Product Description

A major new title from the author of the bestselling 50 Classics series ) which have sold over 100,000 inthe English language. 50 Prosperity Classics is the first book to highlight the landmark titles in this fast-expanding field, illustrated by the phenomenal success of The Secret. It focuses on the great works on wealth, entrepreneurship, personal finance, investing, economics and philanthropy, providing guidance and encouragement to develop the millionaire mindset, become a wealth creator, make wise investment decisions and - once you've made it - give a little back. Insightful commentaries on each classic, biographical information on the authors, plus a guide to further key titles provide a unique overview of this fascinating subject The phenomenal success of The Secret has helped many people discover a field of writing that seems new but actually goes back a century. 50 Prosperity Classics covers many of the great writings on wealth and abundance - encompassing books on the psychological aspects of creating wealth; more worldly titles on the nuts and bolts of personal finance, entrepreneurship and investing, and thought-provoking economics and political economy. 50 Prosperity Classics is about making your money and making it work for you, but it does not just show readers how to get rich , it also highlights why the creation of wealth can mean the fulfillment of personal potential and peace of mind. 50 Prosperity Classics gives concise summaries of each book s main points, their origins and what each can offer the reader on the path towards a life of abundance, organized according to four elements: ATTRACT IT Master the inner game of wealth and abundance with books such as Rhonda Byrne s bestselling The Secret, Charles Fillmore s Prosperity, Napoleon Hill s The Master Key to Riches CREATE IT Learn from the secrets and strategies of wealth creators such as Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Conrad Hilton, Anita Roddick and Donald Trump MANAGE IT Discover the nuts and bolts of personal finance and investing such as Benjamin Graham s The Intelligent Investor, Suze Orman s Women and Money, Dave Ramsey s Financial Peace Revisited and Peter Lynch s One Up on Wall Street SHARE IT Understand the flow of wealth and how to give something back with inspiration from Andrew Carnegie's The Gospel of Wealth, Paul Hawken's Natural Capitalism and Lynne Twist's The Soul of Money

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #67568 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 300 pages

Review
Anyone interested in achieving an understanding of true prosperity and demonstrating a higher level of fulfillment should read this book...50 Prosperity Classics is a treasure chest of golden nuggets to use in realizing a life more abundant. --John Randolph Price, author of The 40 Day Prosperity Plan

A terrific compendium of the best books ever written on the sources of prosperity, from famous classics to off-beat unknowns, distilled to the point of joyous clarity. --Richard Koch, author of The 80/20 Principle, The 80/20 Individual and Living the 80/20 Way

Wow! 50 Prosperity Classics is an absolute gold mine of information for attracting, creating, managing and sharing wealth. Everything you could ever want to know about both the nuts and bolts of personal finance and metaphysical abundance is included in this comprehensive volume. If you've enjoyed Tom Butler-Bowdon's previous books you will love Tom's latest offering which expertly appraises landmark writings on wealth. Tom's insightful commentaries show that it is more than possible to be well off financially and live with a good conscience. With this knowledge at your fingertips, you will be inspired to live a more abundant and prosperous life. --Andrea Molloy, author of Success and Redesign Your Life

About the Author
Tom Butler-Bowdon is recognized as an expert in personal development literature. His 50 Classics series has been hailed as the definitive guide to 'the literature of possibility' and has won numerous awards including the Benjamin Franklin Self-Help Award and Foreword Magazine's Book of the Year Award. A graduate of the London School of Economics and the University of Sydney, he lives and works in both the UK and Australia.

Customer Reviews

How to get rich methodically and in due course
I have given this review the title mentioned above its because if this book teaches you anything its you can become prosperous but it takes time.

This amongst other tenets is the sound advice this compendium covers. I would recommend to readers to read the introduction and the Prosperity Principles at the end to gain the full benefit of this book. It also helps you to see how the Author constructed this book and finally drew up the list.

The author divides the 50 classics into four manageable sections (and one sub section)

ATTRACT IT

The author calls this the inner game of wealth. These books talk about getting the mindset for moneymaking. Many of the books in this section are spiritual with lots of spiritual ideas and concepts. Unfortunately I am a little uncomfortable with spirituality so my opinion will probably be biased. I do however like the idea of some mental blocks that stop you from being wealthy.

CREATE IT

This section is about stories and biographies of many famous men and women who have created outstanding businesses and reaped financial success. Its also important to note these people didn't create businesses to buy themselves jobs but to think bigger and further than that but look at their companies (another important tenet) and maybe even become an entrepreneur. Interestingly a book mentioned in this compendium is called Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker says that being an entrepreneur is not about doing something better but doing something different. Like Richard Branson and his Virgin Media group or Howard Schultz and Starbucks.

A subsection to this has a few books about economics. As important as economics is, I would like to have seen more general book about economics rather than different economists and the books they have written (Eat the Rich by P.J. O'Rourke is a great one).

MANAGE IT

I don't believe that many people have the gusto, vision or the sheer determination to start their own business and to make it work. That's why I believe the most useful section in this anthology are the books that help you invest, save and rid yourself of debt. There are good books about investing from such superstars of the investing world like Warren Buffet and Peter Lynch as well as good additions from John C. Bogle

The inclusion of books about debt is very welcome, since now its common for people to be overdrawn every month. And if you are in debt, no matter how small to pay them off. It doesn't matter if you have a savings account paying you 5% a year in interest when you have got a large credit card balance that's charging you 15%!

There are also two books on real estate or property, although it seems like everyone is the next property developer and house prices are still climbing you can still bide your time, build up a nest egg and wait for the slump to buy a property cheaply.

SHARE IT

This category is quite an interesting inclusion because I have never thought about making a lot of money then to give it away. But there are important social aspects to philanthropy. Although Warren Buffet giving away over $31 Billion, his lifetimes fortune, to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. It was an extraordinary gesture by the second richest man in the world. But the roots of philanthropy go farther back to Andrew Carnegie. This is explained better by Joel T. Fleishman in his book "The Foundation". Another great book is Mohammed Yunus "Banker to the Poor" who started giving out small loans to people in villages, who are usually considered risky loans, and becoming a huge success and winning a Nobel Peace Prize along with the bank he created to loan out the money. I don't want to ruin the rest of it for you but its extremely interesting.


I was going to read the whole book and then write the review but I think that's a bad idea. What you should do is read the reviews that interest you. But to really gain some insights from the collection you should try to read a book from each of the four sections. Then maybe when you're leafing through read the commentary on a book you wouldn't have given a second look at. I guarantee you will find some gems! Although it may be a bit of an ego boost to own some of these books already reading the prosperity classics it made go back to them and reread some of them to see what other lessons I could learn and see things I may have missed in a previous reading.

For an extra bit of knowledge and reading there are 50 books that could help you on the road to wealth. If only the author had put down which section they belong in (attract it, create it, or manage it) to give you a more informed choice as to what book to buy next. I also recommend buying 50 Success Classics by the same author because I believe you can be successful but not prosperous but you can't be prosperous and not successful.

You may think the table is tilted to favour other people and that everyone who tells you they can make you a millionaire by next year is fraud. I agree with the latter and not the former because reading this book and then reading some the books the author reccomends, the advice is quite sound. Pay off your debt, be in control of your finances, save 10% of your wages, have an emergency fund and discipline. Although its a boring answer its not one that easy to adhere to.

All in all ints a great book and if you buy this book before buying any other books about finance and money you will have saved yourself a lot of time, money and effort.

Once again Tom Butler-Bowdon gives the reader priceless advice...
It's difficult to over-estimate the beneficial effects that Tom Butler-Bowdon's books have had on my life. Whether he is discussing Classics in the Self Help, Success, Spiritual or Psychology - and now Prosperity - genres he has entertained, informed and guided my future reading. There are so many books in each area that it can be difficult to know where to turn when you want to take steps to improve your life. If you face this dilemma Butler-Bowdon is here to help, with his useful summaries and commentaries on classic books in each genre.

In 50 Prosperity Classics the writing is as crisp and clear as ever. The summary of each 'classic' is just the right length to give you a flavour of the book being discussed, but never outstays its welcome. While each book is heralded as a 'classic' Butler-Bowdon isn't afraid to note where criticisms have been made. You can read 50 Prosperity Classics from start to finish, you can dip into it at random, or you can follow certain themes. The 'In A Similar Vein' section is your roadmap if you decide to take the latter route. Even if you don't want to investigate the books further - and I'll be surprised if you don't - then 50 Prosperity Classics is enjoyable in isolation. As I read it I felt my mood lift as I was made aware of countless possibilities I had never considered before.

If you are interested in finding out more about property investment then you will enjoy reading about books such as William Nickerson's excellently-titled How I Turned $1,000 into Three Million in Real Estate in My Spare Time. For those that want to know more about investing in the stock market Peter Lynch's One Up on Wall Street: How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money in the Market will be one for you. Elsewhere there are the stories of entrepreneurs such as Richard Branson (Losing My Virginity: The Autobiography) and Felix Dennis (How To Get Rich) and for the Self Help fans out there you get numerous books about 'the law of attraction'(including Rhona Byrne's The Secret).

If you buy this book - and follow the advice given - you are bound to make a profit on the deal. Even if you don't follow the advice you will have been entertained and enlightened. Recommended.

Another fantastic compendium!!

I have all Tom Butler-Bowdon's books, and they NEVER fail to deliver.Such a lot of hard work goes into his research which is what makes his books and recommendations so very credible.

This book contains all you could ever need if you are interested in prosperity (and who isn't?!).

Whether you want to "attract it, create it, manage it or share it", there are book recommendations for all aspects of prosperity.
To just call these the author's recommendations, doesn't do this book justice. They are in fact very detailed summaries of the every worthwhile book out there. He also summarises further the salient points with his "final comments". He gives a brief synopsis of each author and also recommends books of a similar vein for each recommendation he makes. All his books have added considerably to my own library, and I have never been disappointed with the purchases I have made after reading his books.

If you want prosperity, then you have no excuse; all the hard research has been done for you. All you have to do is read the authors summaries, then go out there, buy the books, read them and ACT!!!!