The ABC murders

Author: Agatha Christie

A serial killer is murdering people arbitrarily in the order of their names. The first victim is Alice Ascher of Andover, second Betty Barnard of Bexhill-on-Sea, third Sir Carmichael Clarke of Churston. i.e., the first victim is a person with his initial A from a place starting with A, the second victim is B, and so on.The victims are completely unrelated; of different financial backgrounds, and different age factions.

Before each murder Hercule Poirot receives a letter stating the time and place of the next murder, but by the time Poirot and the police reach the place, the murder would’ve already occurred. At each murder spot, the killer leaves an ABC Railway Guide next to the body of the victim with the open page facing the floor.

Some of the clues lead to a stocking salesman called Alexander Bonaparte Cust (ABC), an old, partially blind, epileptic man. His presence at each murder location is proved beyond doubt, and he surrenders stating that he could’ve done the murders as he is unaware of himself many a times in a day. All the letters were typed from his typewriter, but he denies typing any letter and claims that he had never heard of Poirot before meeting him at the investigation office. Though Cust surrenders, he could not be jailed for lack of evidence and loopholes in the evidences against him.

Who is the serial killer? What is his motive? Can an old,weak, epileptic man kill four people with different weapons and cleverly conceal the murder weapon? These are the questions Poirot asks himself. Read the book to find the culprit.

This is a detective fiction, and the easiest way to spoil your pleasure of reading is to reveal the climax.The ABC murder, written in a double point of view is worth your time any day.

Rich dad Poor dad

Author: Robert T.Kiyosaki

Robert T.Kiyosaki's classic book Rich dad poor dad is quite popular among people who know something about passive money.The book is not a quick fix to get rich, but rather a way to accumulate your hard earned money in a systematic way.It is about thinking like rich man!

The author, in his own conversational manner elaborates why poor remains poor and rich get richer. He reasons that rich generates money from his assets while the poor is happy to earn money from his paycheck. Earning money from paycheck in turn means that you are paying your government first i.e income tax. While a rich man can pay himself first before paying the government, How does he do that?By making corporations.

Further a poor man latches on to any offer which says " Low down, easy payment, monthly installments etc.." and happily takes a loan from his bank at a high interest rate ( generally around 10%) but what is the interest one is paid for saving money in the bank ? a mere 3-4%. The poor man ends up paying a high interest rate and ends up in a financial ditch. The poor man considers his house as his biggest asset, unless one lives in a house which is partly rented , a house cannot be an asset, explains the author. In the end, a Poor man earns money for the government, the bank,and finally a small amount to himself which wouldn't even suffice his living expenses.

Robert T.Kiyosaki further explains why getting more money wouldn't solve money problems for a financially illiterate person, in fact according to him more money would mean more debt problems for such a person. You can learn more about this in the book, a lot of pages are dedicated to this particular topic.

Rich dad poor dad expounds on the importance of investments, especially in the stock market and real estate. How holding on to a secure job can be dangerous to you in the long run, and how a long-term investment strategy and focusing on your investment would do good to you in the long run.

There are answers to some of the frequently discussed topic such as " Take money from the rich and give it to the poor, Let there be equality", the Robin Hood way, the reasons given by Robert sounds fresh and in fact brings about change in attitude towards many of the money misconceptions.