Honestly, Trent obviously has the blogging thing down! I think that you can decide your own format!!! (that’s right, I’m giving you permission, lol)

Keep the Simple Dollar coming. Whatever that may be.

I also loved the reviews(even though I don’t have kids) I shared it my friend who is expecting and we had a good discussion on it. Thanks a lot Trent, keep up the good work!

A suggestion for further lengthy reviews (if still you care to make them): call on a vote of books you have read and would be willing to write about. Maybe books which appeal to a larger audience, such as “Your Money or Your Life”, “The Millionaire Next Door” or “Total Money Makeover”.

Thanks for getting me hot under the collar about this. you have a way of doing this to me.

your loyal fan.

clint

My advice to you Trent is not to try to pander too much. Maybe a single review will attract more readers but on the other hand, there are probably others like me who looked forward to the next chapter. I say do a book club series every now and then. Ignore the nay sayers. They’re just being rotten. It makes things interesting and lends a certain amount of variety that is good to have.

That being said, this book reminded me that a lot of these marketers are more or less predators. Like the saying “the way to a man’s heart is thru his stomach”…well the way to a parent’s wallet/purse is thru their kids. Plus, youngsters are being groomed to be good little consumers, to be materialistic, to think that having the latest and greatest (iPod, cell phone, brand name clothes, soda, and on and on…) is their identity and the way to popularity. They carry this into adulthood but it will only get them so far. Like the study that made the correlation between the amount of TV kids watched and feelings of well-being, self worth, they see nice houses, upper middle class kids/families living a life that some will never see and they think they have to measure up to that image. It’s really sad but often times there are few realistic solutions. I think the best one yet is (1)education/leading by example and (2)limiting tv exposure. Some might say this doesn’t apply to infants/toddlers (who actually have their own premium cable channel and a variety of infant/baby videos). However, there is a growing body of evidence that TV can interfere with the rapidly developing brain and cause ADHD-like symptoms, if not be a culprit of the disorder. A lot of child development experts are saying NO screen time for the first 3 years of life if not longer. That includes computer monitors, TVs. A lot of people don’t believe this, they think it’s harmless but, we are raising a generation that is becoming dependent on the stimulation that TV offers. This results in impulsivity, attention problems, hyperactivity, etc. and these symptoms can often be eased by setting the child in front of the TV just like a dose of Ritalin. It’s disturbing….

I too really enjoyed the reviews, cliff-note style. I took away quite a few things to think about.

The advantage here is that not only has the extended review given many of us a chance to know more about the book, but it has also sparked some very lively debate over the content as the series progressed. I feel that was perhaps the best feature of this process, since it’s allowed us to discuss the material and consider our own interpretations with the additional perspectives of several of your readers. This is something that we would miss if we simply chose to pick up the book and read it for ourselves, rather than read the “Trent’s Notes” version.

I happen to think that one of the biggest strengths of a site such as this is that not only do we get a chance to read your perspective on various topics, but the readers can easily add and discuss their own perspectives. By doing that, all of us have a better opportunity to re-examine our thoughts and hopefully improve our understanding.