The Education of Millionaires: Everything You Won't Learn in College About How to Be Successful Paperback – September 25, 2012

Whenever I stumble upon a self-help book, particularly the kind of motivational, how to be successful type of rhetoric, I find myself to be very skeptical. There is something about the self-help category that bothers me. It seems as if those supposed gurus have the secret to financial success, fame, happiness, spiritual fulfillment... and they are happy to share it with you for the modest sum of $29.99. Just give them your money, follow the steps, and all of your problems will be solved.Sure.Sometimes they'll throw in some new age mumbo-jumbo, sometimes a few marketing buzzwords, or a mix of the two. As it turns out, all they offer is some basic common sense knowledge for anybody who hasn't been asleep for their whole life, masqueraded as divinely inspired epiphanies. I get annoyed very quickly by that kind of thing.Then, you come across something distinctly different.A few days ago the crowdfunding campaign for my upcoming book was ending, and I was checking out the donations coming in. I noticed that a certain "Michael Ellsberg" just preordered a copy of the book, and he tweeted that to his 5K followers. I remembered reading an article of his' some time ago, and I was intrigued, but didn't follow up right away, as I already had a ton of books waiting for me, most of which essential for moving forward with mine. Well, things were about to chance very quickly.We went back and forth a few tweets, and in a matter of minutes I received a gift notification on my kindle. A few seconds after that, I was already reading his book The Education of Millionaires: It's Not What You Think and It's Not Too Late. Now, that's what I call direct marketing done right.First off, Michael doesn't pretend to be a guru of any sort, nor does he wish to. He is somebody who has developed over the years a level of hands-on knowledge, the kind of street smart that you won't learn in school, and he has a history to prove it. He presents a clear, lucid, and very genuine insight into the world of reinventing yourself, and how to find an equilibrium between success and fulfillment. The book is fluid and organic. It's well structured, and it's a pleasure to read. You can tell he spent a great deal of time writing, reading, proofreading, checking, going back and forth to fix it several times before publication. There is a lot of time, effort, and professionalism put into this work, and it transpires from every page. The insights and advices he gives make perfect sense (once explained), but they are not obvious at all. Throughout the 272 pages of the book, his personal life permeates and surrounds the events told. It's compelling. And most of all, it feels real. Not for a moment are you treated like a mindless moron, looking for instant satisfaction and empty slogans to fill your void with more emptiness. Instead, Michael treats you like a smart, intellectually engaged person, who is trying to be even more stimulated, in order to take the next big step in their life.I thoroughly enjoyed reading his book, and needless to say I would recommend it. But not to anybody. If you are not prepared to challenge your views and maybe even change the way you live, then this book is the last thing you want to read. Personally, it has helped me substantially, and it is also thanks to him if I finally decided to leave my safe and secured, well paid job, to become self employed and pursue my passions (taking risks, but with care and intelligence).Now, I feel like I've known Michael a little bit, and I would like to know even more and learn from him. But most of all, I want to try and help him any way I can, by sharing ideas and giving him insights in those areas that I know fairly well, but that he may not be familiar with.His book inspired me to strive for excellence with mine. It was one more reason to put all my efforts in writing as best as I can. There is still a lot of work to be done, and I can't wait to get back and make it happen. In fact, that's exactly what I'm going to do now, so forgive me if I stop writing so abruptly.

I found this book to be highly entertaining and enlightening. A lot of the books I've been reading lately have been great but mainly re-affirming what I already know. Michael gave me quite a few great new ideas and numerous entertaining stories to back his arguments and make his points. I felt as though he readily admits that for some, higher education may be a totally feasible option, but the main question would be "to what cost?" His ending Epilogue about the coming "Education Bubble" sums it all up incredibly well. Most people (including most of my colleagues) graduate University with HUGE amounts of debt only to be able to find jobs serving you & me at Starbucks or similar high-school type jobs. There is no way that they'll be able to pay off there school loans at their income levels and even if they file for Bankruptcy they still owe on their student loans. Having been well over $50k in debt and working behind a shovel for minimum wage with a college degree, I know the overwhelming stress that creates. It's enough to make you want to off yourself! So the question is, why pay all that money & go through it all in the first place when there are other options like khanacademy.org (which has a HUGE selection of completely free educational videos, including everything from Trig, to Economics, to Art History!) or other resources he lists in his book.I am a person who has purchased online training seminars/ courses for business & investing, reads a non-fiction business/ self-help book about every other month and has even shelled out over $7k/seminar for similar weekend seminars. I also hold a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in entrepreneurism & finance. I can honestly say that all of my success has come from me busting my ass & figuring out what people want & delivering on that (just like what Michael suggests in his book). Never really liking school and going to college to fulfill my father's desire to have a male member of our family graduate from higher education I can honestly say that what I have learned in my self education FAR exceeds my formal business classes and at a fraction of the total cost. But I knew that it would. My father is a very successful small business owner who dropped out of college and is far more successful in business & life than most of my colleagues parents who hold degrees. He always told me that continuos self education and refinement in all areas of your life was the key to being successful and happy.My only major critique of the book (and of most business non-fiction books) is that it can be a little long winded at times. I found myself a few times thinking, "Skip to the end Michael, you've already made your point." But I would also say that for a few lessons, I needed that length for it to really sink in.My apologies for such a long winded and personal review, but I think what Michael touches in on is a very sensitive subject that many of us hold very personal. People are going to either love it or hate it. Remember that when reading reviews & if you're skeptical, pick it up at your local library, but just remember... that's exactly the type of self educate Michael urges his readers to do.