Review by aacodreanu -- The Billionaires’ Handbook

[aacodreanu]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Billionaires’ Handbook" by Andrew Stevenson.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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As Andrew Stevenson confesses, The Billionaires’ Handbook has been possible due to his ”nearly 30-year career related to the global economy ... as a macro hedge fund portfolio manager, investment banker, and climate risk advisor”, as well as to such research sources as "biologist E.O. Wilson, fiction writers David Foster Wallace and Kurt Vonnegut”, and others.

Classifying it into a genre or identifying its purpose is not quite easy to do: most of it is a satire, aptly describing and criticizing the supposed billionaires’ philosophy and modus operandi, while the last part provides advice for the same, that will help redeem their humanity. Is the book meant for someone who wants to become a billionaire? Hardly so, it is more likely an eye-opener, so that ordinary citizens can identify schemes that lead to wealth selfishly acquired by the few, as well as ways to expose and fight such devious moves.

The book is divided into four parts: in the first, ”The old rules”, like good detectives say, we follow the money: i.e. the author gives a short account of stages of money-making. "Corporate CEOs have replaced feudal kings as the businessmen of today, but the game remains pretty much the same"(Page 4), says the author. Mercantilism, capitalism, and cynicism, the last starting in 1974 and reaching our time, are all present, along with reasons for the fall of capitalism.

The second and third parts, ”The new rules” and Stepping on the gas”, explain in 30 rules how to defend the billionaire status, with a focus on the present-day billionaire, expressed as more rules in total neglect and disdain for those who have made him one, in the latter part.

The fourth part, entitled ”A few years later”, and set at a time when the billionaire retired, is also in the form of rules, this time meant to redeem the ”perpetrator”. What a billionaire does with his money will bring him fame or shame.

Stevenson’s style excels in brevity and clarity, with irony and cynicism as main figures of speech. There are also graphical illustrations for every rule or mini-chapter, in the same spirit of satire and criticism. It is amazing how much the author manages to say in a small number of words or pages.

Stevenson creates dark feelings in the readers, all the more so as the examples he mentions can easily be recognized in the discourse and actions of the real billionaires and the politicians that create a favorable environment for them. This makes readers receive the ”redeeming advice” in the last part of the book all the more gladly.

The billionaires are the mightiest and the richest so cynicism is a reasonable tool to create a reaction; however, not everybody is prepared to be thrown such a bitter truth in the face. Thus, I cannot say that I liked that very much, all the more so as, while the bad part could be identifiable in real life, the good one is just a ”to do” list. Am I going to live to see the results?

As regards prospective readers, there are those like myself, who thought they could find advice to become billionaires in it, whom the book brings down to earth after the first pages. For the most part, they would be people who are aware of the great picture of the world, globalized or about to be, unhappy about the way wealth is accumulated, thinking, or just dreaming of a better order of things. I do not recommend the book to billionaires unless they have a good sense of humor and integrity.

The editing is almost perfect: I could only find two typos throughout.

Therefore, I cannot but give The Billionaires’ Handbook four out of four stars, for the truthful, if crude analysis it makes and for the hope it leaves us with. All in all, a subliminal call for action.

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The Billionaires’ Handbook
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

[Sushan Ekanayake]

Seemingly the idea of this book is to avert you from chasing money and make you chase after humanity (as I get it). Thanks for the descriptive review

[aacodreanu]

Seemingly the idea of this book is to avert you from chasing money and make you chase after humanity (as I get it). Thanks for the descriptive review

You can put it this way.
Thank you for the comment!