The Richest Man in Babylon

This is neither a joke nor an exaggeration: I am less than two minutes into this audiobook, and the narrator has mispronounced three basic English words: furtive, stolidly, and direst. I have deleted it from iTunes and will read it instead.

The narration of this book is so fast and brash that I actually couldn't finish it. It's supposed to be a story about Babylon, but it has a narrator with a very strong American accent which spoils the atmosphere of the story.

bad narration

Yes

This had a great overall theme

No

I do my listen on car trips and it workout great.

No

I started this book on Youtube and then came to Audible excitedly to listen to a professional version. I must say I am quite disappointed with the terrible narration! The Youtube version has a computer generated narration which was actually a LOT better than this narration.

The reader hurries through the text at break neck speed. He switched from paragraph to paragraph from concept to concept with out giving us time time even take a breath!

I have a good mind to ask Audible for a refund!

This has been the most influential and life changing book I have read to date. I had no idea that it was possible to study and apply the laws of wealth creation irrespective of what your current status and earnings were. This book is a must for anyone wanting to follow a simple plan that leads to abundance.

This is the basis of all financial books...earn and save. earn and save. earn and save and reinvest your interest.

Its a great lesson to learn at an early age and the book makes it simple to understand. Very basic, but quality message!

I'll come to the bad comically bad reading in a minute, but first the actual material.

I'd heard a lot about this book and expected it to be in the same vein as Think and Grow Rich and other self improvement books of the early 20th Century. I was pleasantly surprised.

The messages for financial self betterment are very simple, yet very wise and powerful.

It's a series of charming parables, written in a pseudo King James English style - "thou doth, thou givest" etc. Somehow, rather than sounding pretentious, their 'Ye Olde Worlde'' Biblical style gives the stories added weight and authority, making them all the more fascinating.

The fact that the messages are presented as parables also gives them a certain charm. It makes their wisdom so much easier to hear and digest than the wordy treatises of Napoleon Hill.

It seems as though the writer was writing for his grandchildren. I got the impression of someone patiently crafting vital lessons to young people he really loved. The stories are infused with lively historical drama and details in the style of Boys Own comic strips of the 1920s.

As for the reader, well - he was so bad at the start that I nearly asked Audible for a refund, especially when I saw that other reviewers were of the same opinion as me.But I decided to listen it out and make up my mind at the end.

I'm glad I did stick it out. I got used to the reader, and found myself not minding despite the breakneck speed and frequent, ignorant mispronunciations.

Perhaps the reader did improve as he went on. I gave him two stars in the end. But my eventual enjoyment was a testament to the quality of the book rather than a drastic change in the reader's part. The material triumphed despite the odds.

The book itself really is good. It's a concentrated source of valuable lessons about money, put in such a way an 11 year old would easily understand. It's charmingly written too.

I'm pleased to say I decided not to ask for my money back in the end. The reader did actually make me laugh a few times too.

The narration let's this title down, big time! One sentence just runs in to the next without pause which is very difficult to listen to. However I am not a fan of the use of the old language used throughout the book. Jim Rohn highly recommends this book but most of the lessons on money are fairly obvious - e.g. never a borrower nor lender be. I forced myself to listen to the end but it is unlikely I will listen to it again.

If you are not doing some of the things in this book, you have not even started out on the journey to building wealth! Great book with information everybody who wants to build wealth should know.