The International Bank of Bob

by Bob Harris

[Beth C.]

Did you know that you can buy The World's Most Expensive Cocktail for $7,438 (it comes in a take-home gold tumbler)? Or that you can buy a special type of coffee for around $600 a pound that came from the rarified atmosphere of an animal's butt? No? Well, how about this - there's a flip side, a dark side to the craziness. A huge percentage of people on this Earth live on $1 *PER DAY*. Not because they're lazy, or criminals, but because they got dealt a different hand than so many of the rest of us. This book is about those people, and one crazy American who traveled in search and support of the efforts being led to help them.

Many may have heard of Kiva loans - that is what this books is about. It takes a look at exactly how they work, why they work, and what happens when someone abuses the system. It also takes a look at the most important part - the people involved. Those who apply for loans, those who give their lives helping, and those who started these groups in the first place. Without the people, there would be no book.

I did find a couple of things that I should mention that bothered me. The first four chapters seemed less organized than the remainder of the book. Things that seemed like they would be in an introduction were stuck later in another chapter - that sort of thing. While it didn't damage the book overall, it did just seem out-of-whack on occasion. The other thing is that this book could have been cut down by about 1/4-1/3 without doing any real damage to the overall point(s) being made.

Having said that - I loved the voice of the author. Very entertaining, which can be difficult when writing about such a serious subject. I also am very glad for the numerous links at the bottoms of the pages, which allow the reader to look up the profiles of these people and to donate if they decide to. The sources were also wonderful to have.

Overall - this book is an important resource for people who want to help but sometimes aren't sure how. Kiva and other microlending programs were hit hard a few years back after a huge scandal by another group, and this book discusses that while demonstrating that one bad banana needn't spoil the whole bunch. I had looked into microlending in the past and, for whatever reason, never really got my butt in gear. I am proud to say that while reading this book, I made my first loan. In such difficult times, and when actions here in America have such dire consequences all over, it's nice to feel like I have the ability to help someone else. This book is well worth reading, and maybe, more readers might decide that $25 is small enough for them to help with.

Change is out there...will you be a part of it?