The Review List

Before I explain how to enter, here’s the list of personal finance and personal productivity books I’ve reviewed thus far. Each link goes straight to the review, so if you want to catch up, here’s your opportunity.

Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Ready For Anything by David Allen
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
The Now Habit by Neil Fiore
Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
Getting Things Done by David Allen
The 4 Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

Option 1 – Leave A Comment

You can get one entry in the book drawing by doing the following:

1. Read some of the book reviews from the above list and find one that you’d like to make a comment about.

2. Write at least fifty words in response to that book review – I want some interesting meat to read!

3. If you don’t have your own blog, add that response as a comment and use your correct email address in the comment.

4. Send me an email with the subject line “Giveaway #5 entry” that contains the name of the book you commented on. I’ll make sure that you did comment by matching your email address with the comments on that book. Only one entry per email address! You can also separately enter with a blog post, as described below.

Option 2 – Write A Blog Post

You can also get an additional entry in the book drawing by doing the following:

1. Read some of the book reviews from the above list and find one that you’d like to make a blog post about.

2. Write an interesting blog post about the book itself or some aspect of my book review.

3. Link back to my review of that book in your blog post.

4. Send me an email with the subject line “Giveaway #5 entry” that contains the name of the book, as well as the URL of your blog post that links to my book review. Only one entry per blog post! If you wrote a blog entry, you can also enter with a comment, as described above.

Contest Rules

When can I enter? The contest starts now and ends on Friday, June 22, 2007, at 11:59 PM Central Time.

Who can win? I will only ship books within the continental United States, but anyone with a mailing address in the United States can win.

How will I know if I won? When the contest ends, I will use a random number generator to select one winner and then contact that winner by email. As soon as the winner has communicated their mailing address to me, I will post the winner’s name here on The Simple Dollar, likely as part of a Morning Roundup. If you wrote a blog post, I’ll link to that post at that time.

Fine print! All rules of the contest are solely at my discretion. I can cancel the contest at any time. All contest disputes are solved by me and me alone. Entries to this contest imply agreement to these terms. I feel kind of sad that I have to post such a thing as a trailer to a giveaway, but these are the times we live in.

Ted L. won The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom by Suze Orman
Seth from Houston, TX won Yes, You Can Get A Financial Life by Ben Stein and Phil DeMuth
PT won Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
ISPF won A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel
J.H. Wilkerson won America’s Cheapest Family by Steve and Annette Economides

Because some people asked, there were 148 entries in the drawing, and America’s Cheapest Family was the most requested book with exactly 60 requests. The next most popular was A Random Walk Down Wall Street and the least popular was Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

In addition, I also gave away a copy of The 4-Hour Workweek which was won by Blaine Moore.

Congratulations to all the winners. Your books should be heading your way via Media Mail and will hopefully arrive by the end of the coming week.

What Personal Productivity Books Were Submitted?

In the giveaway for The 4-Hour Workweek, I asked people to email me a personal productivity or personal development book that they wanted to have me review. Since there were 378 entries, and many of those entries listed multiple books, I decided as a first step to make a list of the books that were mentioned by two or more people as being of interest to them. This resulted in a pretty hefty list of personal development and productivity books, all of which I will review in the next several months. I usually post a personal productivity or development book review on Sunday evenings. Anyway, here’s what’s coming up, in no particular order:

Getting Things Done – David Allen (far and away the most requested)
Ready for Anything – David Allen
The Now Habit – Neil Fiore
How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
Never Eat Alone – Keith Ferazzi
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey
Living the 7 Habits – Stephen Covey
The 8th Habit – Stephen Covey
How to Read a Book – Mortimer Adler
The 12 Bad Habits That Hold Good People Back – James Waldroop
On Writing Well – William Zinsser
Self-Discipline in 10 Days: How to Go from Thinking to Doing – Theodore Bryant
Organizing From the Inside Out – Julie Morgenstern
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living – Dale Carnegie
Never Check Email In The Morning – Julie Morgenstern
Words that Work – Frank Luntz
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Robert Pirsig (this one will be interesting)
Now, Discover Your Strengths – Marcus Buckingham
Go Put Your Strengths To Work – Marcus Buckingham
Eat That Frog – Brian Tracy
The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking – Dale Carnegie
The Simplicity Survival Handbook – Bill Jensen
The Success Principles – Jack Canfield
Ordering Your Private World – Gordon MacDonald
On Writing – Stephen King (another interesting one)
Thinkertoys – Michael Michalko

If you have more suggestions, please don’t hesitate to contact me with more books. These will be enough to get me through about six months, and I have about three months’ more of my own ideas to get through (as I write this), but I’m always interested in new ideas.

A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel (the newest edition, still only available in hardback)
Yes, You Can Get A Financial Life! by Ben Stein and Phil DeMuth (new release, still only available in hardback)
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki (a classic)
America’s Cheapest Family Gets You Right On The Money by Steve and Annette Economides (a great little book on frugality)
The 9 Steps To Financial Freedom by Suze Orman (a classic)

Wow! I want one! What do I have to do?

1. Find a post at The Simple Dollar (besides this one) that really evokes a response in you and made you think, whether you agreed with it or not. Maybe you read a list of tips, did the research, and found several more ideas that work. Maybe you read a more opinion-oriented piece and strongly disagreed with it. Maybe you read something on here, tried it out, and it really changed your life in some fashion. Maybe something just made you think.

2. Write at least fifty words in response to that post – I want some interesting meat to read!

3a. If you have your own blog, make that response into a blog post that includes a link back to the post that you’re writing about.

3b. If you don’t have your own blog, add that response as a comment and use your correct email address in the comment.

4. Send me an email with the subject line “Giveaway #4 entry” that contains the URL of either your blog post or the post here that you commented on, as well as the one book out of the five that you’d like to receive. There may be some strategy in naming a book – if you think one book is going to get a lot of requests, you should ask for another book to increase your chances, but of course a lot of people might be doing that. Only one entry per email address!

When can I enter? The contest starts now and ends on Friday, April 27, 2007, at 11:59 PM Central Time.

Who can win? I will only ship books within the continental United States.

How will I know if I won? When the contest ends, I will use a random number generator to select one winner for each book and then contact that winner by email. As soon as all winners have communicated their mailing address to me, I will post the list of winners here on The Simple Dollar, likely as part of a Morning Roundup. If you wrote a blog post, I’ll link to that post at that time.

Fine print! All rules of the contest are solely at my discretion. I can cancel the contest at any time. All contest disputes are solved by me and me alone. Entries to this contest imply agreement to these terms. I feel kind of sad that I have to post such a thing as a trailer to a giveaway, but these are the times we live in.

What do I have to do to enter? All you have to do is leave a comment on this thread that contains the ticker symbol of your pick of the best stock to buy for 2007. Your entry must include a valid email address. Only one entry per address; if I see multiple entries from the same address, all entries will be disqualified.

When does the contest end? The contest ends at 11:59 PM UTC on February 2, 2006. There’s no time better than the present to enter!

What is the prize? The prize is a copy of Jim Cramer’s Mad Money shipped to an address within the continental United States that is provided when I contact the winner. I will also announce the winner on this site using the name provided in the comment they left in this thread, along with highlighting their stock pick.

How is the winner selected? I will choose one entry entirely at random from among the entries using a random number generation program. I will then contact the winner to request a mailing address for the book.

Are you going to review Mad Money on The Simple Dollar? Yes. Look for it in a week or two. I didn’t want to overload on the Jim Cramer comment after reviewing another book of his so recently.

Standard disclaimer: The rules of this contest are entirely at my discretion and are subject to change without notice. Your contact information will never be given to anyone else.

The big winner this time was Ralthor! The ol’ random number generator popped out a 13 and he was the 13th entrant. The post he suggested, covering in detail the argument for paying cash for items such as automobiles instead of taking out a loan, will appear on The Simple Dollar later today!

Thanks so much to all of the entrants! Be sure to keep an eye on The Simple Dollar to see if your post idea appears – and also for the next Simple Dollar giveaway (yes, I’m already planning another one)!

What do I have to do to enter? Send an email to trent at thesimpledollar dot com with the following attributes:

• The subject line must say Giveaway #2 Entry
• The text of the email must include the name you wish me to use on the site (any obscenities will disqualify your entry)
• The text of the email can include a URL you’d like me to use to link to you (any obscenities will disqualify your entry)
• Most importantly, the text of the email must include one suggestion for a post (or series of posts) you’d like to see at The Simple Dollar
• Optionally, you can include your mailing address to facilitate fast shipment in the event of your win, but I will contact you for this if you win and do not include it

One entry per email address! Multiple entries from the same address will be deleted.

When does the contest end? The contest ends at 11:59 PM UTC on December 31, 2006. There’s no time better than the present to enter!

What is the prize? The prize is a copy of The Millionaire Next Door shipped to an address that you provide, a post on The Simple Dollar giving your name, URL, and idea, and a post shortly thereafter that includes your idea (ideally within a few hours of the announcement of the winner).

How is the winner selected? I will choose one entry entirely at random from among the entries using a random number generation program. I will then contact the winner to request a mailing address for the book.

What about the non-winning suggestions? If I decide to use your suggestion, I will send you the URL of the post once it is posted on the site.

Standard disclaimer: The rules of this contest are entirely at my discretion and are subject to change without notice. Your contact information will never be given to anyone else.

Here’s how you enter:

If you have a blog:

1. Dig around the archives of The Simple Dollar and find a post that interests you besides this one. You can explore the site using the search field in the upper right, paging through some of the recent posts (there’s a link to previous posts at the bottom of this page), and so on.

2. Write a blog post about it, adding your own thoughts, and include a link to the post at The Simple Dollar. The real reason for this contest is to facilitate discussions, so all you have to do is start one!

3. Send an email to trent -at- thesimpledollar -dot- com with the URL of this blog post and with the phrase “Giveaway #1″ somewhere in the subject line. I’ll read the post (and probably comment on it if it’s interesting). You also might want to read the part about what happens if you win.

That’s it, you’re entered! Only one entry per blog, please! Multiple entries from the same blog will be reduced to one entry.

If you don’t have a blog or if you don’t want to write a blog post about “The Crappy Dollar”:

I haven’t forgotten about you guys! Here’s what you do.

1. Dig around the archives of The Simple Dollar and find a post that interests you besides this one. You can explore the site using the search field in the upper right, paging through some of the recent posts (there’s a link to previous posts at the bottom of this page), and so on.

2. Write fifty words about it, adding your own thoughts, and send an email to trent -at- thesimpledollar -dot- com containing this short piece with the phrase “Giveaway #1″ somewhere in the subject line. The real reason for this contest is to facilitate discussions, so all you have to do is start one! If your thoughts are particularly intriguing, I’ll probably write back.

That’s it, you’re entered! Multiple entries from the same email address will be deleted; there will be only one entry per address. If I figure out that one person is sending entries from a bunch of addresses, I’ll delete -all- entries from that person. This is entirely at my discretion.

The contest closes at 6:00 PM ET on Thursday, November 16, 2006.

How Is The Winner Determined?

Once the contest closes, I’ll put all of the valid entries in a folder by themselves, then use this random number generator to pick a number at random. I’ll count the emails up to that number, and the one with that number is the winner! The winner will be announced on The Simple Dollar on Friday, November 17, 2006; if the winner wrote a blog post, the announcement will include a link to that winning post. I’ll also contact the winner by email to get a mailing address.

Good luck to everyone!