Matt’s Cultish Reviews: “The Soul of Wealth” by Daniel Crosby

“I got soul and I’m superbad.” - James Brown

“The only thing that turns me on, is when I hear a soulful song / I like Soul, with a capital S.” - Tower of Power

“I have a closet full of Jordan’s but a vertical that’s not going to break any combine records, a baseball card collection that cheaply masks my inability to hit a curve ball, and a library that is equal parts knowledge repository and pretentious conversation start for visitors to the house.” - Daniel Crosby

Ok that’s a weird way to start a book review, but I’m making these points:

1. People get weird when you use the world “soul”

2. It’s not actually that weird, the word’s been used a lot, and

3. If a behavioral psychologist is invoking it next to money - you can be sure he’s got some interesting, super bad, and Soulful reason for doing it.

Watch the video, pre-order the book, and just so I write it somewhere, the short version is:

Life is emotional. It requires a level of attentional awareness, that if we want to not be angsty, miserable, collectors of meaningless things, we’re going to have to attempt to understand our relationship with those things. The mixed together essences of ourselves, other things, and other people, is the mystery the soul of wealth untangles. 50 short reflections from 50 beautifully varied perspectives. Crosby’s book is more “War of Art” (Pressfield) and “Creative Act” (Rubin) than any other financial psych book I’ve ever read. If you like those books, and you want to get philosophical about your relationship with wealth, buy this book.