
Art of Money Getting, by P. T. Barnum (actual book, 1880) - hhm
http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/www/barnum/moneygetting/
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jkush
I can't remember where I read this, but P.T. Barnum had a struggling museum in
New York. Despite all of his clever tricks, he couldn't get the foot traffic
he needed to keep the museum afloat.

He ended up putting signs all over New York announcing a free concert in front
of the museum. He knew that being the summer time, lots of people wouldn't be
able to resist the combination of free music played outdoors on a warm summer
night.

The night of the concert, there were hundreds of people milling around the
front of the museum. He had the musicians set up on the balcony and start
playing. P.T. Barnum had purposefully hired the worst musicians he could find
and after a few minutes of truly awful music, people started leaving. The vast
majority however, having nothing else to do, decided to buy a ticket and go
see what was inside the museum.

I love that story.

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Shooter
One of my favorite Barnum stories is probably more well-known:

His Scudder's American museum in New York was struggling, in part, because the
customers he did have would often end up lingering in front of the exhibits
for an unnaturally long time, while they enjoyed the free heat and
conversation of other patrons. He added a sign that read "This way to the
egress!" and an arrow. Most patrons thought they were going to see a strange
and unusual creature, but they were actually being herded to the exits
(Exit=Egress.) He then charged them another quarter if they wanted to re-enter
the museum. Maximizing throughput!

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mattmaroon
I'm about 1/4 of the way into his autobiography right now and it's excellent.

~~~
jkush
My in-laws lived across the street from P.T. Barnum's granddaughter (possibly
great-granddaughter - I never really asked) in Florida. A lot of the stuff
from the circus was apparently sold off but she still had lots of really cool
stuff.

In fact, if I remember correctly, she has a tiny little sofa and end table
which belonged to Tom Thumb!

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Tom_Thumb>

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muhfuhkuh
"Unless a man enters upon the vocation intended for him by nature, and best
suited to his peculiar genius, he cannot succeed."

Best Chapter 1 advice ever!

~~~
brlewis
Sometimes when I read old literature that says "by nature" I get the
impression that they just mean "deeply ingrained."

When did the nature vs nurture question become a widespread meme? Was it after
this book was written?

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jaed
This is great...thanks for the link!

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augustus
Great Post. I have scheduled to read this on my holiday.

Thanks for that story jkush. That was interesting.

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mooneater
Chapter titles alone make an excellent and readable Top 20 list.

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plusbryan
should be in scribd :(

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s3graham
scribd shouldn't be.

