Rating: 
Summary: don't buy--borrow from your local library
Review: An arrogant, rich guy brags at length about snagging a trophy girlfriend (his client's daughter), then chuckles to himself as he motors his shiny BMW bike through crowds of "brown faces" (I think those were his actual words). As a travelogue, this book fails because all of the locations and cultures blur together. As a means of imparting financial strategy, this book also fails--for the reasons noted in other reviews. Anything worthwhile the author has to say is completely nullified by his enormous ego, which comes across on every page. For those of you seeking adventure writing or stock tips, look elsewher.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put it down!
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: 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?
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