Assignment 21A: Reading Reflection No. 2

Andrew Carnegie - David Nasaw 

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?
                                  The book did not just tell his story and the facts behind it, but attempted to go into Carnegie's mind and elaborate on what shaped his success, his philosophical opinions, and the choices and reasoning behind his decisions that allowed him to become one of the wealthiest men of the 19th and early 20th century. The author wants to argue that Carnegie was not just a smart businessman, but a true visionary and an inspiring success story because of not only his rags to riches story, but because he never abandoned the lower class, he knew of the responsibilities of the wealthy and and truly defined the roles of the upper class.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
                                   I remember in one of the lectures an important point made that you actually have a better chance of succeeding as an entrepreneur by not having a lot of money to spend and use freely than that of an entrepreneur with a large amount of money available for use. This was proven with the story of Andrew Carnegie, part of a poor family who emigrated to the US from Scotland, he had to work for the money he got and used it carefully once he began investing in companies and building his capital and wealth. Another important point was when i read that he took advantage of the connections he made working as a telegraph boy on the railroads for his future business endeavors. He used a form of networking to advance his career.

 3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?                         
                                 Carnegie wrote about the Gospel of Wealth - the responsibilities the rich and upper class wealthy people have in order to help out the lower class and ensure those fortunate enough to be rich are giving back and doing their part. For the class, I would have everybody write what their responsibilities as a UF student are, what are the advantages you have as someone in a top 10 public university over someone in a less prestigious college?  

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?
                               Before reading David Nasaw's book, I had pictured Carnegie as someone who exploited the free market capitalism of the industrial revolution and amassed his fortune with the desire of getting as rich as possible. But what shocked me was how much he detested people who were wealthy, believing to die rich was a sin. So he drafted a Gospel of Wealth written for wealthy people to argue his view that the rich had a responsibility to give back as much as possible. I was astounded to find that Carnegie's philanthropic work had amassed over 76 billion dollars in today's adjusted count.