What I learned from rereading The Invisible Billionaire: Daniel Ludwig by Jerry Shields.
The photographer from New York magazine was excited and more than a little nervous.
In a matter of moments, he would enjoy a unique opportunity, the chance to snap the first unposed picture ever taken of the richest man in the world.
The strange thing was that most Americans had never even heard of Daniel Keith Ludwig.
It was hard to figure.
How could a man, any man, in these days of mass media coverage and public obsession with world records, managed to accumulate a $3 billion fortune with hardly anyone becoming aware of it?
If it takes a 43 inch stack of $100 bills to make a million dollars, then a stack equaling a billion would tower over the Empire State Building.
Ludwig's riches would be three times as tall.
Obsessed with privacy, Ludwig reportedly pays a major public relations firm fat fees to keep his name out of the papers.
The New York magazine photographer had learned that the world's richest man was living almost anonymously, right in the middle of Manhattan, and that he was in the habit of walking to work every day.
The photographer waited for the billionaire to walk the few blocks from his penthouse apartment.
Just as the photographer was starting to think something had gone wrong and Ludwig wasn't coming, he spied a gray haired figure in a black overcoat walking briskly.
As the old man drew close, the photographer raised his camera and aimed.
Ludwig, surprised, turned his head and looked up.
The shutter clicked.
The next instant, the world's richest man, 80 years old but still fit and trim, charged the photographer and grabbed him in a half nelson.
He tried to wrestle him to the sidewalk and take the camera, but the photographer twisted out of Ludwig's grasp and ran down the street.
New York magazine ran the photo with an accompanying article, the richest man in America walks to work.
That was an excerpt from the book that I'm going to talk to you about today, which is the invisible billionaire Daniel Ludwig, and it was written by Jerry Shields.
So this is the second time that I've read this book.
The first time was four years ago, all the way back on episode number 68.