The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie and The Gospel of Wealth (Signet Classics)
byAndrew Carnegie
Dieter
3.0 out of 5 stars InterestingReviewed in Mexico on 13 November 2017
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It's a good book to learn more about this man. It's a slow read, and the old English makes it a bit difficult to understand and more tiring.
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piero
5.0 out of 5 stars Small but goldReviewed in Italy on 1 December 2020
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Small but gold
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H. S. Hallam
5.0 out of 5 stars I wish I had read this book at age 20Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 January 2012
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I wish I had read this at age twenty. Very inspirational he shows what can be achieved with vision and application.
From humble beginnings and good moral guidance from his family Andrew Carnegie became one of the richest men in the world and a great philanthropist in his later years.
He worked hard, educated himself through reading good books and creating " Mastermind Groups" with his colleagues so they all advanced their positions in life. He cultivated the friendship of those who helped him advance his career, and his education. In later life his friends included President Theodore Roosevelt, Prime Minister Gladstone and writer Mark Twain.
He was a great organiser, leader and diplomat who engendered the loyalty of his employees.
It was he who tasked Napoleon Hill to research the Philosophy of Success.
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grock
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book great man ahead of his times.Reviewed in the United States on 14 July 2020
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I recommend this book as part of my steel sharpens steel book club reading. I was impressed and surprised by Carnegie as young man. The level of respect he gave all men in such a day as his proved that human values Trump the way of the times or at least they should. I think this is a must read for True capitalist as well as socialist. His take on money and how it is not evil but the men who misuse it may well be. Is refreshing and inspiring as a capitalist with a social agenda myself.
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Shawn
4.0 out of 5 stars Font size unusually small in paperbackReviewed in Canada on 25 August 2023
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It awesome to have the opportunity to read the writing of such an accomplished man,
but the print in this book is unusually small and the chapters run together.
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varun venkatasubramanian
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and informativeReviewed in India on 2 August 2023
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Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller are often considered together when we discuss "Titans of industry". But if you look at their backgrounds, they are similar yet very different. Rockefeller was raised in a family established in the USA since before the founding of the Union and was the son of a fairly well-to-do businessman. Carnegie grew up in Dunfermline, Scotland, growing up on stories of Scottish heroes with a proud streak of Scotch nationalism ingrained in him. He migrated as a boy along with his family. While Rockefeller began as a bookkeeper in a firm belonging to his father's friend, Carnegie began as a factory worker and diversified into different fields like telegraph, railways, and so on till he founded a steel works. Rockefeller was a devout but not a religious Christian(he had a traditionally protestant contempt for priests and institutions but often read the Bible and apparently lived by Christian maxims) while Carnegie grew up in a family of lapsed Calvinists who later became Swedenborghers and Carnegie himself found some things of interest in the teachings of the Buddha and Confucius. While Rockefeller wasn't much of a heavy reader, Carnegie was active in Book clubs and took interest in both literature and, later, in dedicating libraries. While both retired early, Rockefeller spent his retirement years among his family members while Carnegie gave liberally to various charities. Thus, it's very interesting how these two people from two very different backgrounds came to shape the USA in ways big and small. But their outlook in life and the lessons their lives offer are different and should be learned from. Readers of this book will find several engaging stories of Carnegie's pre-American life, his growth in various businesses, the workers he remembers, his interaction with laborers and bankers, and even his interaction with prominent politicians and a first-hand account of the USA ending its policy of "non-interference" and annexing the Philippines. The final chapter is one about a meeting between him and Kaiser Wilhelm II, who became infamous as the leader of Germany during World War I. For those wanting a first-hand account of America's evolution from pre-civil war days to the first world war(and, I do believe the idea for a "league of nations" originated from Carnegie) , I would highly recommend this book.
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Daniel R. Pinto
4.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring an instructive glimpse of the industrialization of 19th century AmericaReviewed in the United States on 22 March 2023
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Andrew Carnegie, born in Scotland in 1835, arrived in America at the age of 13, in reduced circumstances but with years of schooling behind him. Thanks to this education and to the devotion of his parents, he developed a drive to succeed. And succeed he did. Starting as a boy messenger in a Pennsylvania small town, he eventually became the second richest man in the world (after John D. Rockefeller, Jr.) while playing an important role in the development of railroads and the steel industry.
This part of the story is well told but, inevitably, the most fascinating part is about his early years at work, when he seized the opportunities that came his way and improved his position in life almost one step at a time. It is also instructive to learn how the seeds of knowledge planted in his mind during childhood bore fruit and left him with a lifelong belief in the importance of learning and self improvement.
In his later years, this belief would lead to the donation of almost his entire fortune - hundreds of millions of dollars - to the creation of 2800 public libraries in the United States, as well as other institutions devoted to the education and wellbeing of the public.
As a success story, few can surpass it, even though it’s not exactly rags to riches. Back in Carnegie’s native Scotland, before his father lost money for his failure to adapt to new production methods, his family had been relatively well off, and he had the advantage of a stimulating education. Still, not everyone, no matter how instructed, could be expected to seize every oppotunity in his way and improve his lot in life.
The final chapters of the interrupted manuscript (in fact, a compilation of texts put together after his death by a friend) are devoted to his efforts on behalf of world peace. We see him meeting presidents, kings, emperors, statesmen and thinkers in general. An annotated edition would have been particularly useful in this section of the book.
Carnegie was, almost to the end of his writing (the last manuscript dates from 1912 or 1913), optimistic about the prospects for peace after the creation of the International Court of Justice in the Hague. Unfortunately for him, he lived to see the more than four years of carnage of the Great War and died, in 1919, a heartbroken man.
Andrew Carnegie’s true legacy does not lie in his important contributions to the building of American infrastructure in the 19th century, but to his numerous endowments. The institutions he created are still with us today: the public libraries, the initiatives for international peace, the universities, the public parks, the monuments. According to his own professed views in the “Gospel of Wealth” (also included in this Signet Classics edition), people who die rich will pass away “unwept, unsorrowed, and unsung”: “The man who dies thus dies disgraced.”
This is an autobiography, and there seems to be evidence that Carnegie’s relations with his workers were not always as harmonious as he makes them out to be. He doesn’t admit to any personal guilt regarding the Homestead Strike of 1892, and yet other sources seem to imply that his handling of the crisis (which resulted in a number of deaths) was not beyond reproach. I’m looking forward to reading the biographies by David Nasaw and Peter Krass to find out more.
Does it really matter? Yes, to some extent, it does. We are nowadays more sensitive to issues of fairness in the workplace, and rightly so. Yet any assessment of Andrew Carnegie the man, warts and all, will have to take the unprecedented magnitude of his philanthropic deeds into account. And also the fact that, with his actions and ideas (as set forth in the Gospel of Wealth and other texts), he set an example for the wealthy to follow. When Bill Gates or Warren Buffett pledge to give away almost their entire fortune, we hear an echo of Andrew Carnegie’s ideal. He couldn’t prevent war, but he did leave the world a better place.
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JOSE ANTONIO FRANCO
1.0 out of 5 stars This book is a fraud.Reviewed in Mexico on 11 January 2017
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This book is a complete fraud. I don't understand why Amazon doesn't review the products they sell before listing them. The book was converted from a PDF file using Calibre, and it's completely out of alignment. The lines are choppy, the page numbers aren't marked at the end of each page, but are sandwiched between the text, and there's no visible squareness anywhere in the book. It's impossible to read. It's a huge disappointment to see Amazon, where I've bought so many books, do this to its customers.
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gail clark
5.0 out of 5 stars feelgood book of early business in the US
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 February 2015
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what a lovely man, genuine and a very cute but good employer. True he was there at the right time and in the right place but there he differs from the other billionaires in that he loved his fellow men and wanted to do right by them and in most cases his workforce were very fortunate.
Excellent feelgood book, if business was able to function like that now!
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Ralf Scholler
1.0 out of 5 stars Not successful
Reviewed in Germany on 28 March 2016
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The quality of the text is very poor. The lines don't flow, the text is difficult to read, choppy, and the footnotes are woven into the middle of the text.
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devendra singh
5.0 out of 5 stars best
Reviewed in India on 4 November 2019
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best
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Andrew Dobson
5.0 out of 5 stars The only reason you don't know about him, is because of his insanely modest and humble attitude
Reviewed in the United States on 10 February 2013
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Andrew Carnegie easily could have taken the slot as richest man ever in history. He could have also created a legacy like many of the other millionaires of his time to solidify his family name for eternity, but instead he chose to not give into 'one of man's greatest evils' (The worship of money), and use the influence he had to politically and socially elevate the world. There isn't a more inspiring figure to me than a man who where most people would only think for themselves, he thought of everyone but himself. There are many pages in this book, where Mr. Carnegie's had to fill in the details, because the guy was to modest to talk about himself in a bragging way. He teaches many great lessons about how public opinion is moot when you know you have a good cause. He preaches reading as practically the greatest good on earth, and spoke highly of his parents. Some of his chapters have inspired me (notably the one where he treats everyone, even people how to politically hurt him, by taking them out enjoying their company and then firmly telling them his stance). I read the book because I wanted to become a big shot entrepenuer, but by the last pages, Andrew Carnegie gave me something a lot greater, knowledge and and the mindset to always treat people like they deserve more dignity than the world gives them. This is not because I'm co-dependant or weak, but because we live in a very self-centered and greedy world, and Andrew Carnegie led by example on how to change that paradigm. He led the finest example I've ever read so far, and I encourage this book to everyone who has interests in autobiographical pieces.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Bit dated in language and jumps around a bit text wise but an enthralling story of a great man.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 June 2017
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Dated a bit in language and terminology. A bit disjointed in lay out, and many of the subjects discussed are buried in the past. A great story however of a great and kindly man.
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Thomas S
1.0 out of 5 stars Small font
Reviewed in Canada on 22 May 2021
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I’ll never know if I like the book or not. The font is so small that it is discouraging to read.
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GOPI KRISHNA KEJRIWAL
5.0 out of 5 stars life of a great man which can teach us how wealth is created ...
Reviewed in India on 29 September 2014
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life of a great man which can teach us how wealth is created and utilised for the betterment of humanity.
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James
5.0 out of 5 stars Amongst The Very Best Of AutoBiographies.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 July 2013
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In this stunningly concise little volume is the work/life story of one of the greatest souls to ever live.
Written in his own hand, with a sense of humility, more befitting a helpful relative or close friend, rather than
a titan of industry.
Followed up by Carnegie's "Gospel of Wealth" - which should be compulsory reading in all business schools.
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Blu
5.0 out of 5 stars AN IMMIGRANT'S AMERICAN SUCCESS STORY.
Reviewed in the United States on 7 August 2024
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Grounded by loving parents, Mr. Carnegie advanced to achieve superlative success by his unique persona -- an uncompromising integrity, an incredible memory, and, never investing in the stock market. Surprisingly, the rhetoric is eloquent and captivating, despite no formal education. His intuitive instinct reflected his business approach: "... that capital, labor, and employer were a three-legged stool, none before or after the others, all equally indispensable" (p. 203). Unfortunately, no mention of his personal affairs. Nonetheless, a worthwhile enjoyable endeavor.
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Stanley leach
3.0 out of 5 stars Very good to start with...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 January 2020
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Some good points in this book, very interesting to see behind the scenes of Carnegies life but the last 5 or 6 chapters seem to drag an awful lot and I struggled to keep reading.
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