I’m surprised at how good of a writer Dylan is. His stories flow effortlessly onto page after page. For a music buff it is supremely interesting to hear about his beginnings, the people he met along the way and even some stories from more recently in his career. The book jumps around a bit, but that seems to make it all the more interesting. Given that he has had such a long career and this book only covers short slices of it, it’s safe to say that there’s plenty more material for future books. I look forward to reading them!

There’s nothing earth-shattering in The Automatic Millionaire. It’s full of advice and examples that most of us have heard before. The beauty of it is that it is super-simplified and dumbed-down, so it makes you feel like anybody can do this. I really think just about anybody can. Basically, just save some money every month, don’t spend on needless things and invest in reliable, interest-bearing accounts. That’s it. If you do this and make it happen automatically (auto-withdrawals instead of writing checks), you too can retire with a nice nest egg.

BTW, the book is a really quick read. I read it easily in two nights.

A.J. Jacobs has taken on the Herculean task of reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica for this book. This fact alone should peak anybody’s interest in the “The Know-It-All”.

I decided to get this book after I read an article he wrote for Esquire entitled “My Outsourced Life”. It’s a hilarious account of how he tried to hire “assistants” to take care of his day-to-day tasks. I would recommend reading this article first to see if you like his style.

Not only was the book enjoyable, but it was also informative. He basically just comments on various entries that he finds interesting in the EB. Until I read this book I had no idea that Pythagorus started a cult-like group that had “avoid beans” as one of their main principles. Valuable knowledge!!