尽信书不如无书

I'm currently reading the "Rich dad, poor dad" by Robert Kiyosaki. It's a book that teaches about financial independence, and there's a lot of radically different and seemingly profound ideas about personal financial management.

Although I haven't finish reading it, I can't help but wondering if he's as rich and financially savvy as he "boasted" in the book. It definitely wouldn't make sense to continue reading if he's not even rich in the first place right? Besides, I was thinking that since this book is an insanely famous best-seller a few years back then, wouldn't it have produced a significant numbers of millionaires across the land?

I did some research on the omniscient Wikipedia and found the following:

"Detailed analysis of public records (including SEC and county registrar of deeds) find no evidence to support Kiyosaki's status as a successful investor and businessman prior to the formation of his present venture, Cashflow Technologies, Inc. They claim that his wealth has come only as a result of selling books and audio presentations about topics he has not personally succeeded in and that he is probably worth far less than the US$50 to US$100 million he once claimed in an interview."

"In 1994 at the age of 47 he shut down the business because of adverse publicity in Australia and 'retired'".

So that's how he retired young. For more, read more on criticism and controversy related to him.

This is not to say that his advice is totally useless or of no value, but again such findings have buttressed my notion that motivational books can only do so much in presenting opinions that might not be necessarily true or applicable in the real world. A critical mind must be maintained, so that the good information can be extracted from the junk. Indeed, 尽信书不如无书...