Tbh, this isn’t the easiest book to read. I mean, I have been teaching English professionally all my life but there were many words that I didn’t know such as aphrodisiac, prurient, profligate, parsimony, libidinal pleasure, obsequiously, niggardly, etc. Yes, so deep was my shame that I went to record down all the words I didn’t know heh. Also, the way he framed his writing resembled that of a scholarly thesis, with citations incorporated within his arguments. If I were still a General Paper teacher, my mind would be furiously churning out responses to tackle the notoriously difficult Application Question, I bet.
But I’m no longer a GP teacher and am a daddy hustler just wanting to get fresh perspectives on money. Oh this book fulfilled its objective and then some. Apparently, early Freudians drew a link between Money and faeces. I can vouch for my 4-year-old boy. He is so interested in his shit that we make excursions regularly to the toilet bowl so that he can awe at his masterpiece. No shit. Here’s Adrian Furnham’s argument: when parents are overly strict when they potty train their kid, they are likely to raise an anal child who will hold back his shit/money in defiance of his parents. Holy crap. Does this mean that my children’s money personalities are determined based on how gently I coax them to poop? Mind-blowing. In any case, I was reminded of the moneygrams I could be spending. Moneygrams, incidentally, are parentally sent messages about money - another thing I learnt from the book.
In addition, I liked this line: “Money is not time. Time is time.” Unfortunately, Adrian introduced it as part of a questionnaire, so he didn’t explain what it meant. Seriously, question marks are swirling all over my mind. Has he been immune to the pressures of modern living?! About how we are supposed to amass at least one million dollars before our retirement. Still, I really like this line and can imagine myself declaring it sagely during outings with ex-students in future. “Let me tell you something,” I would state emphatically, “Money is not time. Time is time.” They would look at me, so impressed of my wisdom that they would fight to pay for my food and beer!
