Ads I got the first book from amazon and it was regular shipping costs when it just came out. Is this one different? Or did you mean your shuipping cost?

Any who let me know when I can buy one and I will

i think ads is under the impression that the first book was only on amazon.com, and you are presumably saying you bought it from amazon.ca (to give context, australia doesn't have an amazon)

Yeti that actually jogged my memory. Usually amazon.com works for literally nothing here.. they just say not available to your country and point you to .ca. However I checked my order history and apparently I was able to order it from .com.

Just did it again, shipping was $8 but yolo

Ah cool, Yeti was right, glad that it got sorted.

Nice work Ads. Call in and sign 'em if in Brisbane.

Love the title you went with - even if it's revealing some behind the scenes old school detail!

RGPC Buddy... D

Ordered today, looking forward to it

Yeti, did a blog post up on how publishing works on Amazon:

https://pushingrubberdownhill.com/20...ook-on-amazon/

There are a bunch of others also doing the same thing but they don't quite have the reach that Amazon does.

Congrats on the new book, will definitely read it at some point.

I was listening to this libertarian fella Doug Casey and he said if I went to some small country in Africa such as Ghana or Togo within 2 weeks I'd be able to meet the president and maybe even do business with the government.

Adsman, any chance you know anything about this and could elaborate?

It depends. There's two ways to look at this. The first is that you're an expat living and working in the country. In Uganda I was on personal terms with various diplomats, ambassadors, and high level government officials, particularly from the USA. We used to pay volleyball with the US marines that guarded the embassy at their living quarters on a regular basis and I got on good terms with people like the defense attache. Of course, in Australia I don't move in these circles at all so yes, you do have an advantage.

The other way of looking at it is what you're doing there. If you're a backpacker spending a few weeks in the country then you have no chance at all. However, if you're a businessman who wants to do business there and the local politicians stand to benefit from it then you'll probably meet the big man faster than you can say, 'how do you spell graft in this country?'

This is a pretty interesting interview on it.

http://www.internationalman.com/arti...ead-of-college

"Where would I go? There are around 50 countries in Africa. I like small, obscure ones. Maybe Ghana is too developed. Look at Benin or Togo or maybe the Ivory Coast. Mauritania, where I just was, is actually quite interesting. Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, you’ve got lots of choices. Somebody should get on a plane and just take a look. Then when they get into a country, a capital city, which is always where the action happens, get on the telephone to local lawyers and real estate agents and businessmen to set up appointments and see who you can get along with. One thing will lead to another."

This is something I'd like to try, but I wouldn't know what the hell to say to these lawyers or real estate agents.

1. Go to African country and meet local lawyers
2. ??????
3. Profit!

quite a fascinating interview actually. sounds straight out of ayn rand's books

Yeah, he just came out with a book called Speculator that is right up Ayn Rand's alley.

I thought it was pretty decent, but the dialogue was really cheesy.

What you need to keep in mind with Doug Casey is that he's not just giving out advice, he's always trying to sell something.

Saying that, I completely agree with his advice on college. If you go to college today you have rocks in your head. Period. As far as his advice on doing business in Africa, it's okay up to a point. It can work that way but it won't always work that way. I wouldn't jet into Guinea-Bissau with any sort of expectation. You'd have to go and then see what happens. But yes, things tend to happen faster there if you keep one thing in mind:

Everyone will rip you off at every step of the way. Now this is fine, if you factor it into your equations. You have to budget for this. The best approach is to work out how much the ripping off part will cost you, what your expenses are, and then see if you can make a good profit. Avoid going into partnerships with locals like the plague as they will set things up to take everything from you. That especially goes for the Indian merchant class that is prominent in Africa.

Now the obvious question is how do you work out what is a reasonable price to pay for all this ripping off. To answer that question you first need to network with the local expats. Local expat businessmen, lawyers, real estate guys. If they're desperate to help you then that's not a good sign because desperation in Africa means you haven't been able to cut the mustard.

There's a lot to this. It's not just about stepping on a plane. I tell you what - you can hire me as a consultant and I'll come along with you and show you how to play the game.

college is okay i think if you want to be an engineer, scientist, doctor or lawyer. in bolivia i met the american ambassador at gathering and gave him my phone number but never got a call back. too busy plotting the overthrow of evo morales i guess. insert laughing face here.

I understand there's more to it and that's why I figured you'd be the man to ask. The part I find intriguing that Casey claims you can be talking with the President within two weeks of entering the country. I think that'd be fun as hell.

Casey has tried some scheme to take a country public on the NYSE about a dozen times to no avail. So I definitely get that it could be fruitless in terms of business or speculation.

But maybe we should give it a shot. Who knows, maybe it will give you material for a third book.

Finished reading book 2 and enjoyed it quite a bit. Not as much as the first one though as the location and stuff was more interestingf for me. Again was wishing it was longer.. any idea when you plan to do the third book?

Thanks Goose. Yeah, it was always going to be hard to follow up Africa. That was the very same reason I stopped the thread stories when I did.

I'm working on book three right now but it's not a memoir. I don't want to pigeonhole myself like Bill Bryson for example so I'm doing a fiction book.

Don't forget to leave a review. While sales have been good the reviews are a lot slower coming this time. Not sure why.

I can see where you are coming from given what I've read of your writings, but saying you are stupid if you go to college is ridiculous.

Depends where you want to go with your life, but yea it's certainly not an absolute, and considering most people at that age have no clue where they really want to go, college is usually not a bad option. Also, for many, college is a good experience whether or not you benefit from the (school) education you get there. It's not like you screw up the rest of your life and/or cut yourself out of any options if you go to college.

Not to mention college is fun as ****. I've traveled the world also and probably had just as good a time dicking around in college. I suppose at the US prices though it's questionable.

My 11th grade English teacher used to say that most of us were going to college to extend our adolescence. That was in 1983, when prices were reasonable and most parents could and would foot the bill. Now you get to extend adolescence, and for the privilege come out with crippling debt and no better job prospects.

This.

Unless you are doing medicine or STEM it is a complete waste of time at best and an outright handicap for most people. Paying six figures to do a degree because you don't know what to do with yourself is beyond stupid.

I include law in the waste of time degrees.

Because the world doesn't need lawyers and you can totally get a job in law without one?

Fwiw, I haven't been to university and somewhat agree that a lot of people go to university in a way to extend their adolescence

Because there are far too many people graduating with law degrees for placements available. It is simple supply and demand. The supply of people with law degrees is now enormous, thus the demand for their services is low. Good luck even getting a placement as a legal intern these days.