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Vital Signs

Book Reviews: Spring 2006

Culture & Clinical Care

By Juliene G. Lipson, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Suzanne L. Dibble, DNSc, RN [eds.]
UCSF Nursing Press, 2005
$33.95 (paperback)

What can a teenager teach minority MBAs about how to succeed in business? Plenty, if the teen in question happens to be entrepreneur Farrah Gray. A self-made millionaire by age 14, Farrah grew up in Chicago’s inner city and got his start in business by selling body lotion door to door when he was six. By age 13, he had started his own specialty food company, which racked up $1.5 million in sales in just a year. Since then, he has been involved in one successful entrepreneurial venture after another, from acquiring INNERCITY magazine to financing a comedy show on the Las Vegas Strip.

“It bothers me that sometimes people make the assumption that my achievements are the result of being born into the ‘right’ family, by which they mean an affluent or famous lineage,” he writes in Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out. But Farrah, who recently turned 20, is the first one to admit that the love and support of his single mom and other family members has been the key to his remarkable accomplishments. Many of the secrets for success in business and life that he shares in his book were taught to him by his family--Farrah’s first, and best, business network. In that sense, Farrah really was born into the right family, despite their financial struggles.

Reallionaire is part inspiring life story, part family homage and part how-to manual for aspiring minority entrepreneurs. The book is sprinkled with nuggets of wisdom that Farrah’s mother, grandmother, brother and sister have shared with him as basic life guidelines. He also provides “Reallionaire Affirmation” statements at the conclusion of each chapter, which readers can apply to current business ventures as well as their life goals. For example, from Chapter 5: “I am honest with myself about what is working, what is failing, where I am and where I need to go. I have the courage to make decisions based on the facts instead of fighting the tide.”

The nine steps of the title (and Farrah actually sneaks a 10th in for good measure) offer the young entrepreneur’s firsthand advice on everything from building an all-star mentoring team and “loving your customer” to being prepared to handle failure. Each chapter provides bulleted lists of success tips and hands-on exercises to help readers apply the Reallionaire philosophy to their own personal goals.

Reallionaire is not only the story of an extraordinary young man, but also of his equally remarkable family. This precocious millionaire is the product of a loving family who have developed a lifestyle for success that weaves together their business and personal lives. They all take the concept of a “good work ethic” several steps further into a kind of “good life ethic.” Farrah Gray has chosen to employ this life ethic to the benefit of others and his excitement about doing so is readily evident in Reallionaire.

To order the book: Reallionaire is available in bookstores. It can also be ordered directly from the publisher at (800) 441-5569 or www.hcibooks.com.

Transcultural Communication in Nursing, Second Edition

By Cora Muñoz, PhD, RN, and Joan Luckmann, MA, RN
Thomson Delmar Learning, 2005
$36.95 (paperback)

What can a teenager teach minority MBAs about how to succeed in business? Plenty, if the teen in question happens to be entrepreneur Farrah Gray. A self-made millionaire by age 14, Farrah grew up in Chicago’s inner city and got his start in business by selling body lotion door to door when he was six. By age 13, he had started his own specialty food company, which racked up $1.5 million in sales in just a year. Since then, he has been involved in one successful entrepreneurial venture after another, from acquiring INNERCITY magazine to financing a comedy show on the Las Vegas Strip.

“It bothers me that sometimes people make the assumption that my achievements are the result of being born into the ‘right’ family, by which they mean an affluent or famous lineage,” he writes in Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out. But Farrah, who recently turned 20, is the first one to admit that the love and support of his single mom and other family members has been the key to his remarkable accomplishments. Many of the secrets for success in business and life that he shares in his book were taught to him by his family--Farrah’s first, and best, business network. In that sense, Farrah really was born into the right family, despite their financial struggles.

Reallionaire is part inspiring life story, part family homage and part how-to manual for aspiring minority entrepreneurs. The book is sprinkled with nuggets of wisdom that Farrah’s mother, grandmother, brother and sister have shared with him as basic life guidelines. He also provides “Reallionaire Affirmation” statements at the conclusion of each chapter, which readers can apply to current business ventures as well as their life goals. For example, from Chapter 5: “I am honest with myself about what is working, what is failing, where I am and where I need to go. I have the courage to make decisions based on the facts instead of fighting the tide.”

The nine steps of the title (and Farrah actually sneaks a 10th in for good measure) offer the young entrepreneur’s firsthand advice on everything from building an all-star mentoring team and “loving your customer” to being prepared to handle failure. Each chapter provides bulleted lists of success tips and hands-on exercises to help readers apply the Reallionaire philosophy to their own personal goals.

Reallionaire is not only the story of an extraordinary young man, but also of his equally remarkable family. This precocious millionaire is the product of a loving family who have developed a lifestyle for success that weaves together their business and personal lives. They all take the concept of a “good work ethic” several steps further into a kind of “good life ethic.” Farrah Gray has chosen to employ this life ethic to the benefit of others and his excitement about doing so is readily evident in Reallionaire.

To order the book: Reallionaire is available in bookstores. It can also be ordered directly from the publisher at (800) 441-5569 or www.hcibooks.com.