****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Note: Amazon has grouped together reviews of several different editions of this book; this review is for The Gospel of Wealth (Little Books of Wisdom).Andrew Carnegie's call upon the excessively wealthy to make a point of truly doing good with their excess wealth is as timely today as when it was first published in the North American Review in June 1889. Besides the obvious of condemning both spending ostentatiously upon oneself or turning one's children into the idle rich, Mr. Carnegie also contrasts unfavorably both the giving of bequests after death and mindlessly donating wealth to charity with his preferred method:using the skills and wisdom that acquired such vast wealth in the first place in order to wisely donate wealth in ways carefully calculated to do the most good while the donor is still alive to guide things.Note: Some reviewers have complained that this book is available online for free. Well, yes, what part of in the public domain do you not understand? However, trying to get away with giving someone a printout as a gift will earn you the nickname of cheapskate. If all you want to do is read it yourself, then by all means stick to the free sites. However, if you are looking for a way to get through to someone else, you are better off buying a copy, and a solitary sawbuck for this sturdy pocket-sized reprint is going to be tough to beat. The chief virtue of it being online is your ability to read it first and make sure that this is the book you want to give before ordering it.Note: Applewood Books has produced a nice looking inexpensive series of sturdy pocket-sized reprints of important American books, documents, speeches, pamphlets, and poems, the Little Books of Wisdom, uniform with this volume, that are ideal for gifting to doctors, lawyers, teachers, business professionals, and students of same: The Way to Wealth, George Washington's Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation, The Constitution of the United States of America, On the Art of Teaching, The Strenuous Life, The Bill of Rights with Writings That Formed Its Foundation, The Path of the Law, The Constitution of the Confederate States of America, The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, A Message to Garcia, A Declaration of Sentiments, Robert's Rules of Order, Good Citizenship, On Being Human, A Discourse Upon the Duties of a Physician, The Declaration of Independence with Short Biographies of Its Signers, Teamwork, Stick-To-Itiveness, Opportunity, & You, The Wants of Man, George Washington's Farewell Address, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The Speech of Chief Seattle, Common Sense, The Articles of Confederation, and The Emancipation Proclamation.Some selected volumes are also available in boxed sets: Books of American Wisdom Boxed Set, CEO's Gift Box of Wisdom, Doctor's Gift Box of Wisdom, Lawyer's Gift Box of Wisdom, New Citizen's Gift Box of Wisdom, and Teacher's Gift Box of Wisdom.And some have been published in Spanish: Un Mensaje a Garcia and Constitucion de Los Estados Unidos.
