Money, Money, Money: The Search of Wealth and the Pursuit of Happiness

I give this book a solid four stars for the works of four authors contained in this compilation of thoughts and excerpts from so-called money authorities. They are, in order, Jacob Needleman's Money and the Meaning of Life; Holland Taylor's Principles of Prosperity; Joe Dominguez's and Vicky Robin's Creating Financial Independence, and Bernard Lietaer's The Future of Money. I give Shakti Gawain's The Experience of Prosperity an honorable mention, though I will not speak of it in any detail here. The other authors in the book give some helpful insights, but comparatively these four chapters set themselves apart in this book: Chapter One, Jacob Needleman covers some of the spiritual why of money (probably the least interesting of the fantastic four); Chapter Four, Holland Taylor discusses the morality of paper money as we know it (this chapter denounces inflation and breifly discusses the inherent evil in moving away from the gold standard); Chapter Seven, Joe Dominguez and Vick Robin propose the idea of contenting one's self with the simple necessities of life (a sort of healthy/wealthy life perspective); and Chapter Nine, (the most interesting, in my opinion) Bernard Lietaer presents the ecconomic advantages of local currencies and gives a brief overview of money from ancient times to our modern banking practices. This book is NOT a get rich type money book. Nor does it deal with specific strategies, per se, to make one wealthy; rather, it is a glimpse of money as we know it as veiwed from these authors. It is almost as if Michael Toms probed, selected, and edited these authors words to simply say, "Money isn't all that it's cracked up to be," without having to say it himself. This book is a great springboard for a more serious study into the holistic view of money touching on the spiritual, material, moral, and bureaucratic aspects of money. This book is a great read for the money minded and for general readers who are looking for some insights into the "why's" of money.

not just one person's take... this is the best sampler/treasury of how several people, who care about the issue of having enough and having more, came to understand a LOT about $$$. The only place i have EverEver seen someone come out and say that some of us are meant to live a life of less... right livelihood isn't ALWAYS the way we make our money... but cautions us all not to "make a dying" while we think we're "making a living" --- michael toms has a great interview with suze orman... and 9 Steps To Financial Freedom The Courage to Be Rich The Laws of Money... all by her - are GREAT... so is Wealth Addiction, a brilliant little book, from Philip Slater... Spiritual Economics Write It Down, Make It Happen i learned a LOT from all of these - they were Well Worth the time and, uh, money...