I read the first 20% of the book on my iPad and finished on my kindle. As an aside I like reading on both but the eInk display makes it easier to read for hours at a time.

Back to the review. The House of Morgan is fantastic and an excellent read. That is of course if you enjoy learning about “An American Banking Dynasty and the rise of Modern Finance”. Ron Chernow spent years researching this epic treatise and I am glad he did. I learned more about finance, banks, bankers and government regulations in this one book than I have by regularly reading the Wall Street Journal. And as a side note the WSJ make a heck of a lot more sense after reading this book and learning the history behind the various companies.

Anyone who wants to learn about the present needs to first learn about the past. As Seymour Morris Jr. said in “American History Revisited” “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme”. If you get the chance and are interested in the subject matter then read this book it will be well worth your time and I highly recommend it.

Here are a few of my highlighted portions of the book:

Their strategy was to make clients feel accepted into a private club, as if a Morgan account were a membership card to the aristocracy.

The bank won’t soil its white gloves with just anybody’s cash,

Like many who have overcome early hardship by brute force, he was proud but insecure, always at war with the world and counting his injuries.

“When the streets of Paris are running with blood, I buy.”

telescopic philanthropy—bountiful love for abstract humanity combined with extreme stinginess toward the individuals he knew personally.

Mexico was a resource-rich country that always held out a seductive promise of prosperity,

“an institution is the lengthened shadow of a man,”

“The world is divided into people who do things and people who get the credit. Try if you can to belong to the first class, there is far less competition.”

Tim Ferris shares excitement filled tales of his life free of the daily grind of work. It’s fluffy, it’s the latest pop business book, it’s an entertaining read but it’s not that revolutionary.

Spoiler alert! I will now sum up the entire book so you don’t have to read it (unless you want to)

First Step (this is the hardest part)
Define what you really really want in life and figure out how much it really costs.

Second Step
Simplify your life so you’re not wasting your time doing things you don’t really want to do.

Third Step
Automize your job or business to free you up to do what you really want to do. Outsource everything, customer service to a customer service company, order fulfillment, etc.

Fourth Step
Check your email and voice mail once a week and make sure everything is running smoothly then go back to surfing or whatever it is you really really want to do.

The hardest part of all this is figuring our what you really really want to do with your life. This is a subject most people struggle with their entire lives, and what you really really want to do may change tomorrow.

I did like two points Ferris made in the book. You will notice in the tag line the phrase, “The New Rich” rather than put a dollar value on what “Rich” is Ferris rightly changes the definition, if your goal in life is to surf in Hawaii then it’s not really that expensive, however if you want a house, a car, 2 kids and spend your time surfing in Hawaii then it becomes more expensive.

Being rich is nothing more than having enough money to follow your dreams.

The other thing I liked was Ferris’ emphasis on totally eliminating non essential and non important tasks from everyday life. Freeing up 3 hours a week to follow your dream isn’t that hard and very rewarding.

All in all I enjoyed the book as it stimulated my thinking but there wasn’t really anything revolutionary in the book.

Score – 3 of 5 watermelons