Trump shares secrets from a billionaires life

Most of us will never be billionaires, but Donald J. Trump contends we all could think like one.

Trump tells us at length that billionaires can have incredibly fun lives. Work is not work but an extension of a passion for living to the fullest, succeeding, acquiring, consuming. If you consider your job a burden, you're in the wrong field and clearly not thinking like a billionaire, Trump advises in his new book, "Think Like a Billionaire."


This is partly a how-to book in the classic sense -- no-nonsense and authoritarian on the business of life (including a "How to be Married" section from a man who is preparing for his third marriage) and part pure publicity for the television show that has catapulted Trump to a level of celebrity even he didn't know existed.


"Think Like a Billionaire" is one of those quick reads that will leave you feeling a little awed and empty at the end.


For the book is not so much a book as Trump memorabilia, like a tchotchke you grab at an airport when you feel the need to own a trivial trinket that says "Chicago." There is page upon page of glossy color photos, many of them featuring Trump, his fiancee, model Melania Knauss, and fellow NBC celebrities. The last fourth of the book is called "Inside The Apprentice" and offers a primer and commentary on the show.


And why not?


As Trump further expands his domain from bricks and mortar to show biz, there is an increasing display of Trump the media product, fueled not just by NBC's marketing acumen, but also by the MBA showman himself.


So, while you may never become a billionaire, you most certainly can indulge yourself in observing a real live one, up close and personal, in book form.


This is Donald Trump's diary as much as it is any sort of inspiration or help. Sure, there are far worse ways to spend a few hours than reading Trump's musings -- but there are also about a billion better ones.


JUSTINE BACHMAN writes for the Associated Press.