The Rich and How They Got That Way (Book Review)

There's bound to be a billionaire wannabe on your gift list. In this book,Cynthia Crossen, a senior editor at The Wall Street Journal, looks at some of the richest people in history, from Machmud of Ghazni, who acquired riches through plunder a thousand years ago in what is now Afghanistan, to Bill Gates, currently the richest person on the planet. Crossen's book is more a social history of wealth than a guidebook for becoming rich, so readers won't find any surefire formulas for becoming disgustingly wealthy. But the giving season may be an appropriate time to consider what being wealthy really means.

Adapted by Ph.D.