Muhammad Yunus

My face to face book club is reading this one for May. I'll say this for it, I never would have picked this book up on my own.

On the plus side, Yunus' passion for eradicating poverty does come through, and I think he is the real deal. He has worked with many politicians and philanthropists, and he names names. As an economist, he is good at explaining what could have been complex concepts and bringing them down to terms that are very understandable and clear. I admire his devotion to working with the poor in a way that is very respectful and preserving of their dignity. It really is a tale of what one man can do to make change, and in that regard, it is extremely compelling.

On the less good side, while the book was a fast read, it also was somewhat boring. I mean how interesting can you make a book about loans be? The answer - - not very. I sort of felt that the book lacked some soul, but I really forgive Yunus because you can't make the truth be something that it isn't. The truth is that if you loan very poor people some money, some industrious ones will develop a cottage industry that is enough to ensure that they eat and that they have a roof over their heads. And in Bangladesh, that's saying a lot. But it isn't really a rags to riches story . . .it's more like a rags to better rags story.

Yunus also feels compelled to share many numerical specifics - - and frankly I think that is appropriate because it lends substance to his book. It's also - - not that interesting.And there is the fact that he has a certain air of self importance that while it may be justified is still slightly annoying.

So all in all, he takes a tough-to-write about topic and does a good enough job with it to publish a book the mainstream public can enjoy. That's pretty impressive. And my hat is off to him for the good he has done for poverty stricken people worldwide.… (more)