Rating: 
Summary: This was a blast to read - can't recommend it too highly!
Review: So who are you going to listen to regarding the future of Russia, some television reporter who's been flown into Moscow three or four times, attended a couple of Putin press briefings, stayed in a Five-Star restaurant, or read a bunch of great anecdotes from a guy who's driven all around the country twice over a ten-year period, talked to people out in the country (not just three blocks from a Moscow hotel) and seen for himself the true condition of the infrastructure while assessing the attitudes of the people across the breadth of the country? That is, of course, a rhetorical question. In case you're wondering, Mr. Rogers isn't particularly optimistic about Russia. For that matter, there are a lot of places that he isn't optimistic about. Not surprisingly, he gives you the all reasons why certain parts of the world will more or less stay doomed to economic stagnation while providing a travelogue nonpareil. Some, but not all, include (a) a lot of bureaucrats with nothing better to do than get in the way of people that want to do something productive (b) poor infrastructure that will inhibit the efficient flow of goods and services across the country (to my surprise, the situation with respect to this factor is more favorable in China than in India) and (c) unwillingness to allow foreign investment. While lamenting (c) is self-serving with respect to Mr. Rogers's case, it does seem intuitive that a country in the need of capital ought to get it where it can. To me, the fact that Rogers made his fortune years ago by divining foreign markets coupled with his erstwhile academic perch (former Columbia B-School prof) makes me want to give weight to his observations. The fact that they are made in such an "on-the-ground" context (driving a Mercedes with a trailer behind it is about as on-the-ground as you can get) make this one of the best books about any subject I have ever read.The book reads like a novel with endless stories about fascinating people and places (Rogers is a marvelous storyteller) but is interspersed with a lot of the author's conclusions about the longer-term economic prospects of many of the countries he visits (how he and his new wife Paige even were able to get into many of those countries is part of what makes this book such a delight). While doing this, there is no hint of condescension in his commentary from the viewpoint of a rich American - at the end of the book he lays into his own country with some well reasoned criticisms concerning our isolation and arrogance. Moreover, Rogers unabashedly finds inspiration from the numerous industrious and hard-working people that exist in all corners of the world. You know that he wishes they had even a fraction of the chance a large majority of Americans to pursue their respective dreams. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the world and its propects for economic development. While I wish that Rogers came away with more optimism about the future (unfortunately, most people in the developing world don't exactly desire to share the wealth and most of the developed world creates a lot of its own problems with politicians overpromising...what else is new), I do appreciate his realism. I know that when Rogers speaks on the Fox News Channel, I listen to him with far greater interest than to any other commentator they have.
Rating: 
Summary: Three years, 116 countries, one adventure
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Rogers needs a shot of "Clash of Civilizations"
Review: The greatest fault of this book is that Rogers, despite all of his credentials as a world traveler and one who has visited probably far more countries than I ever will, has the classic problem of universalizing human culture by looking at it from a mere economic level. For Rogers, all people throughout the world are Hayekian Free Marketers, who have no loyalties to anything greater than amassing personal wealth. Religion and political ideology of the world's civilizations, regardless of their respective antiquity, are for him transparent constructs that are merely means, and not ends themselves, of amassing wealth. Quite simply, Rogers looks at economic growth numbers totally divorced from any sort of socio-political context (I will admit though, that he does make the appropriate tie-ins in his comments on S.Korea and Singapore). For instance, Rogers ignores (which he should have learned from his "man on the street" style of research with the "common man") that China's market reforms are being conducted in order to make it the "Middle Kingdom" once again, and the military/political hegemon of Asia. Once it has secured this status, one can only wonder how the South Asian nations and Japan will fare in the face of this massive country whose history has been anything but purely benevolent. (Ask the Vietnamese)
Secondly, the EU's reluctance to import foreign labor, despite its declining labor force, stems from the fact that they do not wish to be overrun by large numbers of foreigners who, rather than assimilate to Western culture, would simply wish to graft their own over it.
Finally, Rogers's encounters in the Saudi Kingdom (once again, as a real "man on the street") seems to be with the most liberal and "Westernized" percentage of the country. Obviously he failed (or purposely avoided) those educated and somewhat affluent members of the economy, who like the WTC hijackers, reject Western capitalism out of hand.
To his credit, Rogers did give me some helpful and erudite advice on the South American investment situation. However, like Samuel Huntingdon has said, this area of the world has a civilization most resemblimg its Western co-originator and should be easier to understand on almost any socio-economic level.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating bottom-up view of the world
Review: Outstanding and captivating book on global finance. The book follows Jim's 3 year millenium tour around the world in 1999-2001. As Jim and his fiance/wife travel the world, they share lessons in history, culture and global economics. The book contains both specific details on countries (Japan is at or near a bottom, where everyone's given up, and may be due a rebound. There's a bubble forming in US housing) as well as general views supporting free market economics. It also manages to be both profound and captivating. There are lessons worth pondering, but the story keeps grabbing you back. In the end, you'll be surprised at how much you learned. The book also has a more mature tone than "Investment Biker". You can see some of the youthful enthusiasm at a world losing it's boundries replaced with concern over the troubles in today's world. Jim's prior viewpoint of a single man is replaced with coping with his father's mortality and the responsibility of a new family. It's as if the initial book was written by your older brother, while this was written by your dad. I had a bias going in - "Investment Biker" was an eye opening book early in my career. This book still managed to exceed my expectations. It ranks with Friedman's "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" in explaining what's going on in the world, while maintaining a Paul Theroux view of the world from the low road. (Learning more from border crossings than from airports and red carpets) It's also been my top read of the year to date. Pick it up! It's well worth it!
Rating: 
Summary: Should Be Two Books, and Both Would Be Stronger
Review: Jim Rogers has been smashingly successful in two different areas - international investing and international travel. He tries to tackle both successes in this book but unfortunately doesn't adequately cover either. His remarkable achievement covered here is his three-year drive (with his wife and some suspiciously anonymous assistants) around the world, knocking off 116 countries and 152,000 miles, along with all the life-threatening travails and crises that you would expect in so many hostile territories. He was also on constant lookout for international investing opportunities, and his most interesting assertion is that you learn most about the dynamics of any foreign economy by talking to real people at street level. That's opposed to know-it-all politicians and bureaucrats who make vast judgments on places they have never been and couldn't nearly understand. The main problem here is that the journey was so extensive that Rogers doesn't have the space to relate an effective travelogue about all the places he visited. Entire nations are often described in a sentence or less. Meanwhile, yes/no pronouncements on the viability of investing in each location are tossed off quickly like afterthoughts. Rogers does impart some great investment advice here, like the contention that the next bull market will be in commodities (raw materials) rather than securities, most of the currencies in the world are collapsing, and that the surprise up-and-coming nations will be Angola and Bolivia. But otherwise, Rogers quickly dismisses most of the visited countries due to political strife. He also spends a lot of time on his soapbox, making vast pronouncements on how to solve the world's ills, most of which involve a simplistic belief in free trade (the phrase "the miracles of international trade" pops up once), and the predictable disdain for globalization's critics that we keep hearing from those with vested interests. Rogers fails to notice that much of the political strife he encountered around the world resulted from mismanaged globalization efforts. Rogers should have written two books inspired by his remarkable journey. The first would be a travelogue and adventure story about the perils and rewards of death-defying travel. The second book would be a solid examination of worldwide investing opportunities and the futures of developing vs. declining nations and their economies. Both would be much stronger than this book that unsuccessfully tries to blend the two, but leaves both poorly covered.
Rating:
Summary: Good book if you are curious..
Review: Ok.. Let me say this. This book looks like a cursory and 1000 feet info on any country per se and sometimes the review of the countries looks are only in one line. But I can't blame Jim. he had to fit it the world in one book. Here are something I found out:
* He is so wrong about India in terms where it is now and where it is going.
* I agree with him so much about World Bank, IMF and NGO. I myself has been involved with some NGO and bravo Jim. You called it as you see it. Fat pigs in Washington DC are no different then the dictators they prop up.
* I am moving to Bolivia. ajay
*
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Snapshot View of the World, But...
Review: Jim Rogers' book only gets 4 out of 5 stars because although this is an excellent "on the ground" snapshot view of the world as it is today, seen through the eyes of a "buy and hold" long term investor, perhaps because he is what he is, he is blind to the importance of other quality of life measures of freedom. He says he'd live in China right now. He glosses over the realpolitik at work there. To him all is rosy but to some of us who have firsthand or secondhand knowledge of the communist government in China, and its crimes, we aren't prepared to let them go quite so easily. So what if they're the biggest market on earth? Their government, by Western standards (and they are the only ones that count!) is illegitimate and will be until absolutely free secret ballot elections are held there. In America one can say such things and not be incarcerated in labor camps for it, not in China, despite what Rogers saw there. He comes off as too much an apologist for China the way it is. Fine, let him go there. Bet he wont. He chose to get married in jolly old England but has scant to say about Europe, whose economies really matter. I appreciated the thoughts about his father. This is a wide book, about as wide as it gets. After all who else has done what Rogers has done, twice. But alas, it isn't a very deep one.
Rating:
Summary: For those you who like investing AND travel
Review: This is a very, very good read if you have a passion about investing AND travel. I'm familiar with some of the countries myself and can only marvel the cold-blooded, witty sum-up description of socio-economic workings in the book. Maybe occasionally sounds a bit flippant for a European reader, but it's barely a fault. Generally I find it hard to get an interesting reading (or whatever other content), but this was interesting from cover to cover.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting but utimately disappointing
Review: There is a lot to like about this book - it tries to be a snapshot of the world the turn of the century which is part adventure, part culture and part financial/economic analysis. Rogers has flashes of insight - but mostly fails in his goal. In Investment Biker we could feel the adventure. Whether it was the harsh winds of the Sahara, hours behind a shaking motorbike or fighting off crooks in the Congo. In this book he is older, more out of shape - somehow he doesn't look like an adventurer anymore. He cruises through third world countries with his air conditioning on high. Instead of driving a Toyota pickup - he drives a bright yellow Mercedes. In effect saying to most of the world - we have money and you don't. Is there any wonder that much of the world despises the US with ambassadors like Rogers to rub poverty in their faces? Also killing the sense of adventure are the endless boring details of visa acquisition. Where are the pictures or description of the second car? We never hear about their travel companions. He vilifies politicians, NGOs and taxes - but doesn't seem to realize that his form of speculative investment - creating nothing, simply waiting for and buying depressed asset values and then selling them before after they have adjusted could equally be described as useless by many people. Not that I am against speculation - it plays a valid market role. Rogers does have keen financial insight. Unfortunately there is not enough in this book. This would have been better written as set of financial essays than a drawn out boring adventure. Some points he makes
>China is the powerhouse of the future. (Check out Goldman Sach's analysis #99 BRIC economies [online])
> Buy assets at the end of a long war (Peru)
> Most of the industrial world is aging and not having kids (particularly Europe)
> Chinese and Koreans are having a surplus of boys
> Turkey and Iran have potential - High quality bright people
> Myanmar is opening - and there are opportunities to be had
> Invest in Commodities during times of inflation
> Exploiting commodities in Africa is profitable
> Exploiting commodities in Peru, Bolivia and Chile is profitable
> Countries with good highways have potential: Chile, China, etc
> Countries with bad highways and/or custom agents are poor investment opportunities: India, Korea
> Russia and its ex-republics are are run by Mafia don's who got a great deal on government privitization.
> All empires decline - currently the US is in decline
> The EURO may replace the dollar as the foreign-currency reserve of choice
> Europe has its own set of integration problems
> The US should stop overextending itself overseas (korea etc) Conclusion: Skim and toss. You might get enough information from the jimrogers.com website. A lot of the financial advice in the book will be quickly dated.
A better investment would be a subscription to the Economist magazine. For an amusing analysis of the world economy check out P. J. O'Rourke.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: ...there is no brochure with the CDs - no map of the
journey.
...he hops from one place to another with little and often
no mention of the sights, countryside, onroad experiences.
He just maintains this IDEE FIXEE on investing, as though he
doesn't know that zillions of 1st class oportunities exist in
the USA, better than he will ever find in China, with which
he is infatuated, as though China is never going to change the rules in the middle of his dreams.
He says that while in Istanbul, Page, his female companion visited and did sight seeing while he stayed in the hotel and wrote
postcards home. HUH? Istanbul? That's the best way he could think of
spending his day?
He never mentions his sea trips, air connections in any
detail. At one place he says " in 50 years there will be only 30 languages in the world..." Oh, really? These CDs are not about travel, but about investment,
investment, investment. Give me a break. Who needs to
invest in central Asia when you have the USA and the NYSE. I am going to buy the book and get the travel details
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