The Richest Man in Babylon
George S. Clason
one sitting
The oldest, simplest rules about money, told as stories. I read the whole thing in one sitting.
George Clason wrote these as pamphlets in the 1920s, handed out by banks and insurance companies. They're set in ancient Babylon, and each one is a little story. A chariot builder and a musician are tired of being broke, so they go to their old friend Arkad, now the richest man in the city, and ask him how he did it.
His first answer is the one the whole book rests on: a part of all you earn is yours to keep. Put aside at least a tenth of everything that comes in before you spend anything. Then make what you saved work for you, don't lend it to people who don't know what they're doing, and learn from those who've actually made money instead of from people with opinions about it. There are stories about a camel trader drowning in debt, a slave who buys his freedom, and gold that gets lost to bad advice.
It's a short book, and the stories do most of the teaching. That's why I got through it in one go. Each chapter ends on a problem, and I wanted to see how the next person got out of theirs.
What stuck is how old these rules are and how little they've changed. Spend less than you earn, keep some of it, and be careful who you let near it. I haven't found a better first rule in any book since.
