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I saw the post asking for books, and looked through my library. I definetly had a lot of the "standard" top selling books, but blended in with my personal needs.
I don't think I'm doing reading wrong. Sure, I have a lot of the NY#1, but I don't see why that is bad. I don't follow them as law, it's information that I know people who read will likely know.
I am interested in improving what exists, so therefore it's useful to know the "meta". So I need to know the meta.
Or maybe I don't. Maybe I should dig myself into an obscure corner? Looking forward to the list anyways!
The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.
The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.
That said, if your entire worldview is only shaped by curated best-seller lists that every Tom, Dick, and Harry recommends, you're not receiving a broad spectrum of intelligence or experience, moreover, you're not getting a diverse viewpoint -- you're kept contained in what that big-media gatekeeper's deem as acceptable reading material.
I say this because none of my books have EVER reached any best-seller list. Yet, they have sold more than most books found on best-seller lists. I've had ZERO media help (or I should say, "hype").
In other words, if you only read curated best-sellers, you would have NEVER come across my work. You're likely missing out of other authors who have some valuable things to say, but such things don't meet the media muster to enjoy billions in free publicity. Such books won't be featured on Yahoo Finance or Money Magazine, simply because they fall outside of the "spectrum of acceptable opinion."
I say this because recently within the UnscriptedText NetworkI asked people to share their most impactful books that ARE NOT best-sellers.
I asked for books that NO ONE recommends, but should be.
I asked for books that aren't hyped on the NY Times' Best Seller lists, on popular finance websites, or other mainstream media outlets.
Sadly few people could respond with any books that met this requirement.
In other words, they don't read ANYTHING except what has been pre-approved by a mainstream consensus.
Instead, many folks responded with the typical blend of books that EVERYONE has heard of, EVERYONE has already recommended, and EVERYONE has seen "advertised" on popular media outlets. If your response to this question is "Think and Grow Rich," "Greenlights," "Atomic Habits," or "Can't Hurt Me" (or any other book with TENS of THOUSANDS of reviews)-- sorry, you've been BOXED into a "spectrum of acceptable opinion". It was both shocking and sad to see.
I'm not suggesting that you stop reading books that appear on the big best-seller lists.
I'm suggesting you need to broaden your horizons and start reading different viewpoints, viewpoints that aren't publicized on the front page of Marketwatch, or recommended by your friend who last recommended Rich Dad Poor Dad and Principles by Ray Dalio.
That said, to many of the people who DID respond with some great underexposed, underground books, I will post the results of survey before the end of the month. Really had some great responses and I will likely need to live to 120 to read them all.
I think one of the most diverse books ive read is Free Capital buy Guy Thomas...not a best seller but great in the way fortunes are made in several different ways from various individuals.
Guy Thomas is an obscure British Author..i hope you enjoy
More for maths geeks, but there is a well known book (they did a movie on it) called beat the dealer by Edward O. Thorp explains how to win in black jack 51% of the time with maths. But he also wrote a much less well know book, called Beat the Market, which calculates how to win the market more than 51% of the time.
One time my brother spend an afternoon on my laptop and did his admin and ordering.
It COMPLETELY changed my recommendations on youtube.... and mostly:
Amazon.
I ordered 6 books that I would have never ordered or known the existence of.
One about golf, one on biology, one on psychedelics, another one about the mindset of golf and a quantum physics one.
One of the best things that accidentally happened: ironically every book gave me insights or some ideas that I definitely expanded my own view in life (and some were even applicable in business).
A year later I spend a whole year listening to opinions that were opposing of mine (podcasts, youtube) and that was another mental expander and a great exercise in not being reactive but learning from all paths of life.
One time my brother spend an afternoon on my laptop and did his admin and ordering.
It COMPLETELY changed my recommendations on youtube.... and mostly:
Amazon.
I ordered 6 books that I would have never ordered or known the existence of.
One about golf, one on biology, one on psychedelics, another one about the mindset of golf and a quantum physics one.
One of the best things that accidentally happened: ironically every book gave me insights or some ideas that I definitely expanded my own view in life (and some were even applicable in business).
A year later I spend a whole year listening to opinions that were opposing of mine (podcasts, youtube) and that was another mental expander and a great exercise in not being reactive but learning from all paths of life.
That's an interesting view, I often do something similar when reading politcal books. I often read the opposing view, because I find both sides are very one-sided on the viewpoint and generally it's something more in the middle which is true
Living only to 120 years? You should aim higher. I originally said I was going to live to be 120, but then, every time I had a difficult problem or disaster in my life, and survived it, I would add 20 more years to that number. I got up somewhere in the 300s before I stopped doing it and lost track of how old I was going to be.
I don't read books anymore, because I have had problems with contamination from various substances in my house, and had to get rid of books several times, along with other stuff, for decontamination (I have chemical sensitivities and other health problems). Back in the days when I was still reading, I had some books that my brother John recommended. He gave me Edward de Bono's books about creativity. One of them was 'Six Thinking Hats,' and the other one was 'Serious Creativity.' I can't remember if I ever read 'Lateral Thinking' or not. I am not officially following all of the rules in those books, but I am subconsciously aware of them, and they are still affecting me, even decades after I read those books. I still look at situations and think to myself, 'Are you limiting your perspective somehow?' It's not all the time, it's just in certain situations.
The book that had the biggest impact on me was Weston Price's 'Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.' What I learned from that book is that there are a lot of physical deformities, affecting the brain and body, which are preventable - they don't have to happen, and they are not caused by your DNA. Instead, they are being caused by a combination of malnutrition (which Weston Price focused on), along with chemicals and drugs (he didn't talk about those in his book, but later other people did, online and elsewhere). It helped me understand what's wrong with the world nowadays.
The Elusive Obvious: The Convergence of Movement, Neuroplasticity, and Health [Feldenkrais, Moshe, Doidge M.D., Norman] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Elusive Obvious: The Convergence of Movement, Neuroplasticity, and Health
The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.
That said, if your entire worldview is only shaped by curated best-seller lists that every Tom, Dick, and Harry recommends, you're not receiving a broad spectrum of intelligence or experience, moreover, you're not getting a diverse viewpoint -- you're kept contained in what that big-media gatekeeper's deem as acceptable reading material.
I say this because none of my books have EVER reached any best-seller list. Yet, they have sold more than most books found on best-seller lists. I've had ZERO media help (or I should say, "hype").
In other words, if you only read curated best-sellers, you would have NEVER come across my work. You're likely missing out of other authors who have some valuable things to say, but such things don't meet the media muster to enjoy billions in free publicity. Such books won't be featured on Yahoo Finance or Money Magazine, simply because they fall outside of the "spectrum of acceptable opinion."
I say this because recently within the UnscriptedText NetworkI asked people to share their most impactful books that ARE NOT best-sellers.
I asked for books that NO ONE recommends, but should be.
I asked for books that aren't hyped on the NY Times' Best Seller lists, on popular finance websites, or other mainstream media outlets.
Sadly few people could respond with any books that met this requirement.
In other words, they don't read ANYTHING except what has been pre-approved by a mainstream consensus.
Instead, many folks responded with the typical blend of books that EVERYONE has heard of, EVERYONE has already recommended, and EVERYONE has seen "advertised" on popular media outlets. If your response to this question is "Think and Grow Rich," "Greenlights," "Atomic Habits," or "Can't Hurt Me" (or any other book with TENS of THOUSANDS of reviews)-- sorry, you've been BOXED into a "spectrum of acceptable opinion". It was both shocking and sad to see.
I'm not suggesting that you stop reading books that appear on the big best-seller lists.
I'm suggesting you need to broaden your horizons and start reading different viewpoints, viewpoints that aren't publicized on the front page of Marketwatch, or recommended by your friend who last recommended Rich Dad Poor Dad and Principles by Ray Dalio.
That said, to many of the people who DID respond with some great underexposed, underground books, I will post the results of survey before the end of the month. Really had some great responses and I will likely need to live to 120 to read them all.
Just saw this post. A great book that was instrumental in my own life was " The Most Important Thing" by Howard Marks of Oak Tree Capital Mngt.
Politically Howard Marks is a moron..but when it comes to value investing he's brilliant.
His basic premise - never overpay for an asset. And be willing to walk away if you can't.
Made a lot of $ buying timberland cheap by always keeping this premise in mind.
One caveat I’ll add is that most people read a book, feel inspired for a while, and fall back into their old habits.
You can get pretty far ahead in life by just applying what you’ve learned from 10 best-selling books.
How many millions of people have read Atomic Habits and Can’t Hurt Me yet are still fat, lazy “poopy pants”?
How many millions of people have read Rich Dad Poor Dad and The 4-Hour Workweek yet are still working a 9-5 job and doing nothing else on the side?
I just went through The Untethered Soul again 2 weeks ago and wondered if I’d really read it once already before.
Great books require that you revisit them multiple times. As you life circumstances change, you get fresh, new insights out of them.
Or even after you get new insights and start taking action, without setting up and system and being constantly reminded, you simply forget the lessons and return to your old ways sooner or later.
I’d surely fallen into this trap for a long time. This video made me decide to reread books that I enjoyed reading and learned a lot from rather than just always frantically searching for the next big thing out there.
It’s been a great decision so far. I can already foresee myself rereading TMF and Unscripted later this year and kicking myself for why I haven’t been applying some of the great principles I already knew to my life.
This is why I have filled volumes of notebooks with book reports of the best books I've read.
I highly recommend this!
As I read (kindle) I highlight the best passages. Once I'm finished with the book, before starting another, I will hand write everything I highlighted into my "Better Book" notebooks.
For me, the act of transcribing by hand does more to commit the info to memory than reading it once.
I can read 5 books' worth of my cliff notes in an hour or two.
Frequently I'll flip through a notebook for a quick reference when I'm implementing the lesson, or to site a passage to a friend when a theory comes up in conversation.
People think it's crazy, but they never complain when I share the knowledge I have at my fingertips.
Yeah, writing the reports takes a couple hours, but I only read before getting out of bed in the morning so it kinda washes out *shrug* (I think it's crazy people sit around for a couple hours reading during the day! Lol This feels way more productive)
More for maths geeks, but there is a well known book (they did a movie on it) called beat the dealer by Edward O. Thorp explains how to win in black jack 51% of the time with maths. But he also wrote a much less well know book, called Beat the Market, which calculates how to win the market more than 51% of the time.
I think there's also an obvious question about exposure.
Like you said, those books make the best seller list, and like it or not, someone who is starting on self improvement will inevitably go to these one.
Those Good & Unknown books are hard to find and I tend to find them when I'm really interested in a subject.
The fact that you could Self-Publish your books, starting directly from The Millionaire Fastlane , says to me that only on recent times unknown writers can get their work known without passing trough publishing houses.
So yeah, the first problem is exposure and not being on NY Times bestseller, not being recommended by every youtuber isn't helping.
The Elusive Obvious: The Convergence of Movement, Neuroplasticity, and Health [Feldenkrais, Moshe, Doidge M.D., Norman] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Elusive Obvious: The Convergence of Movement, Neuroplasticity, and Health
Or 'The Use Of The Self' by F.M. Alexander.
Quite tough reading but shows the vast extent to which he developed the Alexander Technique through relentless self-observation, questioning and conscious constructive control. It won't exactly help one in the sense of learning AT but is very enlightening reading the 'theory' of the deep mental processes behind it all. Worth noting that Feldenkrais took inspiration from AT, just repackaging it more simply - not as deeply, as far as I know. Though I only study AT (so far have been for over 2 years) so can't comment too much on the subject of Feldenkrais.
Neurodynamics by Ted Dimon might be an interesting read too
I've read quite the few bestsellers, recommended by friends, forum or perhaps good marketing and commercials.
But i've come across non best seller books within a spicific field, in this case nutrition and fitness, where I was frustrated with all the BS you can find online. After I found a few no BS specialists (with scientific backed principles). I bought a book of them.
So an appraoch of getting around the BS / Bestseller circle is to first find out who is really a specialist and look if they are genuine professionals in their field. Then buy the book. In my case with bestsellers it was the other way around.
Endurance by Alfred Lansing
Sex, Ecology, Spirituality by Ken Wilber (or his Brief History of everything if you can't read 700 pages).
Barking Up The Wrong Tree by Eric Barker
Story by Robert McKee
These books are hardly bestsellers, but they are amazing and every single one of them changed my life more than anything other I read.
Aggregators of reviews (if left unmolested by the platform selling the books) is indeed a great source of value. I do not want to read 1,000 shit self published books to finally find 1 that was worth it.
For example, @MTFnewsletter “discomfort club” recommended books, I got 4 or 5 of them because he read them, he summarized them. And guess what, some of them were bestsellers and great too.
I've never gravitated into the world of best sellers. I also re read the same books a lot. I'm into strategy, war, historical biographies and fables. Also comics...
One of my favorite books of all time is "The 50th Law" by Robert Greene and 50 cent.
The core of it is about being fearless with various historical biographies. 33 strategies of war is another by Robert Greene. I read the first section over and over.
The art of discipline by Chad Howse is good. Gonna look at my book shelf later to see what else I've got.
I hate Robert Greene. Dude hadn't accomplished much before writing his first self-improvement book.
I much prefer listening to people who have actually done something first and then wrote a book
I hate Robert Greene. Dude hadn't accomplished much before writing his first self-improvement book.
I much prefer listening to people who have actually done something first and then wrote a book
Damn, I haven't heard that name in awhile. I remember reading his blog around 2016. He was one of the first self-improvement authors I'd read.
I hate Robert Greene. Dude hadn't accomplished much before writing his first self-improvement book.
I much prefer listening to people who have actually done something first and then wrote a book
I still use his man diet, man workout (crazy intense) and read his articles. Had a few conversations with him and dig his mindset and values.
I've listened to Robert Greene talk about his journey to writing his first book when he turned 50. The 48 laws of power wasn't meant to be self improvement in anyway but a way to identify the power games played in life. I'm also a believer in accomplishment at any age. I get where you're coming from though and wouldn't take advice from anyone who hasn't or isn't successful at what they are preaching.
The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.
That said, if your entire worldview is only shaped by curated best-seller lists that every Tom, Dick, and Harry recommends, you're not receiving a broad spectrum of intelligence or experience, moreover, you're not getting a diverse viewpoint -- you're kept contained in what that big-media gatekeeper's deem as acceptable reading material.
I say this because none of my books have EVER reached any best-seller list. Yet, they have sold more than most books found on best-seller lists. I've had ZERO media help (or I should say, "hype").
In other words, if you only read curated best-sellers, you would have NEVER come across my work. You're likely missing out of other authors who have some valuable things to say, but such things don't meet the media muster to enjoy billions in free publicity. Such books won't be featured on Yahoo Finance or Money Magazine, simply because they fall outside of the "spectrum of acceptable opinion."
I say this because recently within the UnscriptedText NetworkI asked people to share their most impactful books that ARE NOT best-sellers.
I asked for books that NO ONE recommends, but should be.
I asked for books that aren't hyped on the NY Times' Best Seller lists, on popular finance websites, or other mainstream media outlets.
Sadly few people could respond with any books that met this requirement.
In other words, they don't read ANYTHING except what has been pre-approved by a mainstream consensus.
Instead, many folks responded with the typical blend of books that EVERYONE has heard of, EVERYONE has already recommended, and EVERYONE has seen "advertised" on popular media outlets. If your response to this question is "Think and Grow Rich," "Greenlights," "Atomic Habits," or "Can't Hurt Me" (or any other book with TENS of THOUSANDS of reviews)-- sorry, you've been BOXED into a "spectrum of acceptable opinion". It was both shocking and sad to see.
I'm not suggesting that you stop reading books that appear on the big best-seller lists.
I'm suggesting you need to broaden your horizons and start reading different viewpoints, viewpoints that aren't publicized on the front page of Marketwatch, or recommended by your friend who last recommended Rich Dad Poor Dad and Principles by Ray Dalio.
That said, to many of the people who DID respond with some great underexposed, underground books, I will post the results of survey before the end of the month. Really had some great responses and I will likely need to live to 120 to read them all.
I have been reading "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius for 20 years, before Joe Rogan and Tim Ferris were talking about it. This book has basic lessons on life and has been integral to my discipline and success.
Aggregators of reviews (if left unmolested by the platform selling the books) is indeed a great source of value. I do not want to read 1,000 shit self published books to finally find 1 that was worth it.
I understand your point, but you must see that this way of thinking amounts to crowdsourcing your learning to average people.
Crowdsourcing may be of some utility, but, at best, I have found it to create average thinkers. At worst, it creates lobotomized groupthinkers.
So by reading the NYTBS list instead of the average guy, you get upgraded to be the average that reads the NYTBS list, nothing more. Congratulations, not.
Want another upgrade? IMO seeking truth regardless of popularity or mainstream appeal. That’s the point here.
Think about the average person. Do you respect them? Do you want to work with them? Would you take business advice from them? Would you even ask for it? You know as well as I do that the average person is an imbecile that is probably ruining the world.
Average is useless in my world. I’ll give any book a try, but I’ll throw it in the trash quicker than a one legged man at an a$$ kicking contest if I decide it’s “average.”
Tell me, how many great "gems" books you uncovered so far? You alone, not through any type of aggregator (like this Fastlate Forum or some other means)? How many books do you read in your best year? How efficient is it?
No, you are wrong, at best I read a life changing book!
Let's take one of my favourite books: 7 Habits. By your logic, you leave no room for this book to be excellent. I am now either "average thinker" or "lobotomized groupthinker". Give me break Kyle. I understand what you meant but your argument presumes that:
a) bestsellers are such because only average people chose them.
b) no bestsellers are actually best for the value they add.
Horseshit.
So by reading the NYTBS list instead of the average guy, you get upgraded to be the average that reads the NYTBS list, nothing more. Congratulations, not.
Again, horseshit example to just fit your narrative. Re-read my post. I do not know how NYTBS list is created and don't care, my comment was about efficiency of choosing a good book by relying on reviews / ratings.
In general, we all seek the best books regardless of popularity. Yet it is more likely that unpopular books are unpopular because they suck! And it is also more likely you'll never find your "diamonds" in the dirt of millions of self published crap that comes online every day.
Truth is subjective, because what is "true" for you may be not so for me. I don't even know where you are going with this, other than potential conspiracy theories.
So is the theoretical "upgrade" you offer like finding a unicorn on your own?
Think about the average person. Do you respect them? Do you want to work with them? Would you take business advice from them? Would you even ask for it? You know as well as I do that the average person is an imbecile that is probably ruining the world.
This is a dangerous way of thinking. I am going to say there is no "average person". Every person has something and is better than the rest. I am one of those people. I happen to be good at RE. I happen to be terrible at applied arts. You should want to work with me if we do a RE deal and reject me if I ever bring up anything to do with art.
You are ranting, I get it. And this is the tone of MJ's thread too - a rant.
My point is this: don't get triggered. What you are seeking is what everyone wants. Amazing books that weren't yet uncovered by authors who maybe don't write amazingly well but their message is amazing. Authors who don't know how to game the system to get on all the top hit lists and become mainstream. Maybe because mass media doesn't want their message to get out. Trust me, not only I understand, I look for and read as many titles as I can that were recommended by friends.
But... the reality is that it's very, very hard to find these. It's mostly about luck. And when you do, you'll share those titles which sometimes propels them to bestseller lists. And, many of the bestseller books are actually useful, amazing, life changing knowledge! It's not black and white.
Average is useless in my world. I’ll give any book a try, but I’ll throw it in the trash quicker than a one legged man at an a$$ kicking contest if I decide it’s “average.”
La façon intelligente de garder les gens passifs et obéissants est de limiter strictement le spectre des opinions acceptables , mais de permettre un débat très animé au sein de ce spectre - même d'encourager les opinions les plus critiques des dissidents. Cela donne aux gens le sentiment qu'il y a une libre pensée en cours, alors que les présupposés du système sont constamment renforcés par les limites mises à la portée du débat.
Cela dit, si toute votre vision du monde n'est façonnée que par des listes de best-sellers que chaque Tom, Dick et Harry recommandent, vous ne recevez pas un large éventail d'intelligence ou d'expérience, de plus, vous n'obtenez pas un point de vue diversifié - - vous êtes confiné dans ce que les gardiens des grands médias considèrent comme du matériel de lecture acceptable.
Je dis cela parce qu'aucun de mes livres n'a JAMAIS atteint une liste de best-sellers. Pourtant, ils se sont vendus plus que la plupart des livres figurant sur les listes de best-sellers. Je n'ai eu AUCUNE aide médiatique (ou devrais-je dire, "hype").
En d'autres termes, si vous ne lisiez que des best-sellers sélectionnés, vous n'auriez JAMAIS rencontré mon travail. Vous manquez probablement d'autres auteurs qui ont des choses précieuses à dire, mais de telles choses ne répondent pas aux besoins des médias pour profiter de milliards de publicité gratuite. Ces livres ne seront pas présentés sur Yahoo Finance ou Money Magazine, simplement parce qu'ils ne font pas partie du " spectre des opinions acceptables " .
Je dis cela parce que récemment, au sein du UnscriptedText Network, j'ai demandé aux gens de partager leurs livres les plus percutants qui NE SONT PAS des best-sellers.
I asked for books that NO ONE recommends, but should be.
I asked for books that aren't hyped on the NY Times' Best Seller lists, on popular finance websites, or other mainstream media outlets.
Sadly few people could respond with any books that met this requirement.
En d'autres termes, ils ne lisent RIEN sauf ce qui a été pré-approuvé par un consensus général.
Au lieu de cela, de nombreuses personnes ont répondu avec le mélange typique de livres dont TOUT LE MONDE a entendu parler, que TOUT LE MONDE a déjà recommandé et que TOUT LE MONDE a vu "annoncer" dans les médias populaires. Si votre réponse à cette question est "Think and Grow Rich", "Greenlights", "Atomic Habits" ou "Can't Hurt Me" (ou tout autre livre avec des dizaines de milliers de critiques) - désolé, vous avez été BOXÉ dans un "éventail d'opinions acceptables". C'était à la fois choquant et triste à voir.
Je ne vous suggère pas d'arrêter de lire des livres qui figurent sur les grandes listes de best-sellers.
Je suggère que vous deviez élargir vos horizons et commencer à lire différents points de vue, des points de vue qui ne sont pas publiés sur la première page de Marketwatch, ou recommandés par votre ami qui a recommandé pour la dernière fois Rich Dad Poor Dad et Principles de Ray Dalio.
Cela dit, à de nombreuses personnes qui ont répondu avec de grands livres underground sous-exposés, je publierai les résultats de l'enquête avant la fin du mois. J'ai vraiment eu d'excellentes réponses et j'aurai probablement besoin de vivre jusqu'à 120 ans pour toutes les lire.
Thanks for dad MJ your information. I would have liked to know you very early on my entrepreneurship process.
The false is everywhere as long as the true is rare. When you know you're strong you don't need to prove it to others. most often it is empty barrels that make noise..e..
Your Score by Anthony Davenport
This book is not sexy. It won't show up on any best-seller lists because it deals with the boring, dry, DULL schematics of credit scores.
It is however the exact reason I've got a perfect credit score and a book I personally highly recommend.
There's some truly eye-opening moments in the book and it's worth reading.
I’ll give you an example. Say you’ve been with Citibank for ten years, and the only late payment you have is from a year ago. That blemish, by itself, isn’t going to do much damage to your score. But if you have other collection issues you’re trying to deal with, any little bit you can fix helps.
Because of your long-term, productive relationship with Citi, you can call them up and simply ask them to remove the derogatory item. You don’t have to admit guilt over the phone. In effect, you’re basically trying to trade on the goodwill of the company to do you a favor.
The first response you get (and keep in mind that credit card companies log all of your calls with them, so they know the last time you checked in) will probably be some form of “We can’t do that” or “It’s illegal for us to go back and change that.”
Nonsense. They can change those things, and they do. You just need to be politely persistent. If you don’t get satisfaction, call again and ask to speak to a supervisor. If you’re persistent enough, you’ll usually get the blemish removed—mostly because doing so will make you go away. Again, I’m not talking about doing this when you have a terrible payment record. This is for a situation where you have an isolated problem with a company with which you’ve had a long, positive relationship.
ONLY TWO INSTITUTIONS CAN LOAN you money and then change the interest rates they charge and the amount of the loan at will.
One of them is the Mafia.
The other one is a credit card company.
That might sound bizarre, but it’s true. Credit card companies have more power than almost any other kind of organization within the world of consumer credit. And because they operate at the main intersection of so much of the American economy, they’re a huge business, which means they have a ton of influence over how the rules are written regarding that business.
I first learned about credit freezing when I was talking to a colleague about a series of high-profile entertainers who had been the victims of identity theft. The thieves had secured the complete identity credentials of a bunch of famous people, including many members of President Obama’s cabinet.
As a result, there were plenty of conference calls among representatives of these famous people, the FBI, the White House, and the legal and security departments of the credit bureaus. The representatives of one of the celebrities involved asked me to help untangle the issues their client faced. As they described what had happened, a question popped into my head.
Why hadn’t President Obama’s identity been compromised?
Simple, said the folks from the entertainer’s office. The president had a complete credit freeze on his account.
In a freeze, nobody can even inquire about your credit without your direct, authorized permission through the use of a secret PIN. Nobody will be able to open an account in your name because nobody will be able to see your credit information and make a decision about it. It can certainly make some day-to-day activities more clunky to accomplish—because the freeze has to be specifically lifted for you to, say, get a car insurance quote. But there’s no more effective way to lock down your information so that only those people you authorize can see it. It’s very different than a fraud alert, which only tells you about activity as it goes on. The freeze stops things from happening before they start.
Obviously, the credit bureaus aren’t super excited for you to be able to do this because they’re in the business of
doing business. They (and the credit card companies) accept a certain amount of inevitable credit card fraud as the price of making transactions go through quickly and smoothly.
I think the best books always find a way of getting out there even if they don't get on the best seller list. Look at all the people on this forum that read Fastlane Millionaire.
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