information in a way that is easy to understand for all ages.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great book for all to read. I recommend you to read this
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It was a nice, short read that concisely summarizes a lot of other financial books I've read. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in fixing their financial situation.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a great book for anyone who wants to know the secrets of building wealth. Great lessons sewed with many tales that must hit you hard to make them your working slaves! I can't recommend enough.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Un clásico base que no se puede dejar de leer. La forma narrativa lleva a pensar en la magia de las historias que nos atrapan y nos transmiten la idea casi sin que la percibamos.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very insightful, I wish I had known thai book before now but then it's never too late to start
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5According to Wikipedia, The Richest Man in Babylon began in 1926 as a series of informational pamphlets. Due to their popularity, Mr. Clason compiled the most popular of these pamplets into the book that exists today.I selected The Richest Man in Babylon as an audiobook because it's one of those classics that I'd just never gotten around to reading. As described in the previous paragraph, the book is a series of vignets about good, conservative money management. Among other things, the tales highlight the importance of: saving at least 10% of your money, choosing a conservative way to (invest) make your money grow, paying your debts, being entrepreneurial, working hard, and asking for financial guidance. This interesting thing about this book is that many others have taken one topic of the book and expanded it into a stand alone work - or even a series of works. So many examples come to mind...Your Money or Your Life, the Dave Ramsey books (The Total Money Makeover, Financial Peace, etc.), the David Bach books (The Automatic Millionaire, etc.), the Suze Orman books, etc., etc.While I found the book to be great foundational information, it's certainly dated with it's "where art", "thou", "makest", etc. language. This is intentional since it's conversation between men of Babylon. That's not really a problem so much as personal preference. There are several well written books that emphasize many of the same concepts in a more modern tone (which for me, makes it more readable). I would suggest Your Money or Your Life or The Total Money Makeover. This book provides a very high level overview (but lacks in some details) of what must be done if you want to build wealth over the long term. It's also one of the original books on that topic. For those reasons, I gave it 3.5 stars. It is a good book and I would recommend it to others.
Book preview
The Richest Man in Babylon - George S. Clason
The Richest Man in
Babylon
George S. Clason
THE RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON
by George S. Clason
Copyright 1926 George Samuel Clason.
This edition published by Reading Essentials.
All Rights Reserved.
Ahead of you stretches your future like a road leading into the distance. Along that road are ambitions you wish to accomplish . . . desires you wish to gratify.
To bring your ambitions and desires to fulfillment, you must be successful with money. Use the financial principles made clear in the pages which follow. Let them guide you away from the stringencies of a lean purse to that fuller, happier life a full purse makes possible.
Like the law of gravity, they are universal and unchanging. May they prove for you, as they have proven to so many others, a sure key to a fat purse, larger bank balances and gratifying financial progress.
LO, MONEY IS PLENTIFUL FOR THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND THE SIMPLE RULES OF ITS ACQUISITION
1. Start thy purse to fattening
2. Control thy expenditures
3. Make thy gold multiply
4. Guard thy treasures from loss
5. Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment
6. Insure a future income
7. Increase thy ability to earn
About the author
GEORGE SAMUEL CLASON was born in Louisiana, Missouri, on November 7, 1874. He attended the University of Nebraska and served in the United States Army during the Spanish-American War. Beginning a long career in publishing, he founded the Clason Map Company of Denver, Colorado, and published the first road atlas of the United States and Canada. In 1926, he issued the first of a famous series of pamphlets on thrift and financial success, using parables set in ancient Babylon to make each of his points. These were distributed in large quantities by banks and insurance companies and became familiar to millions, the most famous being The Richest Man in Babylon,
the parable from which the present volume takes its title. These Babylonian parables
have become a modern inspirational classic.
Foreword
Our 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. Success means accomplishments as the result of our own efforts and abilities. Proper preparation is the key to our success. Our acts can be no wiser than our thoughts. Our thinking can be no wiser than our understanding.
This book of cures for lean purses has been termed a guide to financial understanding. That, indeed, is its purpose: to offer those who are ambitious for financial success an insight which will aid them to acquire money, to keep money and to make their surpluses earn more money.
In the pages which follow, we are taken back to Babylon, the cradle in which was nurtured the basic principles of finance now recognized and used the world over.
To new readers the author is happy to extend the wish that its pages may contain for them the same inspiration for growing bank accounts, greater financial successes and the solution of difficult personal financial problems so enthusiastically reported by readers from coast to coast.
To the business executives who have distributed these tales in such generous quantities to friends, relatives, employees and associates, the author takes this opportunity to express his gratitude. No endorsement could be higher than that of practical men who appreciate its teachings because they, themselves, have worked up to important successes by applying the very principles it advocates.
Babylon became the wealthiest city of the ancient world because its citizens were the richest people of their time. They appreciated the value of money. They practiced sound financial principles in acquiring money, keeping money and making their money earn more money. They provided for themselves what we all desire . . . incomes for the future.
G. S.C.
An Historical Sketch of Babylon
In the pages of history there lives no city more glamorous than Babylon. Its very name conjures visions of wealth and splendor. Its treasures of gold and jewels were fabulous. One naturally pictures such a wealthy city as located in a suitable setting of tropical luxury, surrounded by rich natural resources of forests, and mines. Such was not the case. It was located beside the Euphrates River, in a flat, arid valley. It had no forests, no mines—not even stone for building. It was not even located upon a natural trade-route. The rainfall was insufficient to raise crops.
Babylon is an outstanding example of man's ability to achieve great objectives, using whatever means are at his disposal. All of the resources supporting this large city were man-developed. All of its riches were man-made.
Babylon possessed just two natural resources—a fertile soil and water in the river. With one of the greatest engineering accomplishments of this or any other day, Babylonian engineers diverted the waters from the river by means of dams and immense irrigation canals. Far out across that arid valley went these canals to pour the life giving waters over the fertile soil. This ranks among the first engineering feats known to history. Such abundant crops as were the reward of this irrigation system the world had never seen before.
Fortunately, during its long existence, Babylon was ruled by successive lines of kings to whom conquest and plunder were but incidental. While it engaged in many wars, most of these were local or defensive against ambitious conquerors from other countries who coveted the fabulous treasures of Babylon. The outstanding rulers of Babylon live in history because of their wisdom, enterprise and justice. Babylon produced no strutting monarchs who sought to conquer the known world that all nations might pay homage to their egotism.
As a city, Babylon exists no more. When those energizing human forces that built and maintained the city for thousands of years were withdrawn, it soon became a deserted ruin. The site of the city is in Asia about six hundred miles east of the Suez Canal, just north of the Persian Gulf. The latitude is about thirty degrees above the Equator, practically the same as that of Yuma, Arizona. It possessed a climate similar to that of this American city, hot and dry.
Today, this valley of the Euphrates, once a populous irrigated farming district, is again a wind swept arid waste. Scant grass and desert shrubs strive for existence against the windblown sands. Gone are the fertile fields, the mammoth cities and the long caravans of rich merchandise. Nomadic bands of Arabs, securing a scant living by tending small herds, are the only inhabitants. Such it has been since about the beginning of the Christian era.
Dotting this valley are earthen hills. For centuries, they were considered by travelers to be nothing else. The attention of archaeologists were finally attracted to them because of broken pieces of pottery and brick washed down by the occasional rain storms. Expeditions, financed by European and American museums, were sent here to excavate and see what could be found. Picks and shovels soon proved these hills to be ancient cities. City graves, they might well be called.
Babylon was one of these. Over it for something like twenty centuries, the winds had scattered the desert dust. Built originally of brick, all exposed walls had disintegrated and gone back to earth once more. Such is Babylon, the wealthy city, today. A heap of dirt, so long abandoned that no living person even knew its name until it was discovered by carefully removing the refuse of centuries from the streets and the fallen wreckage of its noble temples and palaces.
Many scientists consider the civilization of Babylon and other cities in this valley to be the oldest of which there is a definite record. Positive dates have been proved reaching back 8000 years. An interesting fact in this connection is the means used to determine these dates. Uncovered in the ruins of Babylon were descriptions of an eclipse of the sun. Modern astronomers readily computed the time when such an eclipse, visible in Babylon, occurred and thus established a known relationship between their calendar and our own.
In this way, we have proved that 8000 years ago, the Sumerites, who inhabited Babylonia, were living in walled cities. One can only conjecture for how many centuries previous such cities had existed. Their inhabitants were not mere barbarians living within protecting walls. They were an educated and enlightened people. So far as written history goes, they were the first engineers, the first astronomers, the first mathematicians, the first financiers and the first people to have a written language.
Mention has already been made of the irrigation systems which transformed the arid valley into an agricultural paradise. The remains of these canals can still be traced, although they are mostly filled with accumulated sand. Some of them were of such size that, when empty of water, a dozen horses could be ridden abreast along their bottoms. In size they compare favorably with the largest canals in Colorado and Utah.
In addition to irrigating the valley lands, Babylonian engineers completed another project of similar magnitude. By means of an elaborate drainage system they reclaimed an immense area of swamp land at the mouths of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers and put this also under cultivation.
Herodotus, the Greek traveler and historian, visited Babylon while it was in its prime and has given us the only known description by an outsider. His writings give a graphic description of the city and some of the unusual customs of its people. He mentions the remarkable fertility of the soil and the bountiful harvest of wheat and barley which they produced.
The glory of Babylon has faded but its wisdom has been preserved for us. For this we are indebted to their form of records. In that distant day, the use of paper had not been invented. Instead, they laboriously engraved their writing upon tablets of moist clay. When completed, these were baked and became hard tile. In size, they were about six by eight inches, and an inch in thickness.
These clay tablets, as they are commonly called, were used much as we use modern forms of writing. Upon them were engraved legends, poetry, history, transcriptions of royal decrees, the laws of the land, titles to property, promissory notes and even letters which were dispatched by messengers to distant cities. From these clay tablets we are permitted an insight into the intimate, personal affairs of the people. For example, one tablet, evidently from the records of a country storekeeper, relates that upon the given date a certain named customer brought in a cow and exchanged it for seven sacks of wheat, three being delivered at the time and the other four to await the customer's pleasure.
Safely buried in the wrecked cities, archaeologists have recovered entire libraries of these tablets, hundreds of thousands of them.
One of the outstanding wonders of Babylon was the immense walls surrounding the city. The ancients ranked them with the great pyramid of Egypt as belonging to the seven wonders of the world.
Queen Semiramis is credited with having erected the first walls during the early history of the city. Modern excavators have been unable to find any trace of the original walls. Nor is their exact height known. From mention made by early writers, it is estimated they were about fifty to sixty feet high, faced on the outer side with burnt brick and further protected by a deep moat of water.
The later and more famous walls were started about six hundred years before the time of Christ by King Nabopolassar. Upon such