The art of money-getting
by P. T. Barnum · first published 1800
68% recommend32% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Short, practical collection of golden rules for making and keeping money, often called the prototype of the self-help finance book. Valued for advice that still holds despite its age; suits entrepreneurs.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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This is the first guy I've come across since reading P.T. Barnum's The Art of Money Getting (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=310056) who seems to fit the description of the "unlucky man": The Rothschilds have another maxim: "Never have anything to do with an unlucky man or place." That…
on “Slashdotter on the value of ideas versus execution” ↗…(http://norvig.com/21-days.html), Richard Hamming's "You and Your Research" (https://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html). Or if you are of a more entrepreneurial bend, P.T. Barnum's "The Art of Money Getting" (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8581/8581-h/8581-h.htm) Happy to talk in private. My email is in my profile. (Some snark thrown in for free: forget about OOP design patterns.)
on “Ask HN: I am busy with too many things at once” ↗> We used to joke that “we lose money on every transaction but make it up in scale. Ooof, I remember that from 2000. Does anyone look at unit economics? PT Barnum made a book called "the art of money getting" - which could help many, worth the read.
on “Uber, Postmates Agree on $2.65B All-Stock Deal” ↗…like effects." If a man adopts the proper methods to be successful, "luck" will not prevent him. If he does not succeed, there are reasons for it, although, perhaps, he may not be able to see them." THE ART OF MONEY GETTING or GOLDEN RULES FOR MAKING MONEY By P.T. Barnum https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8581/8581-h/8581-h.htm
on “How to increase your luck surface area (2010)” ↗It's over a century old, but the "Art of Money Getting" by P.T. Barnum is still pretty good: http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/www/barnum/moneygetting/
on “Ask HN: Books on getting rich?” ↗…our "income" and "stuff" to their "income" and "stuff" (as opposed to what we really should be comparing which is net income and net worth). I'm also reminded of a great book by P.T. Barnum called The Art of Money Getting (http://manybooks.net/titles/barnumptetext05barnm10.html). It was published in 1880, but it's amazing how relevant it still is. He tells some great stories about life, money, and wealth. This is one…
on “Why So Many Rich People Don’t Feel Very Rich” ↗I think P.T. Barnum wrote the prototypical "Self-help: finance/entrepreneurship" book in "The Art of Money Getting: Or, Golden Rules for Making Money" [0]. A lot of it sounds like the stuff you hear getting hammered to death on motivational TED talks. It's a pretty short book and he doesn't go into too much exposition…
on “Organizing complexity is the most important skill in software development” ↗"The Art of Money Getting" by P.T. Barnum https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8581 (audio book) https://archive.org/details/art_of_money_getting_librivox > In the United States, where we have more land than people, it is not at…
on “How to get rich without getting lucky” ↗"The Art of Money Getting" https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8581 -or- https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/p-t-barnum/the-art-of-mone...
on “The Spectacular P. T. Barnum” ↗On the Sensations of Tone by Hermann von Helmholtz The Road by Jack London all of the Oz books by L. Frank Baum The Scottish Students' Song Book Heart Songs The Age of Reason The Art of Money Getting by Barnum
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?” ↗…that didn't work out for you you'll have to acquire wealth yourself. There is a wealth (pun intended) of information on this already, and it's beyond the scope of this comment, but I'll recommend "The Art of Money Getting or, Golden Rules for Making Money" by P. T. Barnum (Yes, that P. T. Barnum!) esp. the last chapter: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8581/8581-h/8581-h.htm and "The Richest Man in Babylon" which "remains…
on “No More Free Work from Marak: Pay Me or Fork This” ↗Thanks for sharing Mark Cuban’s book. It has some very tangible and practical words of wisdom that aren’t just masturbatory feel good stories in there. It’s quite old and maybe overplayed but I enjoy THE ART OF MONEY GETTING or GOLDEN RULES FOR MAKING MONEY By P.T. Barnum. His insights might be about 200 years old, but they are in the exact same vein, and perhaps a bit more tasteful language.
on “Ask HN: Book under 100 pages that changed your life the most?” ↗Read "The Art of Money Getting" by P.T. Barnum. (It's a hundred and forty years old!) https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8581/8581-h/8581-h.htm And read "The Richest Man in Babylon", a series of pamphlets publish a century ago "on thrift…
on “Ask HN: Which Project to Concentrate On?” ↗…and the only thing keeping anything together is someone/something paying for it. You don’t need the whole pie. You might survive from the crumbs of a thousand pies. You could read P.T. Barnum’s “The Art of Money Getting” and “The Richest Man in Babylon” to give you some insight into the classics. None of this will help your desperate sense of immediacy.
In no particular order: - So Good They Can't Ignore You - Deep Work - Hackers by Steven Levy (perhaps my favorite book) - Learning How To Learn - The Person and the Situation - The Art of Money Getting - Make It Stick - The Algorithm Design Manual - Moonwalking With Einstein - Extreme Ownership
on “Ask HN: Books you wish you had read earlier?” ↗