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Ep3 - "The Richest Man in Babylon" by G.S. Clason (p. 1926), Ed. by Clifton & Kaleb Corbin (2022)

The #BLUFFbooks Podcast - Hosted by Ian Gates (20231118)

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Episode 3
26 min / Published

#BLUFFbooks 📚The Richest Man [Person] in Babylon, by George S. Clason (p. 1926), Edited/Revised by Clifton & Kaleb Corbin (2022)💡Big Ideas Below ⬇️
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💡1. Modernize ≠ Bowdlerize 📜📲 (Literature must adapt or die 🦖🦕…but how do you keep a book’s “soul” 🫥 from getting lost in translation?) 
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💡2. The Borrower is WHAT to the Lender??⛓️😢 (Confronting slavery with tact💔)
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💡3. Many, Many, Shekel…🤑🥊(Financial karma is PAINFUL, but mentorship is precious) 

  • Richest Man in Babylon
  • George S. Clason
  • Clason
  • Personal Finance
  • Financial Literacy
Show notes

#BLUFFbooks 📚The Richest Man [Person] in Babylon, by George S. Clason (p. 1926), Edited by Clifton & Kaleb Corbin (2022)💡Big Ideas Below ⬇️
_____
💡1. Modernize ≠ Bowdlerize 📜📲

Literature must adapt or die 🦖🦕…but how do you keep a book’s “soul” 🫥 from getting lost in translation? 🧟‍♂️Around 2020, Clifton realized the historical/cultural divide 🎩between the 1926 classic & his son Kaleb’s Gen-Z peer group had become a severe BARRIER to comprehension. 🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏻‍♂️

So to perpetuate Clason’s timeless lessons, Clifton & son made the following revisions: 📑

> Replacing antiquated words & phrases with plain modern English (i.e. turning “thou sayeth” to “you said.”) 🏰

> Using Gender-Inclusive 💃🕺terms & characters to communicate the universality 🌎of “Babylon’s” message. 📣 I.e. using “humanity” in lieu of “mankind;” 👥making wise son Nomasir the prudent daughter Nomasira, etc. 👧🏽

> Addressing Slavery with TACT 💔(see next).

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💡2. The Borrower is WHAT to the Lender??⛓️😢

Confronting the text as afro-Canadians, 🤦🏾‍♂️👦🏾🇨🇦the Corbins confront the ubiquity of slavery in “Richest Man” by replacing 🔁instances where it’s used casually, but keeping it when the concept is necessary/instructive. 🧑🏾‍🏫

They remove a callous comparison of compounding investments to enslaved people birthing kids into bondage.⚠️However, they frankly retain the evil institution in the plots of parables where ancient characters lose & recover their freedom 🛣️by ignoring, 😴 then later using, 👨‍🏭 principles of financial wisdom. 🏦🧑🏻‍⚖️

——
💡3. Many, Many, Shekel…🤑🥊

Daniel 5:25 describes God’s historic judgement️on Babylon’s King Belshazzar 👑for his arrogant foolishness - to include failing to heed his dad’s example. Likewise, “Richest Man” (though a fiction) has young adult characters who needlessly suffer 😫for delaying to implement 🥱the financial wisdom of their elders. 👵🏼

Nomasir(a), child of the titular “Richest Man,”goes broke🪫soon after leaving home.🏡Only after experience has taught him/her a few cruel lessons 🫣does he/she unwrap 🎁the clay tablets on which her father wrote✍🏽the “Five Laws of Gold.”⚖️

Similarly, Dabasir the camel trader 🐫lets his appetite for luxury goods & easy credit put him FIRST in massive debt, THEN in literal slavery. Only once his master’s neglected 4th wife changes his victim mindset 😭 to that of a responsible free man 💪🏽does she intentionally give him the means & opportunity to physically escape. 🏃🏾‍♂️🚪

Sometimes kids have to learn in the “school of hard knocks” 🏫🤕before they realize how precious caring, intelligent mentorship really is. 👴🏾🏅
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hashtag#FitLit hashtag#financialplanning

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#BLUFFbooks Podcast
A podcast by Ian Gates
Book Reviews for Building, Leading, & Understanding Financial Freedom (BLUFF)
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