105 Great Reads, Thanks to all who contributed!

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1. Rich Dad Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki



2. Cashflow Quadrant – Robert Kiyosaki



3. RDPD’s Guide to Investing – Robert Kiyosaki



4. Retire Young Retire Rich – Robert Kiyosaki



5. Prophecy – Robert Kiyosaki



6. Real Estate Riches – Robert Kiyosaki , Dolph De Roos



7. Real Estate Loopholes – Robert Kiyosaki, Diane Kennedy



8. Consulting, Speaking and Seminar Training - Robert Bly


9. Multiple Streams of Income - Peter Conti and David Finkel



10. Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill



11. The Aladdin Factor – Jack Canfield



12. Awaken the Giant Within - Anthony Robbins



13. Are you Dumb Enough to be Rich?" - William Barnett



14. Flipping Properties - William Bronchick and Robert Dahlstrom



15. Real Estate Business and Investment Opportunities IRA Wealth – Bryan Wittenmyer



16. IRA Wealth – Patrick W. Rice, Jennifer Dirks



17. Subject To Manual - John $Cash$ Locke



18. Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing - Martin Stone



19. Investing in Real Estate, 4th Ed. – Andrew Mclean and Gary W. Eldred



20. Real Estate Finance & Investment Manual – Jack Cummings



21. Maximum Achievement - Brian Tracy



22. Getting Rich in America - Brian Tracy



23. How To Win Friends And Influence People - Dale Carnegie



24. Richest Man in Babylon - George S. Clason



25. How to Make Big Money in Real Estate - Tyler Hicks



26. The McGraw-Hill 36-hour Real Estate Investing Course – Jack Cummings



27. How to make big money in the Tighter, Tougher 90s - Hicks



28. The Millionaire Mind --Thomas Stanley



29. Quick LLC --Nolo



30. Spin Selling --Neil Rackham



31. The Latino Journey to Financial Greatness --Louis Barajas



32. Advanced Wiring --Stanley Tools Co.



33. The Godfather --Mario Puzo



34. Flipping Properties --Bronchick & Dahlstrom



35. You can negotiate anything – Herb Cohn



36. Buy low, Rent smart, Sell high – Andy Heller



37. The Weekend Millionaires Secrets to Investing in Real Estate – Mike Summey, Roger Dawson



38. Real Estate Investment and Acquisition workbook – Howard Zuckerman



39. Real Estate Finance & Investments - Brueggeman and fisher



40. Financial Statements - Thomas Ittelson



41. How to argue and win every time - Gerry Spence



42. Real Estate Finance & Investment Manual - jack Cummings



43. The Ten Day MBA - Steven Silbiger



44. The Essentials of Real Estate Economics - Dennis McKenzie



45. The Great Investment - T.D. Jakes



46. Consulting, Speaking and Seminar Training - Robert Bly



47. Patents, Trademarks & Copyrights - David Rosenbaum



48. Titan - Ron Chernow (Rockefeller bio)



49. Onassis - William Shawcross (Aristotle Onassis bio)



50. How to master the art of selling - Tom Hopkins



51. Eat that frog - Brian Tracy



52. The Invisible Billionaire - Jerry Sheilds (Daniel Ludwig bio)



53. CEO - Building a $400 million company from the ground up - Sandra L. Kurtzig, Tom Parker



54. Walk like a Giant, Sell like a Madman – Ralph R. Roberts, With John Gallagher



55. Who Dare Sells: The Ultimate Guide to Selling Anything to Anyone – Patrick Ellis



56. How to Close Every Sale – Joe Girard



57. You can Negotiate Anything – Herb Cohen



58. Getting to Yes – Roger Fisher, William Ury, Bruce Patton



59. Secrets of Question Based Selling – Thomas A. Freese



60. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey



61. The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding – Al Ries, Laura Ries



62. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – John C. Maxwell, Foreword by Zig Ziglar



63. Thomas Jefferson on Leadership – Coy Barefoot



64. The One Minute Millionaire – Mark Victor Hansen, Robert G. Allen



65. Maximum Achievement - Brian Tracy



66. How to Buy and Sell Apartment Buildings – Vollucci



67. How to Buy and Sell Apartments – Zick



68. Buying Systems – Norris



69. How to Talk So People Listen - Sonay Hamlin



70. Smart Talk "The Art of Savvy Business Conversation" - Roberta Roesch



71. E-myth - Michael Gerber



72. Deals on wheels - Lonnie Scruggs



73. Regions of Opportunity - Jack Lessinger



74. Flipping Properties - Bronchick / Dahlstrom



75. Unlimited Riches - Robert Shemin



76. Teach yourself body language - Gordon Wainright



77. How to wake up the financial genius inside of you - Mark O. Haroldsen



78. How to win friends and influence people - Dale Carnegie



79. Habits of highly effective people - Steven Covey



80. How to be rich - j. Paul Getty



81. The art of the deal - Donald Trump



82. Who moved my cheese – Spencer Johnson



83. The Greatest Salesman in the World - Og Mandino, George



84. The Millionaire Next Door - Thomas J. Stanley, William D. Danko



85. How I turned $1,000 into five million is - William Nickerson



86. How to make millions in 3 years starting with no cash - Tyler Hicks



87. The complete guide to buying and selling apartment buildings – Berges



88. Marketing Investment Real Estate - Messner, Schreiber, Lyon and Ward



89. Make It Big! 49 Secrets for Building a Life of Extreme Success - Frank McKinney



90. Investing in Fixer-Uppers. - Jay p. Decima



91. Buy It, Fix It, Sell It, Profit.- Kevin C. Meyers



92. Ziglar on Selling. - Zig Ziglar



93. Wealth In a Decade - Brett Machtig



94. Real Estate Investments and How to Make Them -- Milt Tanzer



95. Make Money with Small Income Properties -- Gary Eldred



96. See You at the Top -- Zig Ziglar



97. Zig Ziglar's Secrets of closing the Sale -- Zig Ziglar



98. Multiple Streams of Internet Income - Robert Allen.



99. Improve the Value of Your Home - Robert Irwin



100. A Fortune At Your Feet - A.D.Kessler



101. The Book Of Scams - L.Foster



102. Secrets of a millionaire real estate investor" - R.Shemin



103. The real estate investor's tax guide" - V.Hoven



104. The Weekend Millionaires secrets to investing in RE - Mike Summey and Roger Dawson



105. Homemade Money - Barbara Brabec

Comments(26)

  • Olga6th January, 2004

    A riddle: Why can I see Lufos laughing?



    I spy the answer in the article. Do you?

    • kmaples7th January, 2004 Reply

      I don't get it enlighten me.

      • Olga7th January, 2004 Reply

        101 was a joke, I guess grin

        Lufos has a great sence of humor.

  • WheelerDealer7th January, 2004

    So harsh! Go easy!This was a lot of work and just a recap of all the opinions of books read by TCi'rs. Thank you.

  • MrMike6th January, 2004

    Out of the Top 12 books listed ALL 12 were writen by noted liars who have basically made their money by selling books telling others how to make money.



    Meaning they never really made money in business unless you consider selling Get Rich books a business.



    Back in the old days they would have sold snake oil.





    Not a good start in my opinion.

    • MrMike6th January, 2004 Reply

      Tried to edit my post above. Meant to say 8 out of the top 12.



      It would be interesting to see if the # of Get Rich (Fluff) books read is inversely proportionate to a person's net worth. Of course I mean the reader's net worth not the writer's. smile


    • omega18th January, 2004 Reply

      Hey, don't be like that, those are all respected sc.... bags and above that "Baby got to eat..."



      As some might have known already, the editor made authors product to sell so selling =they=do=gladly=, (I presume), and that's not their fault: It's a fault of a believing buyer with no common sense!



      If you give 'em an arm when asked for a finger: "Don't cry Argentina" is the message I can sand to any dream builder who don't follow their own common sense at 4:00AM. What are you waiting for, pick up the phone and dial, operators are standing by~!~

    • Olga7th January, 2004 Reply

      Lucius,

      you are the most incredible science fiction figure made by inspired book or screen writer. Forrest Gump's father. If you write a book about yourself, I bet, you'll make tons of money, someone for sure will make a movie based on your script.



      Back to Book of Scams. Do you still have a copy? grin I would love to read it.


      • Lufos7th January, 2004 Reply



        Dear Olga,



        I will look I think I have an old thumbed copy somewhere in the garage. If I find it I will send it.



        Luv to all Lucius

  • DaveT6th January, 2004

    Of course, this list is just one person's opinion, in no way suggests an order of importance, and includes some courses (rather than books) within the list.



    Since there are really only 104 unique titles listed (#37 and #104 are the same) may I suggest that you add Robert Allen's "Nothing Down" to the list as #105. His book, in the early 80s, popularized the notion of creative real estate investing. While the book is out of date now, its contribution should not be overlooked.

    • Lufos7th January, 2004 Reply

      Dearest Olga, my best to the slerper and your hubby.



      In 1960 I wrote the Book of Scams. You see I had this office on Sunset Blvd. right on the strip and every Con Man had heard about this strange Real Estate Office that could do anything. I mean buy land and do a full subordination, then obtain construction funds and then do a wrap around the whole thing and buy back, then rent out and start on the sandwich leases to spread the ownership yet still maintain control.



      Well that sort of thing draws the Con Men of the world, so I started to keep a desk diary just like I was back at the Pentagon.



      Everytime somebody came in like Billy Sol Estes or M.Penn etc. etc. I would write the whole Con from start to finish and then list the variables.



      Well, in about two years I had this gigantic set of notes so I sat down with a jug of Martinis's and wrote the Book of Scams. I tried to keep a little humor in it to take the bite out of the fraudulent occasions.



      Like an idiot I gave it to a friend of mine who was a Federal Employe. He showed it around and the next thing I know a couple of nice looking clean cut young men in black business suits show up.



      The gist of the occasion. Their suggestion was to stop on the first edition ie: Printing and consign the publication to Law Enforcement Only. They would pay a good price so I would feel fullfilled.



      Their thinking is that this book was like a text book, a How to Do Book for Con Men.



      Well I had to agree, it certainly laid it all out and as you know one out rageous act does lead to its reproduction et infinite.



      So I took the check bought a new emblem for the car, everybody steals the knealing lady out here in LaLa land and that was it.



      I included it in the list as I had listed a bunch of other titles that I knew would be eliminated in the final selection. I really think that Clauswitz, Machiavelli, Musashi, Sun Tzu should be read, considered and thought about. Their application is broader and as the days change, they are always applicable. Especialy to those of you who wish to keep your thought structures out of the box.



      Ephmaticaly, Lucius

      • Olga7th January, 2004 Reply

        Lucius,

        you are the most incredible science fiction figure made by inspired book or screen writer. Forrest Gump's father. If you write a book about yourself, I bet, you'll make tons of money, someone for sure will make a movie based on your script.



        Back to Book of Scams. Do you still have a copy? grin I would love to read it.


    • kmaples8th January, 2004 Reply

      Lucius,



      Hey are you issuing library cards? Cause I would love to read "The Book of Scams" as well.

  • kmaples6th January, 2004

    Norrist,



    Thanks for the feedback, sounds like a good book. I will update my list and will be reading it soon. thanks agian. Kmaples

  • Tjapukai6th January, 2004

    Robert Kiyosaki with the top 7? That sounds suspicious. I've seen him live and read two of his books. I've found most of his stuff to be sales pitches for his other stuff, and some of the things he says are not only wrong, but illegal. John T. Reed exposes him here: http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html

    • hibby766th January, 2004 Reply

      I think this list is in no particular order.



      John T. Reed brings up some interesting items to think about, but most are speculative. He claims Kiosaki doesn't own much property. How does He know??? If it's in a trust, he'll NEVER find it on any search that he does. Maybe that's because he doesn't understand trusts, and thinks they're complicated (see his comments on "Bill Gatten" if you don't believe me)



      John T. Reed recommends John T. Reed. He is a black-white type of guy. There's been a lot of discussion on him here on the site. Most don't respect his opinion much.



      Kiosaki's books have changed the way I think and approach investing. Do I care if he's ever bought so much as a trailer home? Not really.

  • kmaples6th January, 2004

    MrMike,



    Thanks for your response, first I would like to address that this is in know way a list of best to worst, all of the books listed have value, and can have a benefit to your life. If you go through life as a cynic you will miss the true meaning. I have never read a book and not learned something from it.



    Even a horrible teacher has much to teach, if you listen with an open mind.



    I wish you much success and a Happy New Year!

  • fauche656th January, 2004

    Good job kmaples. For those of you thinking this is a top 100, it's not! There are tons of others (books) out there that give more inspiration, information, etc. This is a post that kmaples put out for input from members of TCI.



    BTW kmaples

    There are a number of duplicates in the list.

  • kmaples6th January, 2004

    fauche65,



    I apologize if there are duplicates, I guess I didn't proof read it well enough.






  • omega18th January, 2004

    Check the "return policy" before you buy it:



    Speaking of money making bestsellers or other make believe producers, one cannot omit Harry Houdini. Utilizing in a séance of psychology well known method of distraction, he became a legendary magician capable of disappearing in front of the audience [open] eyes.



    How could he do that, one would certainly ask? Easy, I sad: "What eyes see and ears hear, minds believe".



    With several exceptions, many "Amway Kiyosaki" type of books are design to undersell you yet another "product delivery vehicle". That's correct and many know that, yet by default they fell for even simpler "let me tell you a story" type of short sell pitches placed here and there. The short stories might sound entertaining to you but can in reality be as lethal as an entire, hardcover books.



    Do I hear a question how is that possible?



    Short Entertaining Stories preps the terrain in the mind of a newbee as gardener preps the soil before planting the Royal Queen Victoria Roses in. To that effect, short entertaining stories are like prelude for a big-bang closure down the line. They are another type of sells module that works like 5 minutes elevator pitch (or executive summary) before an offer of a whole business plan; regardless of the form used, you can recognize the trap because they always ends with how YOU gonna end-up reach if you join the trend and pay, invest or cheep in "X" amount of $. Voila, it's that simple!



    So weather you have a Charles Roger Pitney XII or Amway Kiyosaki offering to "tell you another story on how to get reach", be aware of the following:



    1) Who in such relation between you and him or her is asking for the buck up front?



    2) If you want to make $millions$ one day or at list not lose what you have, pay attention to this trap and you can't go wrong...



    And, Before your lose yet another *battle of green* by tripping on the trip wire planted in your learning curve, read the posted stories, ask the questions, be entertain... then - WALK when asked to chip in blind - unless you are willing to pay for the experience necessary to start writing yet another "Great Houses for Empty Accounts" CREI bestseller.



    Oh, and those 104 books above, they are all great! - What's your credit card number?

  • kmac14th January, 2004

    How To Win Friends And Influence People - Dale Carnegie



    A top 5 book everybody in sales should read.

  • hibby762nd March, 2004

    When it comes time to buy any of these, check out addall.com Very cool site. It's a metacrawler of all of the online booksellers out there. Easy to find the best online price.

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