Tom Butler-Bowdon (; born 1967) is a non-fiction author based in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, England.

Early life

Butler-Bowdon was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. He graduated from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

(BA Hons, Government and History) and the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

(MSc Politics of the World Economy).

Career

Butler-Bowdon is most notable for the ''50 Classics'' series of books, which provide commentaries on key writings in personal development, psychology, philosophy and economics. The series is published in English by Nicholas Brealey Publishing, and has been translated into 23 languages. Referring to his earlier work on the personal development literature, Butler-Bowdon was described by USA Today as "a true scholar of this type of literature". His ''50 Self-Help Classics'' won the 2004 Benjamin Franklin Award (US) for the Psychology/Self-Help category. Butler-Bowdon's "50 Economics Classics: The Greatest Books Distilled" was awarded a silver medal in the 2018 Axiom Business Book Awards, in the Business Reference category. In a 2016 interview, Butler-Bowdon described the thinking behind his 50 Classics books: "I feel my job is to mine the often transformative information in books and bring it to a bigger audience. Most people only have the time to read a few books a year, but just a single important insight could put them on the path to something great. What drives me is the idea that at some point in the future, the average person will possess much more knowledge than what is acceptable now. The possession of knowledge on its own doesn’t automatically translate into success, but what it does do is provide more references against which to check new information. For instance, it is easy to get swayed by some new idea or movement on social media or television, but if you have some grounding in history or economics, you will be able to say, “This idea has come around before, and it didn’t work”. What has been shown to work is x, y or z." Bruce Rosenstein described Butler-Bowdon as “a curator extraordinaire, and unerringly determines the appropriate books to cover, which is far from an easy task.”. Butler-Bowdon is also Series Editor for the Capstone Classics series published by Wiley & Sons (Europe). Within this series he has provided critical introductions to ''

Think and Grow Rich ''Think and Grow Rich'' is a book written by Napoleon Hill in 1937 and promoted as a personal development and self-improvement book. He claimed to be inspired by a suggestion from business magnate and later-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. First ...

'', ''

The Science of Getting Rich ''The Science of Getting Rich'' is a book written by the New Thought Movement writer Wallace Wattles, Wallace D. Wattles and published in 1910 by the Elizabeth Towne Company. The book is still in print. According to ''USA Today'', the text is "di ...

'', Sun Tzu's ''

Art of War ''The Art of War'' () is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is comp ...

'', Machiavelli's ''

The Prince ''The Prince'' ( it, Il Principe ; la, De Principatibus) is a 16th-century political treatise written by Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli as an instruction guide for new princes and royals. The general theme of ''The ...

'', Adam Smith's ''

Wealth of Nations ''An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations'', generally referred to by its shortened title ''The Wealth of Nations'', is the ''magnum opus'' of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith. First published in 1 ...

'', Lao Tzu's ''

Tao Te Ching The ''Tao Te Ching'' (, ; ) is a Chinese classic text written around 400 BC and traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion d ...

'', Plato's '' The Republic'', Kahlil Gibran's '' The Prophet'', and Florence Scovel Shinn's ''The Game of Life''. He is the author of a motivational work, ''Think Long: Why It's Never Too Late To Be Great'',

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

, published April 2012.

Bibliography

50 Classics series *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2003) ''50 Self-Help Classics: 50 Inspirational Books to Transform Your Life''. London & Boston: Nicholas Brealey, pp. 288. . *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2004). ''50 Success Classics: Winning Wisdom for Work and Life from 50 Landmark Books''. London & Boston: Nicholas Brealey, pp. 300. . *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2005). ''50 Spiritual Classics: Timeless Wisdom From 50 Great Books on Inner Discovery, Enlightenment and Purpose''. London & Boston: Nicholas Brealey, pp. 300. . *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2007). ''50 Psychology Classics: Who We Are, How We Think, What We Do; Insight and Inspiration From 50 Key Books''. London & Boston: Nicholas Brealey, pp. 324. . *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2008). ''50 Prosperity Classics: Attract It, Create It, Manage It, Share It: Wisdom From the Most Valuable Books on Wealth Creation and Abundance''. London & Boston: Nicholas Brealey, pp. 312. . *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2013). ''50 Philosophy Classics: Thinking, Being, Acting, Seeing – Profound Insights and Powerful Thinking from Fifty Key Books''. London & Boston: Nicholas Brealey, pp. . *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2016). ''50 Politics Classics: Freedom, Equality, Power''. London & Boston: Nicholas Brealey, pp. . *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2017). ''50 Economics Classics: Your Shortcut to the Most Important Ideas on Capitalism, Finance, and the Global Economy''. Nicholas Brealey, pp. 386 . *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2018). ''50 Business Classics: Your shortcut to the most important ideas on innovation, management and strategy.'' Nicholas Brealey ' Capstone Classics series *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2009). Introduction to ''Think and Grow Rich: The Original Classic'', Napoleon Hill. London: Capstone (Wiley). . *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2010). Introduction to ''The Science of Getting Rich: The Original Classic'', Wallace Wattles. London: Capstone (Wiley). . *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2010). Introduction to ''The Art of War: The Ancient Classic'', Sun Tzu. London: Capstone (Wiley). . *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2010). Introduction to ''The Prince: The Original Classic'', Niccolò Machiavelli. London: Capstone (Wiley). . *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2010). Introduction to and abridgment of ''The Wealth of Nations: The Economics Classic'', Adam Smith. London: Capstone (Wiley). . *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2012). Introduction to ''The Tao Te Ching: The Ancient Classic'', Lao Tzu. London: Capstone (Wiley). . *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2012). Introduction to ''The Republic: The Influential Classic'', Plato. London: Capstone (Wiley). . *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2020). Introduction to ''The Prophet: The Spiritual Classic'', Kahlil Gibran. London: Capstone (Wiley). . *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2020). Introduction to ''The Game of Life and How to Play It: The Self-Help Classic'', Florence Scovel Shinn. London: Capstone (Wiley). . Other *Butler-Bowdon, Tom (2012). ''Think Long: Why It's Never Too Late To Be Great''. London: Virgin/Random House. .

References

External links

Tom Butler-Bowdon's websiteBook Insights podcast co-hosted by Tom Butler-BowdonInterview with Ruben Chavez, Think.Grow.Prosper Podcast: "This Man Read 450 Classic Books and Distilled Their Best Ideas"Interview on The Psychology Podcast: "What do the most successful people of all time have in common?"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler-Bowdon, Tom 1967 births Living people Alumni of the London School of Economics Australian self-help writers University of Sydney alumni