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: Not Bad for a School Assignment
Review: The Investment Biker: Around the World with Jim Roger would not have been a book I would have chosen to read on my own but, after being assigned to it I would recommend it to those interested in world economy, travel and BMW motorcycles. One follows Roger around the world on his 22-month expedition of six continents and numerous economies and societies. Along with his girlfriend, Tabitha, Roger, a Wall Street legend, entertains with antecedents from his trip, while giving valuable insight of each economy he comes across. Roger is known from revitalizing the "Sleeping Beauty" that is the Austrian stock market. Over the 65,067 miles traveled BMW motorcycles and thousands more by boat, plane and train, Roger experiences first hand global societies, international economies and how they are seceding and failing around the world.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down!
Review: One of the best travel narratives about motorcycle touring ever written. Plus, you get Rogers' insights into where to put your money. Fortunately, the motorcycle touring takes precedent over Rogers' relentlessly money-focused view of the world. To my mind, the finest book about motorcycle adventures is "Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro's Cuba," Christopher P. Baker's fascinating and sometimes hilarious, sometimes hair-raising story of a 7,000-mile journey and justifiably the winner of both the 2002 "Travel Book of the Year" and the North American Travel Journalist Association's Awards of Excellence "Grand Prize."
Rating: 
Summary: Very Interesting
Review: Jim Rogers is well-known to viewers of CNN and for having been, with Geroge Soros, the manager of the Quantum Fund for many years, the top performing mutual fund of its time, turning out a 34% annualized return for many years. I've read Soros's books also, and he has high praise for Rogers, saying he was a great idea man.I have found certain aspects of Rogers' investing style interesting. He has a knack for detecting social trends in advance of the influence this would have on the stock. He did this by subscribing to and reading something like 90 mass-market magazines and trade publications and looking for trends. For example, years ago, when the "natural look" was sweeping the country and women were shunning make-up, he saw this and shorted Avon Cosmetics. The stock was trading around 80 or 90 at the time and was still considered a solid company. He covered his short two years later when the stock was below 10 bucks. Not too bad. Rogers' travelogue isn't a typical traver-writer's story, since he is so focused on the economics of the different countries, but I didn't mind that at all as I am an international investor myself, and wanted to hear his observations on these countries. For example, he finds Botswana, north of South Africa, a good bet for investors since it is equally as resource and mineral rich as South Africa, but without all the racial and tribal problems it and other African countries has. The country is mostly one tribe but the other two main minority tribes get along well so the country lacks the tribal tensions that have led to all out civil wars in other regions of the continent. Furthermore, he notes that both political parties are solidly capitalistic and want a prosperous stock market. This is just one example of the interesting observations Rogers makes as he travels around the world on his motorcycle. There are many more of these in the book, so I would recommend this book to anybody with an interest in international investing. The compelling reason for this approach is that the US market is acting so toppy and PE's are at historical highs. However, if you are knowledgeable about other markets in the world, it is possible to find investment opportunities elsewhere in countries whose markets are not so over-valued.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic International Perspective, Adventure, and Tutorial
Review: Jim Rogers does an excellent job of describing his bike tour around the world. This book brings home some of the issues that have plagued mankind for centuries and how man has never been able to learn from past mistakes. Knowing this
as Jim points out makes for excellent investment opportunities abroad. After reading the book, one becomes
familiar with the geopgraphical, cultural, and economic
climate of the areas Jim has visited. Some of the adventures that Jim describes, such as the face-off with the Frenchman
in Zaire, and the battle on the border in Argentina, sound
kind of suspect. All in all this book is highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Driving whilst looking in the rear view mirror...
Review: ...assures you of one thing: eventually driving into a tree. This is what Rogers' observations remind me of. It has been a while since I picked up Jim Rogers' diatribe on markets and countries. I am motivated to write this review after hearing that Rogers is still commenting on markets, and is still as wrong as ever. With the test of time, it is useful to go back and see not only how dim someone can be, but how ironic it is to be a traveller that is obtuse to all around you. First of all, this book is definitely NOT worth purchasing. Rather, it is best to borrow a copy from someone willing to admit they own it -- as I did. Then, do your friend a favor and discard of the book so that no one else needs to needlessly suffer the pain. Second, there are many better books to read out there if you enjoy the pain of pouring over words written by someone who is entirely in love with himself. Third, if you like "biker" books, read Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance," which is a much better read about a traveller confronting not only his own ghosts but reacting to his environment. Fourth, if you want to read about investing, you would not harm yourself by reading Grantham & Dodd, Buffet or Marc Faber. Lastly, if you are still determined to spend your hard-earned cash, donate it to charity.
Rating:
Summary: Zen and the Art of Global Investment
Review: This book is Robert Pirsig meets George Soros. Jim Rogers, gazillionaire of Quantum Fund fame, takes you on a riding and investing adventure around the world. During his travels you'll learn a little about local culture, a little about Jim's investment philosophy (go to where they allow open flows of money - just get there before everyone else) and a little about investment tips. Much of this would be great to have learned 7 or 8 years ago. Indeed, the book sparked my interest in working abroad. If you enjoyed his later work, Adventure Capitalist, you're sure to like this too. The only knock is that many of his observations are now dated, as his pessimism has grown over time. (Examnple: He's not so bullish on Turkey and parts of Latin America.)
Rating:
Summary: Good book, but the arrogance gets in the way
Review: Enjoyable read, but, author's arrogance gets in the way: "I went to wall street a poor boy, and left with millions..." He basically knows more than anyone in the world. A "market will cure all the world's ills" capitalist, it gets old. I had to slog through the first pages to get through the arrogance, and finally made it to the last page. I enjoyed it, but if Roger's had just toned it down a notch about how wonderfully bright he was, it would have been more enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Keep Rollin' Jim....
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: More Biker than Investment
Review: The book actually has not much to do with investemnts. Except for some global economic predictions, the book is on travelling the world. Do not read it for investment stories except if you are interested in lines like: The Chinese are building roads, construction workers who make them used to farm sheeps, of which the cashmere is exported. Therefore go short in fashion brands when the Chiense start building roads....
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