Investment Biker: On the Road with Jim Rogers.

• Author: Johnson, Scott

Travel literature has always been an important genre in political, sociological and scientific discourse. Encouraging the analysis of other cultures as well as a deeper understanding of one's own, authors from Herodotus to Marco Polo to Darwin have written about their journeys, employing their experiences abroad to reach new insights. In a similar vein, eccentric and legendary investor Jim Rogers has written a most unorthodox book, breaking new ground in the study of finance and emerging markets. His book, Investment Biker: On the Road with Jim Rogers, is a memoir of a unique voyage: a 65,067-mile motorcycle tour across six continents.[1]

Beginning in March 1990 and culminating in August 1992, this trip may be considered another one of Rogers' many successful endeavors. A Yale and Oxford graduate, Rogers worked at George Soros' Quantum Fund in the 1970s. By 1990 he had made his fortune speculating on international currencies and commodities and, having decided to retire, became a finance professor at Columbia University. However, eager to explore the world further, Rogers left academia at the age of 48 to circumnavigate the globe. A life-long BMW motorcycle enthusiast, he rides his R100RT from the most western point in Europe (the town of Dunquin in Ireland) to Tokyo, via Western China, and then back to Dunquin through Siberia. Rogers then travels south to the Cape of Good Hope and finally returns to New York, travelling from the most southern point in the Americas, Tierra del Fuego. With great wit and a seasoned investor's acumen, Rogers chronicles his adventures and insights into the markets of more than 50 countries, furthering his reputation as a contrarian by his enthusiasm for developing markets in oft-ignored countries such as Botswana and Peru.

One theme resounds throughout the book: Rogers' physical and financial transcendence of national borders. Rogers tours through Western China, Siberia and other remote regions, exploring areas to which American travelers have not had easy access for decades. Consistent throughout the analysis is also Rogers' belief in the importance of the free flow of currencies and goods. He disdains the use of exchange controls and protectionism, arguing that these acts are unnatural and futile means of stimulating an economy. Citing examples from Europe, Africa, South America and even the United States, Rogers maintains that such measures are tantamount to using "Band-Aids to cover ... wounds rather than...