Rating: 
Summary: Good book, but the arrogance gets in the way
Review: This is a travel book, not a financial book, period. It's 90% travel to 10% international finance/investment 101. And it's interesting because Jim gives us a glimpse of the current, recent and distant-pasts of these exotic and intriguing places he visits on his motorcycle journey which spanned 22 months. He didn't look up influential people in the places he visited. He writes about his conversations and experiences from people he "bumped into" during his trip. That's where one learns what a place is really like. He also "put his bike down" a couple of times, and spent a lot of time wrenching on it. He's no schlep. A success on Wall Street, he has a lot of knowledge about many different parts of the world in a historical, and "future possiblility" sense in the political, economic, and cultural context. Because his experiences on this journey, which comprise this book were penned in the early 1990s, the reader can: see if Jim was right about his take on the future of these nations. Overall he's on track. For example, the rise of Islamic extremism in poor Islamic countries that have been left behind in the technological advances and globalization of the planet. Religious resurgences in the former Soviet republics, the lack of common sense and wastefulness of the communistic system, and the then-and-now shrinking of our world via telecommunications, freer international trade, regulations, technology, and business/trade agreements. For the ten-percent of the book that discusses general international investment, for the layman he discusses U.S. Gold and monetary policy, that are short and easy to read, as well as basic Monetary policy and Macro-economic functions. How does someone buy and sell currency? What do folks look for when the invest in a nation? Why do some countries have currency and foreign exchange controls? And, what are the positives and negatives of these monetary policies? One historical insight Jim noted on his long trek across Russia and the former Soviet republics on his bike is that communism and Stalin in the Soviet Union were greatly helped by the invasion of Germany in WWII. Hypothetical of course, but what if Germany hadn't attacked the USSR which led to the deaths of 1/6th of the Soviet population? The invasion, loss of life, hardship and subsequent "heroic" victory helped the USSR substantially. In addition to defeating the Germans, the Soviet's victory meant the subjugation of Eastern Europe, which enabled it to extract its resources and industries which the USSR didn't immenselyviously this helped Stalin tyrannical. How long would Stalin's tyannical murder spree, with his own people starving in the 1920s, have lasted with out it? His forever-lasting economic policies were not sound, as we found out in 1991. With the subsequent victory in '45, he was a "hero." The glue that held this multi-ethnic and geographically gargantuan empire together until is collapse in 1991. Many of his insights about where the U.S. economy and culture are headed are worthy of being considerate of. In the last several decades the U.S. currency has lost a full 1/3 of its value. Why? What is the result, both good and bad? Find out here. Jim also notes, from a rational investor standpoint that the American economy is past its glory days, and like every other nation or culture in history it will diminish in the same likes of the British and Roman Empires as examples. According to Jim, it has already begun. The world changes. Demographics change. Cultures and populations change over time. Our world and its history culturalism and not static. Multi-cultralism: good, right? Wrong. We simply don't know. It hasn't worked anywhere else in the world. It may very well (or may not) cause a lot of problems in the United States in the future after we're dead. Multi-culturalism is a natural demographic historical process that has affected, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, Italy, Rwanda, Switzerland, Nigeria, China, Canada, and Latin America (among many more). Americans are too myopic to realize what ethnic, linguistic, and geographical "nationalism" can become over decades and centuries. He points out correctly the deep similarities of the folks in Alaska, the Yukon Territories, and Pacific Northwest in the U.S. What does the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia have in common with DC and Ottawa? Not much. But they do have much in common with each other.
He explained some international investment and financial models, so the layman can understand what he's saying. It's a presursor to an International finance/investment Intro class. This is why it's not a financial book. Many of his friends at "Worth" and "Money" magazine, and Wall Street (even Peter Lynch), gave a sound-bite for this book. But it won't attract the type of folks who'd read it, because it's a Travel Book and travelers read travel books, not investment books (generally speaking). So, why is Lynch's "Beating the Street" put in the same category as "Investment Biker?" Because the person in charge apparantley hasn't studied much Marketing.... He's gotta a biker-like name, Jim Rogers. He's wearing a leather jacket and chaps and has a smile on his face in the company of a good looking girlfriend. After he returned home from this trip, he drove his motorbike to Alaska. He's a biker at heart and schrewd investor in mind. Jim and Pirsig out to get together. Boy, wouldn't that be a book?
Rating: 
Summary: Greatest Book on Finance, Business, Travels Ever.
Review: This is one of the finest book ever written on anything. Jim Rogers is a man of action, a living Indiana Jones. He does what he says. Granted many people write on Finance, Business, Travels. However, virtually all wrote from the "ivory tower pinhead" perspective by professor who have never worked anywhere, built a business or personally been to all the places they write about. Jim Rogers has "been there" "done that" This is no easy task when you got 10 credit cards, BMW bike, and beautiful woman half your age and five inches taller than you. The very fact that he survived the trip and live to write about it is a miracle. Jim Rogers took the 2000 tour of the world. ...P>Jim travels to China, Russia, Africa and South America and talks to the business people there and get firsthand knowledge of what's going on. No "ivory tower pinhead" here. He been there and done that. ... This is surly one of the greatest business and travel books ever written. All should buy and read.
Rating:
Summary: A "Must Read" for both New and Seasoned Global Investors
Review: This paperback is identical to the hardcover book by JimRogers, "Investment Biker: On the Road with Jim Rogers".Jim has been quoted as saying he did not need to do an update as all his recommendations and observations were the same as when he wrote the hardcover book earlier, which is consistent with his secular investment philosophy. See my review of the hardcover edition, which I recommend over the paperback because it is a classic primer on global investing and travel. An enjoyable and informative read!
Rating:
Summary: Don't the moon look good mama, shinin' thru the trees
Review: What made this book appealing to me is Roger's historical, political, social, and financial take on every country he went through. Like it or not, assets, such as a cow, translate into money and the money then translates into another cow. If readers don't understand the significance of money, credit, banking and the 20th century debate between Schumpeter and Keynes, they aren't going to get as much from this book. Another thing about Rogers is that he's a trader who in the short term can sound like an alarmist. He has a marvelously comprehensive world view, known as a top down model in the business of investing, and he isn't afraid to risk his capital and then turn on a dime. He'll reverse his investment from short to long in a heartbeat and usually win. A microscopic number of people are able to do this successfully. I repeat, he is not a buy and hold long term investor. He's highly energetic and capable of putting in a prodigious amount of time researching questions in order to improve his model of assumptions which dictate his investment expectations. While he waxes eloquently on the romantic aura of spending the night in the Sahara and on the colors of the light show in Siberia in contrast with the technicolor collage of the homes and gardens there, he was clearly more interested in buying low and selling high. Notice how he went for the beer and banking stocks; also the local power company provided if there wasn't excessive government regulation. As for Tabitha and the surrounding scenery Jimmy was doin' the best with what he's got. Like many men he lacks a full understanding of women, he just isn't programmed that way. The same can be said about women re men, but that's another subject. Sending her to mechanic's scholl was original thinking. The boy is on the cutting edge. The border crossing problems he describes are identical to those recounted by Keith Richburg, a black liberal American who worked on the Nairobi desk for the Washington Post, and wrote "Out of America", a tale about his stint in the heart of darkness. A great book. My German girlfriend, who travels on the cheap to out of the way places, loved this book. My hats off to Rogers for having the courage to do it, and to include his girlfriend.
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