Trump: Think Like a Billionaire: Everything You Need to Know About Success, Real Estate, and Life [Hardcover]

 

 

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There I was stuck with a five hour wait in the Fort Lauderdale airport. I went into the bookstore seven times before succumbing to Trump: Think Like a Billionaire. But nothing else looked any better. I think it was the guarantee that I could bring the book back after I had read it for a 50% refund that hooked me.

I once met Bennett Cerf. He was a great publisher. It's too bad his name is sullied by printing a puff piece of no content self-promotion like this one under the Random House imprint.

Presumably, the reason you buy this book is so that you can think like a billionaire and become one. You can knock me over with a feather if anyone becomes richer because of reading this book.

The book has five parts: Real estate; money; the business of life; slices of a billionaire's life; and Inside the Apprentice.

In real estate, you learn that you need architects, contractors, agents, designers, lawyers, accountants, tax experts and other professionals to develop real estate. Hire good ones and treat them well . . . unless they are contractors. In that case, give them a hard time until they cut their price and deliver sooner. Walk through your properties as often as possible, looking at them like a tenant or a visitor, and fix any flaws. You learn everything you need to know in 44 pages including how to rent an apartment, read a classified ad and buy a home.

In money you find out that you cannot control costs unless you sign all the checks your billion-dollar company writes. You also learn not to trust a great deal. Have someone keep track of your financial situation and share it with you frequently. Don't borrow more than you can afford to lose. Get scholarships and grants for college and get a job for the rest. Everything you need to know comes in 31 pages.

In the business of life, Donald Trump tells you to do something you like, promote yourself by doing good work, be helpful in meetings, dress nicely, work all the time if you can make money at it, use your romantic desires to stimulate your work life, impress others that you are well organized, get a pre-nup so your next spouse won't take you to the cleaners, have a strong marriage if you want to make the most money and demand the best even if you're not paying. This takes 45 pages.

Slices of the Billionaire's Life include some heavy hitting examples and a diary of the work days for The Donald. He alternates between yelling at contractors, working on The Apprentice, chatting with celebrity buddies and sneaking out for a little golf.

In inside The Apprentice, you get a little gander at Apprentice 2 interspaced with crowing about the show's ratings.

Throughout all five sections, you read dozens of examples of people telling The Donald "You're fired" and cartoons developing the same point.

The book also displays many colored photographs of The Donald scowling. He has a few where he's getting TV publicity and he smiles for that. He does seem to like promotion.

You also get lots of photographs of The Donald and his third wife (while they were dating) including some where she is arrayed across the furniture and furnishings (atop a piano with a vertically challenged dress and standing partly in a marble pool in The Donald's living room). My favorite has them both scowling in the classic The Donald pose.

One sour note in the book is that The Donald decides to attack those rare souls who haven't given him publicity that was as positive as he desired.

If you really want to see how shallow someone can be, this is your book. If Trump: Think like a Billionaire didn't have that value, I would have graded the book as a one-star effort.

I recently read a note from a publisher that said that no one can discuss how to live well like The Donald. I'm still looking for that discussion rather than the pretty self-image he studies in the mirror in this book.

I think I'll skip future efforts by The Donald. I hope the book store is open when I go to the airport tomorrow so I can get half my money back on this book.

In this book The Donald claims "if you absorb only ten percent of the wisdom in this book, you'll still have a good shot at becoming a millionaire," however I can say that if you absorb 100% of the book you'll become POORER! Anyone will likely finish this book feeling distinctly unenlightened.
It's only a bunch of useless tips and a lot of self-promotion, specially of his properties and The Apprentice.In one of the mini-chapters he gives advice about marriage!! He who is in his third marriage??
Well, to keep it short, I'll tell that this book is in my list of the worsts books ever written in the humanity's history...

This is the first TRUMP book I have read. It is interesting to read how Donald manages his own life. Trump does just what the title says - he gives his insight on everything from renting an apartment to marriage. There is not much specific advice on how to succeed, but this book is great for gaining motivation to do better.

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