Comments on: The Essential Bookshelf: The Only Eight Books I’ve Kept (After Hundreds of Reviews)

By: Michael Fletcher

Michael Fletcher — Tue, 26 May 2009 08:48:13 +0000

I have to say i was surprised and delighted to see On writing on your shelf. This has long been one of my favourites. The book is such an candid and intimate look into King’s writing and life. Whenever I’m in need of a lift I pick it up thumb through it and remember that regardless of talent success takes work. It really is a wake up call, part cautionary but largely inspiring. It should be required reading for anyone with a desire to write.

By: Ouida Vincent

Ouida Vincent — Sun, 24 May 2009 13:03:13 +0000

Rich Dad/Poor Dad is the book responsible for my financial turnaround. It taught me how to read a balance sheet, the difference between income and wealth, assets and liabilities. It inspired me to get out of short term debt, acquire assets, start side businesses and invest heavily in my career.

By: Jeremy Day

Jeremy Day — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:02:07 +0000

Hi Trent,

This is a good list. I think I really need to check out the Tightwad Gazette. Stephen King’s book On Writing is a huge motivation for me as well. I read it before but still need to get a copy. Thanks for reminding me! ;-)

Cheers,
Jeremy

By: Courtney

Courtney — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:11:58 +0000

Thanks for this great list, and terrific blog! I found you by searching for information on the Tightwad Gazette after reading about it tonight in Your Money or Your Life. That book has been so inspiring to me so far I am going to check some of the others you have down as well. Especially GTD….with a preschooler, toddler and blog of my own I could use the tips!

By: Eva

Eva — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:33:22 +0000

I have never written on a blog site before but I could not resist after I read your interview with Amy Dacyzyn. I remember seeing her on Phil Donahue in the eighties and immediately signed up for her newsletter. I have all of her books and used the advice in them while my older children were growing up. I am still using the books for reference because I have a ’second wave’ of children ages 12, 7, and 5. I cannot imagine my life without her books. I also have Your Money or Your Life. How do you feel about Dave Ramsey’s books. I was given a set of his books and workbooks. I enjoyed reading his life story but I cannot relate to his being a millionaire on day and broke the next. At best I have been a ‘thousandaire’. Regarding your interview with Amy, I know that I am not alone in wondering what happened to her. Throughout the last decade I have searched the internet for information regarding her and today I know. Thanks.
Eva

By: GigiJ

GigiJ — Thu, 22 May 2008 04:25:49 +0000

Great list. The Tightwad Gazette was like a bible to me years ago and many of the things I read there are now ingrained habits. One book that also influenced me greatly that I was a little disappointed to not see listed was The Millionaire Next Door. That book for me really hammered the benefits of frugality for me and has made a huge difference in how I raise my children from how I was raised (I have to admit to being a bit of a UAW and wish my somewhat wealthy father had taken time to explain some financial things to me, instead of giving me very conflicting concepts of money.)

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 22 May 2008 02:03:57 +0000

I’m with you on the Tightwad Gazette. The others I’ve never read but I think perhaps I will after reading this post. I’d like to suggest Charles Givens’ “More Wealth Without Risk” as another outstanding personal finance book. The book is over ten years old now and some of the advice in it (particularly the tax-related advice) is outdated, but Givens is great because he goes over every area of personal finance with a fine-toothed comb. For example, the book includes the most thorough, logical discussion of car insurance I have ever read; he points out that insurance is a means of managing risk, not a means of obtaining psychological comfort, which is how many people tend to approach it. This book would be on my very short list “essential” personal finance books. Not sure what the others would be, but “Wealth Without Risk” and “The Tightwad Gazette” would certainly be on it.

By: JLP’s Roundup - May 21, 2008 | AllFinancialMatters

JLP’s Roundup - May 21, 2008 | AllFinancialMatters — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:02:45 +0000

[...] here’s Trent’s list of the eight books he has kept out of the hundreds that he’s reviewed. – LOL! I think I’ve kept almost all of [...]

By: Michiko

Michiko — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:35:35 +0000

I also have the Tightwad gazzette, although I havevn’t always been the best about applying all of it’s suggestions! But I agree it’s a valuable resource.

Haven’t read through ‘Your money or your life,’ but I got the gist of it, and I also would consider buying this book.

By: D.B.

D.B. — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:20:46 +0000

Thanks for the reviews. I will put some on my list.

My practice for the past few years is to not buy new books unless I cannot obtain them any other way. I live in a major city, and between our library system and interlibrary loan, I have been able to obtain hundreds of books at no cost. The library system also sells used books and maintains its own used bookstore, to which donations can be counted as a tax-deductible charitable donation.

If I want to keep certain passages from the books for reference, I scan them and keep them in Microsoft Word files or occasionally xerox them.

I also practice book swapping, book trading, and frugal spending since my city has multiple used bookstores and frequent yard sales.

I keep a plain text file on my computer desktop for “Books Wanted” and “Videos Wanted” where I keep my wishlists. I update them with data from the library so I know where to get it, or how to request it from interlibrary loan. This way, I have easily accessible lists that I can take with me whenever I go to libraries, bookstores, or sales.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:52:27 +0000

Wanda, a country can continue to exist but lose its best attributes, and a virtue of its citizens can survive but become rare. For example, Greece no longer creates great poetry and now most Greeks can’t even quote the Iliad. I meant that sort of decline, not an apocalypse. Some people mistake decline for progress and that is understandable. But it is wrong to say there must be no decline because every generation notices it. And it’s also wrong to imply a prior generation was perfect, as I did.

Shevy, first, you are right about my writing and thinking, and I did contradict myself. Please let me clarify. I meant that even though great books help one develop a dislike for bad books, bad books are still read. Because so much bad reading is available, even people who understand and love great books and hate junk end up reading it if they don’t have perfect self control, are pressured, or don’t perfectly discern between worthwhile and worthless knowledge. The newspaper is a good example because newspapers are everywhere, those who don’t read news are thought to be ignorant, and many people mistake useless news for useful news.

By: Anthoney Grigsby

Anthoney Grigsby — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:03:41 +0000

The only book I read on this list was “Your Money Or Your Life” and not too long afterwards that book was stolen from me.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:38:37 +0000

I’m another one who had trouble with Getting things done, but I wonder if those of us who have that trouble were already pretty well organized and Allen’s system just competes with what we already have? I find the best thing to do with a book like this is see if there are just a couple of useful things I can take from it, and leave the rest.

Also, I just find it hard to read, but I think that’s personal preference.

That’s part of why I love the various book reviews. It might not be something Trent uses, but perhaps it would work better for some of us.

By: Joe T

Joe T — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:27:34 +0000

@Ann (comment #14): You are not alone. when I tried to implement it, “Getting Things Done” became “Getting Lists Done”, and I soon began to dread managing those lists. I intend to have another crack at it later in the year, but for now I’m just concentrating on doing what I can as I can, and not adding unnecessary new things to my “to do” heap, which I think is my biggest problem.

As for the other books, I’ve only read “Bogleheads”, and I think it’s great. The others look like they’re worth checking out.

By: Brad

Brad — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:05:27 +0000

Awesome suggestions! I just ordered The Complete Tightwad Gazette and Your Money or Your Life through your Amazon links. I’ve been reading your blog religiously for a few months now. I realize it’s not much, but hopefully the associate money is helpful!

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:30:07 +0000

Dave beat me to it, but let me add my recommendation to check out diehards.org for great investing advice. The authors of the Bogleheads book are sincerely helpful people who answer questions on the discussion boards there every day. Other well-respected finance authors like Rick Ferri and Larry Swedroe post too. Shoot, even John Bogle himself has been known to come around once in a while.

By: Schizohedron

Schizohedron — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:28:45 +0000

I will retain Ben Graham’s 2003 edition of The Intelligent Investor on my shelf for a long time. Jason Zweig’s tart, post–dotcom bubble commentary between the chapters is the slap in the face I need every time I get the urge to gamble on speculative stocks.

By: Trent

Trent — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:22:28 +0000

Buffett and Margin are both excellent books that I've re-read multiple times. In both cases, I passed them on directly to friends to encourage them to read it. The same goes for about ten others that I enjoyed, read a few times, and realized that they'd be more valuable in someone else's hands.

By: mariah

mariah — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:14:56 +0000

ARRGG, Trent, I bought a book to read because you said you’d read it 5 times. It is called Margin by Swenson. I really thought a book you read 5 times would be on your keeper shelf – mostly because I would keep any book I read 5 times and got things from it. So, it bothers me it isn’t on your keeper shelf – though it is really none of my business what you keep or shuffle off.

My motto in life right now is “so many books, so little time” because I can’t read all the books I want to read and I want to read thousands of books.

What drives me a little bit crazy (just a little bit you say?) is that I really do want to read so much more than I can read. Perhaps I’m obsessing for no good reason – I had insomnia and didn’t sleep at all last night. So, ignore this and thanks for keeping the information out here for us to learn from. Cheerio!

By: Kandace

Kandace — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:17:17 +0000

I have King’s book, Your Money or Your Life, and the Complete Tightwad Gazette on my shelves and refer to them often. I, too, have had a hard time with GTD, but will try again. One book I’ve read twice in the last 9 months is “Not Buying It” by Judith Levine. It’s her account of a year of not spending for a year except for essential like food, rent and transportation. Thought provoking and inspiring for me. I also like Elaine St. James’s “Simplify” series. They are small and easy to digest, although I get most of them from the library and keep them cycling through the system.