How to Get Rich: The Distilled Wisdom of One of Britain’s Wealthiest Self-made Entrepreneurs

Felix Dennis, Ebury Press, 2006, xx + 278 pages, £16.99.

As far as I know, the SBE does not often review books by poets who have spent time in jail. However, if it delivered on its title, How to Get Rich, it is certainly worth reviewing. The book’s message is slightly different: Do you really, really want to get rich? Getting rich is not for the faint-hearted or somewhat indifferent. Wishing or desiring to be rich is not enough; you need to be determined, unless you are born with some. Lack of money makes people unhappy, but having lots of money does not make them happy and making lots of money often requires sacrificing many things. He shows that the driven quality needed can destroy a lot of things that make life nice. Felix Dennis describes the sacrifices he made. "Making money was, and still is, fun, but at one time it wreaked chaos upon my private life. It led me into a lifestyle of narcotics, high-class whores, drink and consolatory debauchery. These afflictions, in turn, helped to undermine my health." (p 23) Of course, other people may have different ideas of what is fun.

Dennis made his money from magazines, having been imprisoned early on for co-editing the blasphemous OZ. He was eventually acquitted in the Court of Appeal. He says his first real financial success was in 1974 publishing Kung Fu Monthly. As a pioneer in computer magazines, he sold Personal Computer World and MacUser to other publishers in the mid-eighties.

As well as giving advice on what to do to get rich, such as never give up, and failure is never fatal, Dennis provides advice on what not to do. Success is never permanent and you are not infallible. Think big and act small. Small means staying flexible and in touch. Dennis provides a lot of jokes that I will tell my students. On infallibility he retells the story about an aircraft carrier off the coast of British Columbia. It is the transcript of a recorded radio conversation, released by British Naval Operations in 1995, between navy and civilian personnel. The navy tells the civilian to change course to avoid collision. The civilian advises the navy to change course to avoid collision. This goes on for a few rounds, each telling the other to divert course. The navy explains that it is a large US warship. The last the civilian says is, "This is a lighthouse. Your call."

This is a book-shaped long magazine that took eight weeks to write. It is full of good advice for all. Really, would any member of the SBE set up a new company on credit card debt? The pictures inside the covers are all of cheques made out to Inland Revenue. That’s another bit of the advice. Always pay your tax. Why? "This is not because I am a better man, or ethically and morally superior to my friend. It’s because I have been in prison once, for a short while, and I have no intention of going back there again." (p 236) The cheques to the Inland Revenue are for large amounts of money: the smallest looks to be for £117,000. "By the way, I always pay the Inland Revenue by old-fashioned cheque rather than by electronic transfer whenever I can. That way, I have a Xerox copy of the cheque to pin up on my kitchen wall (there are lots of them on the wall)…" (p 262).

This is a fun book. It is easy to read, and there is a lot white space between the lines of type.

Linda Hesselman

University College London