On the root of all evil

Some friends have been talking about how useful Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey is. I like makeovers and I like money, so I figured I might like it. My only debts are school debts (which I prefer to think of as a non-traditional dowry, equivalent to the groom losing twelve camels to a strange pestilence on his wedding day) and a six dollar library fine, but I have been wanting help on making a good budget so I went to Barnes and Noble to look into it. And, lo and behold, the only extant copy is a hardback retailing for 24.99ish. The slap in the face is that all the sequels are in paperback for at least ten dollars less. After gathering the pieces of myself up from around the store (where they'd been strewn by an explosion of indignation to the tune of "How is THIS going to save me money??!!?"), I ended up with a copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude, a latté, and a People magazine. A quick, furtive slink got me out of the store before the realization that I'd spent the same amount of money on something useless could catch up with me.