Monopoly
 |
| Picture courtesy of Amazon.com |
Author: Alan Axelrod
Location: National Library (Bain street Singapore)
This book allowed me to reminisce the days where this game was the only source of entertainment between cousins, when we met over the weekends. Actually I believe we were playing the cheaper Malaysian rip-off version known as millionaire.
While the main backbone of the book is truly the iconic game itself, and one does have to be familiar with the basic idea of the game. One does not necessarily have to be a "wicked sick" monopoly player to enjoy the wisdom the author tries to impart. And as the title implies most of the lessons that the book tries to share are not specifically limited to the game but to life itself.
What the book actually is, is a mishmash of management and financial literacy made easy, monopoly style. With a healthy sprinkling of anecdotes and quotes from the beyond the top executives to include famous personalities of the past, makes it a relatively easy read for even the most restless reader.
I did mention that book is not high on jargon. That said, it does contain a lot of misread rules and trivia that even a well acquainted player might not have been aware of. In fact, some of these "new" rules, would change the attitude any regular player would bring to this well worn game. The shine of this book is that everyone, novice or professional, should come away with good understanding of the concepts mentioned.
I'd like to share just two that I personally identified with and enjoyed.
1) New rules and old mindset
I don't know how many people hate playing monopoly because it's such a dreary game that requires at least 5 hours of mindless playing before a winner becomes apparent or in the case of my cousins, when we have to go home.
The truth is that the actual concept of this game, is so far from that. The reason why the game actually takes so long to end, is more often than not due to players misreading the rules or bringing the wrong playing mentality into the game.
Doing things like reminding other players to collect rent before their turn is up, or risk forfeiting the rent. Or when we choose to allow others to pass over our properties when they are close to insolvency. These actions lengthens the game, is boring and is in real life wholly untenable. Nobody, is going to give you a free meal, and we might as well embrace that.
2) The Probability of Randomness
Randomness is merely a perception of disorganisation. We don't understand it, we can't predict it, we deem that it is interminable. But the by-product of randomness is not merely fear. It is the in-action that results from it. I don't know, therefore I cannot and don't care.
Again the point about missed opprtunity arises. The random variable in monopoly is the dice, while we may be unable to guess correctly each time, what the dice will produce. We have the right and the responsibility each time it is rolled to invest in our future.
True randomness the book argues is quite difficult to achieve. While I still need to understand this point more to be able to come to a good conclusion regarding it. I think that the point about what we perceive as random is surely worth thinking about.
In conclusion
Remember the times in the game where liquidity was low, ending up in jail seemed like a good idea, not moving means not paying rent. However when we choose to play it safe, we lose the opportunity to invest and that is what pretty much life is about. Investing and I don't mean merely in dollars or prices but in value. Time we took control and invested in ours.
Labels: book review, finance, investing
posted by Sidestepper: Daniel @ 5:49 AM
0 Comments
