
Title : The Last Chronicle of Fairacre: "Changes at Fairacre", "Farewell to Fairacre", "Peaceful Retirement"
Author : Miss" "Read
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Much-loved series reaches finale
Miss Read has written over 40 titles, with this handsome omnibus edition collecting her last three Fairacre stories.
"Changes at Fairacre", charts the heroine's relationship with her predecessor at the village school, Miss Clare. "Farewell to Fairacre" covers her decision to retire and the final tome shows how Miss Read copes with her new-found life of leisure.
In an afterword, the author says she is laying down her pen "with a thankful heart". It is all the more surprising therefore that these final tales show no sign of staleness. In particular, "A Peaceful Retirement" is quite playful in tone as Miss Read copes valiantly with a series of unlooked-for marriage proposals.
Given that the school year is so regular the author manages to describe events such as Christmas celebrations and harvest festivals with no sense of repetition, and as ever captures the tensions between town and country living, children's and adult worlds and men and women beautifully.
With "Last Chronicle of Fairacre", Dora Saint, the real-life Miss Read, can take her own retirement from authorship knowing that she has served her readers well.

Title : Pay Yourself First: A Commonsense Guide to Life-Cycle Retirement Investing
Author : Timothy W. Cunningham
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : One of the most insight books on investing for the future.
This is a must read for people in their 20s and 30s, especially those who are married and have children. Most people think Social Security and the company 401K will take care of their retirement. A great many of those people believe if they start saving in their mid-30s they will accumulate enough wealth to retire comfortably. This book reinforces the need to begin saving for retirement as soon as you begin working full-time because of the power of compounding and all of the various circumstances like Bar Mitzah's, weddings and other financially draining events. It made me examine my own portfolio and strategy for future financial events. It is a very easy to read and understand book and can be read in a day.

Title : Rich Dad's Prophecy
Author : Sharon L. Lechter
Rating : 2 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Massively dissappointing addition to an outstanding series
Robert Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad" series has become a seminal work for those seeking financial freedom and success. Following the guidance of his previous works I, my family and colleagues have made huge strides in increasing our net wealth and still consider the day that we read the first book to have been truly life changing.
This latest book, however, is a huge disappointment for anyone who is an experienced 'follower' of Kiyosaki. There is very little new and it appears that the series is becoming a cash cow for him to milk money out of in return for repeating previous material. The amount of content regarding the key topic (the financial impact of the change in the US population make up) is tiny and adds little to what is available free through simple internet searches. The tendency to use the text to advertise other "Rich Dad" products is increasingly annoying and adds to the feeling that the author is not really interested in adding value, except to his bank balance.
For newcomers to the series, though, the book could be useful as it combines topics from all of the previous four texts; a low cost way of getting the most for your money. I still reccomend the original "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" as an outstanding stand alone work (for its attitude alone). This new book would add to that nicely as a pair, saving the need to purchase the intermediate series or numerous attached products.
For those of us who have awaited Kiyosaki's output with anticipation, this is depressingly bad and verging on a deliberate rip off. Stick with the original and look for answers to the questions about the coming decade elsewhere.

Title : The Bond Book
Author : Annette Thau
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : I read this book cover to cover--AND IT ROCKS!
As an individual investor, I hadn't had a significant amount of experience with the bond market. Thau's book was a pleasure to read, and I believe it touches on every topic one needs to understand to become an educated bond investor. In short, it rocked me like a hurricane. I highly recommend it.