With a Foreward by mikeholly93.

They say laughter is good for you and I just got the best laugh therapy money could buy in reading this book. As a would-be writer, I really appreciate what the authors did here, and it could not have been easy. This book is social satire at its best: It gives us a chance to take a step back and have a chuckle over some of the ridiculous things we accept as women without even questioning them. I've read some blogs where people are getting "offended" just by the title. But they've got it wrong: these authors are on the side of women, and are interested in empowering women so that they have MORE choice and better options and make better decisions about their lives and their futures and their mates. Or, you could just read it for a good laugh.

In a publishing world where magazine articles are stretched into one-note self help books, SMART GIRLS MARRY MONEY is a radical departure. Yes, it's funny, but more than that it touches on wide ranging topics that are important to women today--from showcasing workplace inequities which seem nothing less than systematic, to examining the biologic nature of Romantic love, to emphasizing the importance of self-love and self-care, to even giving a lesson on the stock market. Tackling these diverse topics is bold and in the end well-done--detailed but not overwhelming. And always amusing. This book is not about Gold-Digging, it's about questioning the cultural mores that has made it possible--even probable--that women will make dumb choices when it comes to partnering up. It pokes fun at a culture that equates the Cinderella-dream with some form of high MORALITY. It's high time someone wrote a book like this. Brava!

I had my doubts when someone handed me this book. I'm happily married, after all. But I found myself cracking up at this book. I heard it was called "Satirical Self-help", and I think that's right. It pokes fun at Self-Help but it also offers some good advice. It gives a clear eyed look at the economic and romantic lives of women, yet it gives same zany advice on what to do about it.

By balancing their approach--they shake up the reader enough to make you question pretty much all of our cultural assumptions about right and wrong when it comes to love and marriage.

It's very readable. And funny. But if you can't take a joke, it might not be for you. That would be too bad, because it's well written. It definitely helped me look at things in a new way.

According to Ford and Drake, Smart Girls Marry Money is meant to be funny, catty, and a good read. The authors argue against marrying only for love, urging women to consider their suitors' financial stability as a means of protecting their own financial security. While the author's approach is irreverent, and even crass at times, at the core of their argument is some sound advice. When considering marriage, love is but one factor among many. The ability, and willingness, to provide for a family should also be considered.

The author's argument is supported by a variety of studies. It is common knowledge that despite the increasing number of highly-educated women, women still do not earn as much as men; women are still disproportionately represented at the executive level; and women still bear most of the burden of child-rearing. Ford and Drake urge women to use all of their assets - sexual prowess and intelligence - to be successful in their careers and their marriages.

Divorce is a leading cause of poverty among women, so maybe Ford and Drake have a place in the relationship aisle. While their approach could be classier, Smart Girls Marry Money is simply a reminder that we cannot live on love alone.

Uhh, yeah. Take some facts, some valid points to be made, a lot of opinion, delusion, add sex, an M.D. for credibility, and sprinkle some sugar, spice, and all that's nice, and you get a large audience going "OOOH!".

Some good points are made, in that young women need to be taught reality instead of fantasy. You can't have it all, life is imperfect, and gender roles exist for a reason. However our authors plod on to their conclusion like two drunks zigzagging home from a night on the town. They just have to make it home no matter how many garbage cans they knock over in the journey.

There are so many fallacies that the text will make tough reading for those logically sound. "Women make less than men in the workforce" is repeated over & over to support their premise, but conveniently ignore the very clear & narrow set of conditions where this now proven myth actually does pan out.

Take a look at how the terms 'romantic love', 'love', and 'happy marriages' are blurrred, interchanged, and redefined in real time to support their journey to the end chapter. See the conclusion of Chapter 7..."Love doesn't last", yet in the text argument they only make the case "Romantic Love doesn't last". Notice how men are continually beaten down in this book such as in the case "16 MILLION [out of 3 billion-reviewer] men are walking around the earth today with the EXACT same Y chromosome that Genghis Kahn [world's foremost rapist-reviewer]...So when men claim that they are primitive cave dwellers, believe them." Yet the cave dwellers somehow seem to be party to the 25% of marriages that "are really happily ever after and have the kind of golden partnerhsips that dreams are made of." (Chapter 6)

The best text of the book isn't the creation of the authors at all: "To preserve a marriage couples should remain faithful; produce children together; have ample resources; be kind, generous, and understanding; and never refuse or neglect a mate sexually." -Anthropologist David Buss quoted in Chapter 6. The authors reply: "Good luck with all that!"

When you reduce the book down to it's core element, the overall message is the encouragement of women to close their eyes, lie down, grit their teeth, & sleep with their sugar daddy, but not for current wives (whom married for love) to do similar for their college or high school sweetheart whom has been busting his butt for his family for the past twenty years...and try to get into that 25% of marital bliss.

Lastly, where do the authors present a critical examination of our most famous & legendary gold diggers & their ultimate fates?

I would however recommend the book for men, especially those rich or aspiring to be so, as this could very well be your fate.

For women who want to do it right, read "Dating the Older Man" by Vranich & Grashow instead of this trash