Wow!

Maybe I'm not as smart as the reviewer who preceded me.

I picked up A.C. on the way to Australia. I read it at light speed. To say this book is an eye opener is an understatement. I travel a lot...but not this much! ...no one does!

I learned a great deal following the Jim, Paige, videographer and car around the world. I confess there is much of their journey I would never have had the guts to undertake and thus was impressed by some of their choices of travel.

Here's some of what you are going to pick up:
1) You're going to find out what countries to put a few shekels into and which one's not to. (There are a lot more to NOT.)
2) You're going to get an excellent idea of where you want to visit on your next non-5-star trip out of the country.
3) You're going to find out that Vancouver B.C. is overall one of the finest cities in the world. (I can't think of a better one myself.)
4) Some darn good arguments for unrestricted free trade and open borders.
5) Solid challenges to your way of looking at the political messes of virtually every nation on the planet and a few ideas on what could make things better.
6) Lots of ways to save your hard earned money.
7) The fact that there are precious few powerhouse opportunities right now.

Of some interest, Jim notes he was told you can't buy a house in Australia if you don't live there. That's what I was told by some cab drivers, realtors and university prof's. Others told me the exact opposite and a few noted that you can't buy but you can build. Go figure. This is truly a bizarre phenomenon. Whatever the deal is, don't cut the check until you know the answer.

This book was a lot of fun. Thoroughly enjoyable and a lesson in looking at the world and the USA that sometimes is a bit stern.

Loved it.

Kevin Hogan
Author of The Psychology of Persuasion
http://www.kevinhogan.com/

Jim Roger's knows investing, and he makes it interesting. Don't read this book if you think you're going to get a hot investment tip. He moves too quickly to focus on any one country's investment potential. It's a combination of geography, history, and capitalism. You will learn more about the state of the world than investing. I now know many tidbits about countries that I never knew previously.

Do you know how Africa's geography will most likely change within the next two decades? Wonder how Apartheid is progressing in South Africa? The best African country to vacation in, and why? The freedom in China that we never hear about? The "feed the children" programs, and how they are corrupted once they ARRIVE in Africa?

I've focuses in on Africa here, but that's what I found most interesting. Again, you will not become an expert currency trader here, but you will attain valuable insight into world affairs.

This book is an extensive travelogue written by a wealthy, cosmopolitan, middle-aged American who has spent many years working in global money management. As such, its easy for me to relate to him, and I found his thoughts and observations useful and entertaining.

Mr. Rogers' trip was a massive undertaking, with three years spent criss-crossing six of the seven continents. Its a spectacular achievement, and a rich and delightful repast for anyone with even a little of the armchair traveler within them.

This book is basically a mediocre travelogue, filled with the self-indulgent recollections collected while driving across the world in a custom designed Mercedes. Written by Jim Rogers, a retired hedge-fund manager, it is a recounting of a world-wide adventure. Along the way, Rogers punctuates his wandering narrative with economic observations and glib predictions about the future.

Granted, Jim Rogers and his current wife Paige did something few will ever do-spend three years and drive through 116 countries, racking up over 152,000 miles doing it. That is awe-inspiring.

However, while reading this book, I couldn't help but be reminded of the travelogues written at the turn of the last century, where rich families would travel the world jotting self-important journal entries about how superior they were to the local savages.

Jim comes across as self-important and slightly arrogant. Opinionated is putting it lightly. But it is because he is what he is - a rich socialite traveling the world to indulge himself.

He blames European colonialism for most of the corruption and tyranny in Africa. His solution? Simply redraw the political maps around religious populations and end all aid to the countries.

He states that anti-American bias around the world is because of... you guessed it. United States government. He criticizes Clinton, Bush, and Greenspan.

The most interesting parts I thought was when Rogers retells about how he got conned into buying fake diamonds (glass in Africa), and also tracked down a broker that stole his money on a previous trip (South America). He also was surprised about how many of his predictions from his previous trip were just simply wrong.

At least that offers some balance to the "I'm right and everyone else is wrong" tone that permeates the book.

In spite of the negatives, I found it interesting nonetheless, to see the world filtered through Jim's eyes.

Jim Rogers, an investor and author of "Investment Biker", took a three-year-long tour around the world in a journey that took him through 116 countries; "Adventure Capitalist" is a diary-like account of his trip.

Lucid and often humorous, "Adventure Capitalist" will appeal to two types of readers. First are those who will be fascinated by the travel itself, and the author's encounter of different cultures and attitudes. In that sense, "Adventure Capitalist" is a state-of-the-world kind of book in which Mr. Rogers goes beyond what is reported in the news (or, often, not reported in the West) and gives a first-hand account of life in distant lands. (But Mr. Rogers tends to gloss over a few countries, sharing too little about his time in them.)

Second, Mr. Rogers puts together an investor's handbook by giving financial advice about investing in dozens of countries. Mr. Rogers is very straightforward about his reasons for investing in one place over another; thus, "Adventure Capitalist" has ended being a rich anthology of investment experience that can prove helpful to anyone interested in economics.

Either as a travel-book or as an investor's guide, "Adventure Capitalist" is sure to captivate you if only because it offers a fascinating account of how things really are in places where most people will only ever reach by a book like this. Mr. Rogers has lived, as he says, everyone's dream; and then, he has come back to tell us about it.