George S. Clason (November 25, 1885 – January 31, 1977) was an American author of inspirational literature. He is best known for his 1926 book The Richest Man in Babylon, a series of parables about a beggar who eventually becomes a king. The work has been the basis of a number of books that have been published over the years by other authors, including The Richest Man in Babylon: The Life and Secret of a Banker Who Lost Everything by William J
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O'Neal. Clason was born in Maine but moved to California soon after his birth. In 1922 he was appointed vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, where he met his wife Helen.
In 1925 they began work on their first book, The Richest Man in Babylon, which was serialized in the San Francisco Examiner in 1926 and published in book form two years later. The book became an immediate best-seller and sold over 1 million copies by 1940 (a figure that has not been surpassed). After selling their apartment in San Francisco to finance the research for this book, the Clasons lived the rest of their lives in retirement on their farm near Santa Paula, California.