The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness

Using anecdotes to illustrate ideas is unproblematic, but relying on anecdotes to prove truth claims is risky because people’s life stories differ greatly—one person’s story of success or failure cannot guarantee that another person will succeed or fail in the same manner. How, if at all, is this possible shortcoming of anecdotal evidence addressed in The Total Money Makeover?

What does Dave Ramsey’s choice to begin his discussion of the 2008 Great Recession in Preface 2, “Flying Turkeys and Skinny Dipping,” with an allusion to the fairy tale of the three little pigs reveal about his authorial objectives and methods? How does this set up the literary devices he uses throughout the book?

The personal testimonies and financial forms included in The Total Money Makeover are distributed throughout the book, frequently interrupting chapters mid-discussion. They are not neatly packed at the ends of chapters or in their own section. Does this arrangement choice have thematic significance? Does it change readers’ experience? If so, how?