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I finished an amazing book last week that I want to share with you.  The book is called Syrup.  It is the first novel by Max Barry, one of my favorite authors.  He wrote the more recent (and also awesome books) Jennifer Government and Company.

Syrup is a hilarious story about the adventures of Scat, a recent college graduate with a marketing degree and hopes of coming up with a million dollar idea.  We learn early on that most people come up with about three million dollar ideas every year, the key is following through on the idea.

I don’t want to give anything away, but the book involves company politics, backstabbing, to the wire business decisions, promotions, firing, and a hilarious tone that Max Barry manages to bring to two novels that make fun of everything I do in the corporate world. The other is Company (linked above).

I read through this book in about two weeks, which is fast for me.  I couldn’t put it down and needed to know what was going to happen to Scat.  For a book about a twenty something marketing graduate, I was impressed with the way I was pulled into the story.

If you decide to give it a read, please consider buying it through the links on this page.  You pay the same price, but I get a little bonus too.

I just finished reading The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Richby Tim Ferriss.  The book was fun and easy to read.  Not only was it fun, it was a bit inspirational.  I know I am behind the curve in this book, which made waves when it came out in 2007, but its words are just as relevant as they were in 2007.

The book is written in a logical progression giving steps to eliminate needless work, make what you are doing as efficient as possible, start your own super efficient business, eliminate your need for going to work, and finally leaving the 9-5 world.  The ultimate goal presented by Tim is to have the freedom to travel or spend time with friends and family.

According to the book, there are a few tricks to making this whole system work.  Making your life more efficient and eliminating time wasters is possible by eliminating voice mail, focusing on e-mail, and letting people deal with small problems themselves.  Bring in an Indian virtual assistant and your life is on autopilot.

From there, the book suggests finding a “muse” product that you can sell for a nice markup.  I have one in mind and have already had a couple of bids from Chinese companies.  From there, it is possible to setup automated sales, distribution, and customer service that will ultimately take only 4 hours a week to maintain.  The money just flows into your bank account.

What I Liked: I like the idea of the 4 hour workweek, but who wouldn’t?  It seems like a great life plan.  Eliminate the crap and focus on what is important.  Use the 80/20 rule to ensure you are only focusing on what is important and yields results.  And, for what is left, hire an Indian for $8 an hour to deal with, freeing you to do whatever you want on a decent income.

What I Didn’t Like:  I had a bit of a feeling the entire way through that they guy is full of it.  How easy can it really be to start a company that requires almost no time and effort?  How well can someone in India really help me with my life that it is worth $5-$10 per hour for something that I can do myself?  It is possible to really do what the book says, but it is important to bring yourself down from the cloud the book puts you on.  Remember, if you follow the book, to make calculated decisions.  Don’t throw everything away on a whim.

Overall:I like the book.  I think it is a fun idea and I am giving it a go.  Make sure you keep up on the blog to read about my progress.  I recommend this book to anyone who wants to try a fun project to make a bit of extra cash.  If it goes well, who knows, you might get rich on the way to a 4 hour workweek.  That, according to the book, makes you part of the NR, the “new rich.”

If you decide to buy the book, please do so using my Amazon link to help support the costs of maintaining the site.  If you want to buy the updated version of the book, available in December, you can order the expanded version through this link: The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated: Expanded and Updated, With Over 100 New Pages of Cutting-Edge Content.

Ramit Sethi is a fun and interesting character. I had the chance to meet hima few months back on his book tour and just got around to finishing the book. Ramit genuinely cares about helping his readers be as lazy and financially stable as possible. If you think that is an oxymoron, you should probably read the book.

Ramit’s book, which is billed as ”No Guilt, No Excuses, No BS.  Just a 6 Week Program That Works,” gives readers a well defined six week plan to get your finances in order.  The book is pretty much the Automatic Millionaireby David Bach for 20-30 year olds.

Unlike Automatic Millionaire, Ramit does not talk about saving money by skipping runs to Starbucks.  Ramit actually wants you to spend money on Starbucks, but do it knowingly and willingly with consideration of what you give up.  Ramit’s plan is to save first and spend the rest on whatever you want later.

Ramit’s six week plan gives you a week for each of the following topics:

1. Credit Cards
2. Bank Accounts
3. Investing Accounts
4. Conscious Spending
5. Automatic Money Flows
6. Investing Choices

There is nothing ground breaking about this book (or any other personal finance book for that matter).  Most of it is common sense stuff that you already know.  However, if this book is what motivates you to do it, it is a great investment for your bookshelf.

What I Liked:

I like the style and content of Ramit’s book.  If you read his blog of the same name, you already have a good idea of what you are getting into.  You will get some corny jokes, some fun ideas, and a no bull attitude.  Ramit makes it clear that your finances are under your control and you just need to take the steps to get going.  If you want the easy way to deal with your investments without thinking, follow Ramit’s plan to the letter.

What I Didn’t Like:

Several times in the book, Ramit blatantly says that finance experts are full of crap.  I take exception to that.  I am a finance expert.  I have the degree (almost two) to prove it.  Other than his personal attacks on what I am going to school for, I thought it was a good read.

If you decide to buy the book, please do so through my affiliate link for Amazon.com to help me cover the costs of running the site.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich- Ramit Sethi at Amazon.com.

I just finished reading the new book by the bloggers over at Wise Bread.  Their book, 10,001 Way to Live Large on a Small Budget, gives many thousands (ten actually) of tips on living frugal and personal finance.

The book is easy to read through quickly.  It is designed in a way that helps you to drill in on what you care about and skip the parts that you don’t.  I, for example, read the section of 21 beer tips word for word.  I skipped over the wedding section, as that part doesn’t really matter to me.

The book has great tips that can help you in the kitchen, planning do it yourself projects, traveling, choosing a bank, and other tips that you can really use in your everyday life.

What I Liked: The quick read format that helped me learn what I cared about quickly.  I did not have to spend hours and hours reading through irrelevant tips.  Many of the tips were helpful and I will take to heart.  I tried cooking for a week (not up to the 30 days in the book), and it was a handy time saving tip.  I also liked the ideas about creating your own on-the-go snack packs.

What I Didn’t Like: Like many personal finance books and websites, there were some tips that are a little too frugal for my liking.  I am never going to turn my heat down below 67 in the winter.  I am going to head to the salon and pay for a haircut that makes me happy.  I am going to spend money in life.  Many of the tips were great to help me save without a big quality of life change, but I am not going to go crazy.  That is not what I am about, I would rather live happy than super frugal.

Overall:  The book is definitely worth a read.  Now that I have read through it, I think I am going to keep it as a reference book for organizing and saving money around the house.  I am a 24 year old guy, I can always use help in the kitchen.  I hope to be handy around the house when I buy a home, and this book can help with that too.  If you don’t end up buying it, be sure to at least check out the website, WiseBread.com, for free tips of frugality and personal finance.

If you do decide to buy the book, please do so through the link on this page.  A small portion of your cost goes back to help offset the costs of maintaining this blog.

10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budgetat Amazon.com.

I read Automatic Millionaire a while back, but I think it is worthy of discussion here on Narrow Bridge.  It was actually a part of what insipred me to start blogging about personal finance.

David Bach’s book is easy to read and straight to the point.  He covers a series of topics and step by step instructions for automating your financial life.  Bach makes it easy to understand and easy to do.  I have loaned it out to several friends and co-workers and have only heard that they liked it.  I am usually a slow reader, but I burned through this book in a week.

The book is organized in a progression to help you navigate through the important parts of your financial life to ensure you eliminate debt quickly and build assets over your working life.  The book covers everything from mortgage payments and rental properties to bank and investment accounts.  The sytem in the book includes a part for you to work on as you read.  The goal of the system is a fairly easy setup that you never have to think about again.  He also covers the “Latte Factor” in depth along with other savings strategies.

What I liked: The book is easy to read.  It is packed full of useful information.  It has a clear goal that anyone can achieve and a plan that anyone can follow.  If you read it and think you can’t save at least 5% of your income in a retirement account, you are lying to yourself.  The day I finished the book I opened a Roth IRA and increased my 401k savings.  This is by far the best personal finance book I have ever read.

What I Didn’t Like: Nothing really.  There are some parts that did not apply to me, as I do not own a home yet.  Given that there were parts that I did not care about, they were easy to skim through or skip over.

If you deicde to purchase this book, please consider using this link to help me offset the costs associated with running the blog: The Automatic Millionaire : A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich

I just finished reading Rich Like Them, a book dedicated to searching for the answers of how people get rich. Specifically, the book chronicles the author’s journey across America’s 100 richest zip codes.

The book has a fun premise and is full of good ideas and thoughts on making it big. There are few big surprises in the book. The author writes about his many interactions with America’s elite. The many people discussed in the book each present a different method on making it big. A handful of the stories really jumped out at me, and, due to the diversity of stories in the book, I am sure at least a hand full will speak to you as well.

Stuff I Liked:  I like the overall message of the book.  It is not a get rich quick personal finance book.  It does not tell stories of famous billionaires that are really one of a kind.  It tells the stories of real, hard working people who succeeded by doing what they love and keeping on relentlessly.  When I read some of these stories, I thought, “I could do that!”

Stuff That I Didn’t Like:  This is not a compelling novel with a plot that drives you forward.  Each story is about three to seven pages long.  If you want a story that will keep you driven from page to page and chapter to chapter (the chapters are very long), you might not love this book.

Overall:  I suggest this book for people interested in hearing real life stories about how people ended up in some of the biggest houses in the richest parts of America.  The people in the book are just like you, and you can work hard and succeed like they did.  The book is not full of tips, but overall themes of hard work and humility, to name a few.

If you decide to buy the book, please use this link so I can get a small commission to help with the costs of maintaining the site: Rich Like Them: My Door-to-Door Search for the Secrets of Wealth in America’s Richest Neighborhoods.