Money Secrets of the Amish by Lorilee Craker

I know very little about the Amish, but the one thing I do know is they are frugal and never wasteful. That is exactly what I strive to be everyday, so the title of Lorilee Craker's book Money Secrets of the Amish really caught my eye. A mother and a journalist, Craker interviews an Amish community to get to the heart of their secrets. She takes the lessons which the "plain" people live by and turns them around to fit our fast-paced, often wasteful society.

As a journalist, Craker tends to interject quite a bit of her own opinions about the Amish "secrets;" some opinions actually appearing condescending and belittling to their community. Written like a conversation with a teenager, she seems to skew some of the Amish philosophies to the point that the philosophy no longer fits a money-saving lifestyle, particularly the section on "delayed gratification" in which she even miscalculates a money-saving formula, costing her some credibility about economics (p. 40). The author makes quite a few assumptions about her reader which I felt, in my case, were not accurate assumptions, making it very difficult for me to relate to her points.

In general, I felt that the "secrets" of the Amish that she lays out in this book are not secrets at all, but rather common sense practices of saving money. I suppose, if you are quite a spender and have had little exposure to the world of money-saving, this book may be of some interest to you.

Otherwise, I would highly recommend purchasing a book from someone with an economic background, such as Dave Ramsey, whom she credits several times throughout her book.

Disclaimer:  I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book from Booksneeze for the purpose of an unbiased review.  I received no other compensation for this review.