One sentence summary: The book is a memoir of sorts, following Bob Harris as he travels around the world, following up on micro-finance loans he has made through Kiva.
The good: This book has got it all – international travel, issues of poverty and social justice, micro-finance, and features one of my favourite non-profit organizations (Kiva.org). It’s an easy read and gives a good overview of how micro-finance works.
The bad: I found his attempts to draw comparisons between the poverty and people he meets to his own family a bit cringe-worthy, but these moments were few and far between. For a book that could have easily turned into an over the top story of a Westerner ‘saving’ poor people in developing countries, Harris manages to stay fairly down to earth.
Should you read it? I’d say, probably.
Related Reading: Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus
(Want to try Kiva? Click here and you’ll get to make your first $25 loan for free! Geez this sounds like a paid ad, but I swear it’s not.)
