Book excerpt: In this book you will meet three dozen impatient people. They weren't satisfied with the slow, plodding, money-saving route to financial security, the safe route that most of us feel stuck with. They wanted instant wealth - and they got it. As Max Gunther points out, our folklore frowns on the idea of quick money. Our cultural heros have generally been plodders, as in the fable about the race between a tortoise and a hare. "In the fable, the hare loses. The stories in this book are not fables. They are true. In these stories, the hares win." They are a richly varied lot, these happy hares. Gunther opens with a few dazzling millionaire legends, such as the man who invented Monopoly. You'll then meet such fascinating characters as: - Sam Wyly, who made it in the computer industry - Harvey Shuster, who beat the stock market - Dan Renn, who grew rapidly rich by applying salesmanship to another man's idea - Howard Brown, who deliberately decided to be rich and became a multi-millionaire within three years. - A group of men who made fast fortunes on fads such as the Hula Hoop and the Frisbee. - Jean Nidetch, who organised the fabulously successful Weight Watchers These stores illustrate that the dream of quick money isn't such a ridiculous dream after all. Maybe you've been harboring this kind of dream yourself. You've squelched the dream because you've been brainwashed by too many stories about tortoises beating hares. Everybody tells you your dream is laughable, impractical. All right, get ready for a revelation. Read this delightful collection of tales about hares who won. When you've read them, maybe you'll decide to run with them.