Felix Dennis - How To Get Rich
Felix Dennis – poet, bon vivant and flamboyant multimillionaire. The libertarian and creative Dennis made his name during the Oz magazine trial of the late Sixties and made his fortune in personal computing magazines during the early 80s PC revolution. Now ranked the 65th richest man in the UK according to the Sunday Times Rich List, he has nothing left to prove. Hence the frankness, honesty and good humour which characterises this book.
He has ample time to cultivate his poetic leanings while sipping fine wines in his Mustique villa, and is not ashamed to admit it. In fact his witty, often insightful poetry is peppered liberally through the text. Felix, as the Latin translation of his name suggests, is one lucky man.
Don’t be fooled by the title. This book is as far away from cheesy, Californian self-help fluff as it is possible to get. In fact, Dennis defines this work as an “anti-self improvement book”. This is a mile away from the stuff of airport gurus or get-rich-quick merchants. As he cuttingly notes, “This book is written for amusement... I did not become rich by writing manuals telling other people how to become rich”. Nor is “How to Get Rich” the dour corporate monotone of some grey-suited businessman. Rather, it’s the story of someone who has practised what he preaches with flair, honesty and humour.
The astonishing message is that wealth is no panacea. In fact, it may even destroy the quality of your life. We learn how close Dennis came to personal tragedy through addictions and rampant spending in the Eighties decade of excess. Possibly the most genuinely touching and heartfelt section begins in Chapter 17, when he speaks of the terrible sacrifice of giving away your youth and health in pursuit of the almighty dollar, and the paranoia, jealousies and broken friendships that wealth can apparently lead to. He believes time is the most valuable commodity of all, because it can never be replaced. Mortality catches up with us all.
Dennis starts the book with a brief survey of wealth and the many tiers of affluence. I was naturally pleased to find my own wealth rating was “comfortably poor”. The author makes some good points – there is no point in being a shining star in a dying industry. Go to where the money and the action is. Start young and you have an inestimable advantage over people a decade older. (I personally think he overplays this – age and guile can usually overcome youth and talent). He litters his text with famous quotes. My favourite – “A committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and quietly strangled”.
Moving on, Dennis offers a wealth of ideas from his decades in the publishing industry. Some of the ideas could be found in any good management book and there is nothing here than is truly groundbreaking, but the fun is found is reading the anecdotes and stories and seeing how Dennis has applied these skills during his own rise to the top. His section on the art of negotiating and the importance of ownership (e.g. of intellectual property rights) is particularly enlightening.
Dennis has an eye for visual images – he compares chasing wealth to hunting a gazelle with diamonds in its belly. His closing chapter (“A Recap for Idlers”) is extremely well written, placing the quest for wealth amid his own musings on mortality and the meaning of life. Amazingly, it’s neither pretentious nor preachy, but a very human and very absorbing read. The same could be said for the whole of this gripping book.
Felix Dennis – The Upside-Down Pyramid for Getting Rich
1. Commit or don’t commit. No half-measures.
2. Cut loose from all negative influences
3. Choose the right mountain
4. Fear nothing
5. Start now
6. Go!
Design & Value for Money
The front cover of the paperback is a parody of a get-rich-quick style self-help book, with “Rich” printed in big red letters and an image of cheque for £38 million made out to “The Bearer”. The final “S” of the author’s name is a dollar sign. In fact this deliberately cheesy front cover was so ridiculous it almost put me off buying the witty and intelligent product beneath. I splashed out a cool £7.99 at WH Smith for this production (clearly I haven’t got the eagle eye when it comes to cost efficiencies) but it is available new on Amazon for a mere £5.99 at the time of writing. The hardback version (new from £11.89 on Amazon) features a picture of the flamboyant author himself on a chair flanked by bronze Chinese dragons.
To his credit, Dennis includes Amazon customer reviews at the front from ordinary readers with as much prominence as the newspaper reviews of the great and the good. His website (felixdennis.com) is also worth a look and features further samples of his poetic offerings.
