Title: Second Chance
Author: Robert T. Kiyosaki
Page Count: 352 (Excluding contents, references and ads)

Let’s dive into and endeavor to learn a book together, through this review, that offers an insightful take “for your money, your life and our world”, as the subtitle of the book suggests. Second Chance, as the author himself emphasizes, tries to give the readers a second chance with the unique perspective that it carries, which will hopefully help people mend their ways for their own betterment.

THE STRUCTURE

The book is segmented into three parts: The Past (173 pages), The Present (29 pages) and The Future (124 pages).

Published January, 2015.

A couple of central ideas can be associated with the book. The main theme of the book is actually the inspiration that Kiyosaki got from Buckminster Fuller (regarded by the author as his philosophical guide of sorts) and his book, Grunch of Giants. Much of the content of the book is, thus, an interpretation of the world in general and economy in particular, in the light of Fuller’s teachings.

The other theme that is found to be running throughout the book is that of financial education and how important it is if one wishes to understand economy on a broader scale and his own personal finances. In fact, that’s what Kiyosaki’s company does i.e., provide financial education and, therefore, the fact that the book contains promotional advertisements of the author’s podcast, books and other products comes off as no surprise.

Even though, these two themes are easily recognized in the book, it would be hard, and in fact unjust, to put the book under a single category.

The variety of issues that are brought under discussion in the book is considerably wide. Second Chance approaches money, economy and life from a relatively unpopular viewpoint, providing deeply engaging and baffling insights that are frequently left untold.

THE CONSPIRACY

According to the views presented by Kiyosaki in the book, the big conspiracy prevalent today is that the monetary system is continuously corrupting our wealth, while the masses stay ignorant about it. Several factors are cited in the book as the source of what keeps this ploy alive, including the lack of financial education in the traditional school system and the monetary system that, as Kiyosaki suggests, “was designed to make people poorer, not richer”.

 THE PREDICTION

Another idea that is prominently shed light upon, in the book, is the crippling state of US economy, the effects of which extend over the entire world. The book anticipates the greatest economic crash to be just around the corner, building up on the author’s previous prediction (Robert Kiyosaki first made the prediction back in 2002). Not only does the book give a verbal description, it also presents graphical depiction of the economic statistics and figures to support its stance. For example, supported by US Stock Market Index chart (DJIA), the book suggests that The Great Depression of 1929 in US would be minuscule to the magnitude of the supposed coming crash.

THE STORIES UNSPOKEN

As mentioned before, the book is a collection of truly eye-opening insights that are at least thought-provoking, even if deemed unsubstantial by some. For instance, in “The Past” section of the book, Kiyosaki traces the early evolution of money, currency, economy, education system, relating it with the current states which these systems find themselves in. Kiyosaki doesn’t hold back his anger at all this labeling the monetary system and education system a “Cash Heist” and “The Heist of Education” respectively.

THE INTELLECTUAL DIMENSION

A feature of the book worth mentioning here is the manner in which it challenges the reader to think differently, to be creative in crafting his/her opinions about all these ideas, especially about economy. The author advises the reader to not adopt a singular approach towards things. It forces you to shift your focus of thought to something that has not been given attention before. As the book is mainly governed by the philosophical ideas of Fuller, it’s no wonder that the book has a striking intellectual side to it. The ideas put forth by Fuller such as ‘ephemerelization’ and the GRUNCH (Gross Universal Cash Heist) have self-evidently steered the course of the entire book.

Cone of Learning as depicted in the book. Original idea by Edgar Dale.

THE SOLUTION

In the last section of the book, “The Future”, the book offers alternatives to the readily accepted concepts of money and economy. Here, it makes yet another attempt to debunk the notions of ‘investing is risky’, ‘saving money’ and ‘get out of debt’, among others. Describing ‘velocity of money’, ‘three types of wealth’ and other concepts in his own terms, Robert seemingly urges the masses to take action in hopes of putting the system back on track before matters get worse.

Something that can’t be ignored while reading through the book is the disproportionate frequency with which some ideas have been repeated. To cite an example, Kiyosaki’s opinion of the fractional reserve system of the banks has been mentioned over and over again. One can assume that it has been done to make it a point to make some ideas more prominent by virtue of their importance.

Second Chance is a swift read filled with easily understood ideas and some complex ones simplified down for the consumption of the majority. Continuing the trend first seen in ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ (Author’s international bestseller that brought him in the limelight in 1997), Robert Kiyosaki in Second Chance, has outrightly nullified the fundamental conventional ideas of money and economy.

This time around though, Kiyosaki has further solidified his propositions and arguments, introducing Fuller’s philosophy, bringing in the teachings from his ‘rich dad’ and gathering the crux of his previous books like ‘The Cashflow Quadrant’, ‘The Rich Dad’s Conspiracy’ and of course, ‘The Rich Dad Poor Dad’.

There is a video documentary version of the book available here as well titled: “The Man Who Could See The Future“. 

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