Called the “Indiana Jones of finance” by Time magazine, Jim Rogers is one of the world’s most successful investors. He co-founded the Quantum Fund before he was thirty and retired at thirty-seven. Since then, he has served as a sometime professor of finance at Columbia University’s business school, and as a media commentator worldwide. But ask Jim Rogers about his most important venture and he will answer without hesitation: fatherhood.

A Gift to My Children: A Father’s Lessons for Life and Investing (Random House, 85 pages, $16) is Jim Rogers’ love letter to his daughters, Happy and Baby Bee. Reminiscent of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, which was also written by a father to his child, Rogers’ book is full of no-nonsense, unsentimental fatherly advice.

This charming volume captures a father’s voice – loving, direct, and sometimes stern – and amplifies his message for all to hear.

Among Jim Rogers’ best advice:

Conduct your own research and trust your own judgment.
Focus on what you yourself love.
Be persistent.
Broaden your horizons and see as much of the world as you can.
The most important thing you can learn is how to think and question everything you hear.
Study and learn from history.
Master more than one language – and make sure one of them is Mandarin.
Don’t panic.
Take care of yourself and don’t neglect the sunscreen.
Remember that boys need girls more than girls need boys.

Entertaining and principled, Jim Rogers’ A Gift to My Children should take pride of place among such staples of family reading as William Bennett’s The Book of Virtues, Conn Iggulden’s Dangerous Book for Boys, and parents’ personally cherished books of inspiration and wisdom.

Jim Rogers has taught finance at Columbia University’s business school and is a media commentator worldwide. He is the author of Adventure Capitalist, Investment Biker, Hot Commodities, A Gift to My Children, and A Bull in China.