George S. Clason was born in Louisiana, Missouri in 1874. He served in the US Army in the Spanish-American War and afterward founded the Clason Map Company and the Clason Publishing Company. He is best known for writing the series of parables collected in the 1926 volume known as The Richest Man In Babylon, one of the most beloved and enduring entry-level books of personal financial wisdom.

In 1926, customers walking into banks and insurance companies began to encounter pamphlets containing short stories — parables, many of them set in the ancient metropolis Babylon, offering a piece of personal (and actionable)financial advice.

These pamphlets were written by Denver-based publisher George S. Clason. The most famous of his parables, The Richest Man in Babylon, ended up lending its title to the book that ultimately formed Clason’s collected parables.

Clason passed away in 1957, but The Richest Man in Babylon remains in print to this day, a font of timeless financial advice that continues to help average people become more financially literate and wealthy.

The Richest Man in Babylon (1926)