How to Get Rich

Felix Dennis, a college dropout with no family money, built a publishing business, founded Maxim magazine and became one of the richest people in the United Kingdom. His book offers no investment tips or motivational slogans; it passes on lessons he learned the hard way to people willing to start their own ventures. Among his contrarian claims are that a steady paycheck works like an addiction, that being young, broke and inexperienced is a fine place to start, that good ideas matter far less than people think, and that ownership is the only thing that counts. It reads as part memoir and part manual, and topped the British best seller list.

Sam Parr said no book had a bigger effect on his entrepreneurial career, and Populum co-founder Gunhee Park counted it among his favorite business autobiographies, adding that it is less shallow than its title suggests.