"Thou Shall Prosper" by Daniel Lapin

Like I sometimes do, I purchased this book some time ago with the intention of reading it, and then never got around to it because there was always another book I wanted to read more. Well, I finally opened up Thou Shall Prosper, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So much so that the next time I buy a book to read, I'll think twice about leaving it on the bookshelf while other books attract my interest.

The author, Daniel Lapin, is a Jewish Rabbi, and in this book he sets out to share the formula for success that has helped Jewish people achieve such prosperity in business throughout the ages. But before outlining the 10 principles of this formula, Lapin affirms the assertion that Jews are disproportionately successful when it comes to making money, and he debunks a few myths about how this Jewish success in business comes about.

To illustrate that the Jewish people really are disproportionally more successfully in business, Lapin provides several facts. He provides one statistic that speaks volumes: "Jews constitute about 2.3 percent of the U.S. population. That means that there should be about nine Jews on the Forbes 400 list [Forbes' annual list of the 400 richest Americans]. In reality, depending on the year, there are between 60 and 100 Jews on this prestigious list. Similar data for the more average population reveal that the percentage of Jewish households with income greater than $50,000 is double that of non-Jews."

So what's the secret behind this Jewish success in business? Well, that's what this book explains. And Lapin does a marvelous job. He doesn't provide his readers with some get-rich-quick formula, instead, he outlines 10 broad principles that undergird the Jewish approach to money and wealth. Within each principle are multiple subsets of principles. And, as is the nature of principles, Lapin ends up basically sharing with his audience a mindset that pervades the Jewish culture—a worldview and a way of life that has brought about a disproportionate level of success in business to the Jewish community in all places at all times.

This book will not appeal to those who want to bifurcate wealth-building into one compartmentalized arena of their lives. Lapin's prescription for making money is much more systemic, and it touches just about every corner of how one lives life. I highly recommend the book.