This is a book of ideas, not a manual for making money!

I disagree with a lot of people who read this book with the idea that it was a manual for becoming wealthy.
Sure they are tons of "financial freedom" and "millionaire in a minute" books found on the same book shelf that you may have seen or purchased "Rich Dad..." but this book is by far different from other books in this section.

Almost everyone who is going to read this book will read it with a certain expectation that this book, and the ideas in it, is going lead them in a direction to being wealthy or being richer than they are. I read this book for the same reasons but I quickly realized that I was wrong.

A literal break down of this book:

“Rich Dad…” is filled with the narrative pleasure that you would find in reading a book like “The Odyssey”. It’s about the everyday-little-guy overcoming, or avoiding, the ugly financial monsters that plagues those who live in the rat race of today. The book is written as a life example based on Robert’s childhood and adult experiences with money. I won’t go into those experiences in this review, but I will say that this is a dual book that communicates in two languages; one from the perspective of a regular person seeking something else from life (young Robert, and Poor Dad) and the other voice is filled with wisdom and a confident understanding of the financial blueprint for monetary success (old Robert, and Rich Dad). The younger more inquisitive voice in the book dominates the first half with much narration and focus on the problem at hand. Young Robert has many questions that we all have today concerning life and money and how and why money can control our behavior. Then the book changes somewhere in the middle and the young light hearted narration is abruptly replaced with a more “text-book” tone as the older, philosophical, voice of Robert and his Rich Dad take over with a variety of examples (charts and all) and alternatives to making money. Don’t confuse examples with explanations; this book never at any point commands it’s audience to follow the behavior of it’s characters, it merely suggests ideas that worked for them. Robert even hints that most of what he did to make his money (in Real Estate) may not work for readers or those following his examples because the markets and future are unpredictable and risky. Again this book is not, in my opinion, intended to be a manual for getting rich. The book is however filled with many vivid ideas for making money and understanding how patience, discipline and knowledge help keep you financially free.

Strong Points:
Only book I’ve read in its genre/category that offers such brilliant and fun to read narration. This book does what it intended to do (and does it well) which is to make its audience think about themselves and the world around them. Whether these thoughts may be depressing for some and enlightening for others is up to the individual readers and not a fault of the book. Also unlike other books in this genre I found it to be very practical for a regular person to utilize or you don’t need to have more than $5000 in the bank to be able to use the principles that this book upholds. I also like the dual tone of the book. On one side it’s fun and easy to relate to (young Robert working for less money than he feels he deserves) on the other side the book has a strict impersonal voice that forces you think about your flaws and your inspirations and whether you can manipulate them for positive outcomes.
Weak Points:
The dual tone of the book splits the story up too abruptly. The philosophical tone of older-Robert and his Rich Dad creates a distracting effect in the fluid narration that begins the book. The book’s ideas are repetitive at times but I felt that the author wanted the readers to absorb certain ideas more than others. I did feel the book became impersonal (text-book) and cold (lack of interesting characters) too quickly and Robert’s experiences as a wealthy adult was lacking. Also in the later chapters of the book Robert develops a bias towards the real estate market. He knows a lot about this topic and it overshadows other interesting ideas that he brings up briefly. There is also a little bit of an inflated ego through out the narration, but then what book wouldn’t have that.

Bottom Line:
Like I said this book is NOT a manual but more like a slap in the face for serious readers. In other words, it provokes us to reflect on the financial flaws in our life and in the world today but “Rich Dad…” is unlike other self-help books that create a “Disney-world-like” hope that we can all make a difference by applying a few virtues to our life. “Rich Dad…” only implies that there are different ideas for making money or doing just about anything and these ideas don’t come from passive behavior it comes from actively fighting for what we want and taking risks that could put one on either side of the economic spectrum in the time it take to read this book.

Why I Recommend this book:
Since I’ve read this book last December I’ve started thinking about my future more. I left my job at a top NY bookstore, went back to graduate school for a professional degree, began laying plans and investments for a small publishing company business and obtained a 3-4 hours a day (after school)/ 4 days a week job in the non-profit sector that pays me three times the salary I made as a bookseller working 8 hours a day for 6 days a week. At the same time because of the risks I took I could’ve been homeless and unemployed but I’m so much better off than before every sleepless night was worth it.