“A truly good book teaches me more than to just read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.” – Henry David Thoreau
“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.” – Ray Bradbury
I have been reading relentlessly as I always do, but even more so now that the beautiful weather has arrived and my school break is still in full effect. I have read a lot of books in the recent months and plan to continue reading at least three books a week until September. Some of the books I have read are posted below with an average personal reading recommendation from one to ten (1-10).
1) Jim Rogers – Street Smarts: Adventures on the Road and in the Markets
A great book by Jim Rogers cofounder of Quantum Fund (managed with George Soros) with his view on Asia, America, Singapore, Russia, Myanmar and parts of Europe as he travels around the world detailing his travels in an intriguing and inspirational story of his relentless journey of acquiring knowledge. I give it a rating of 8 and would recommend it to anyone interested in global capital markets.
Michael Lewis is an amazing author and Boomerang was the last of his books that I had to complete. It was a tale of the most recent credit cycle that drowned the world in a title wave of cheap credit. He outlines the effects that it had not only on America but Ireland, Greece, Iceland, Britain and the rest of the euro zone briefly. Another rating of 8 and great read.
3) Robert Skidelsky – Keynes return of the master
A synthesis of John Maynard Keynes life and best ideas. Ranging from economics, philosophy, and psychology to ethics and politics this book made for interesting reading and intellectual exercise. Another 8 rating and great read.
4) Nassim Taleb – Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
A rating of 8 is awarded and some ideas may take more than passive reading to understand. Just as human bones get stronger when subjected to stress and tension, and rumors or riots intensify when someone tries to repress them, many things in life benefit from stress, disorder, volatility, and turmoil. What Taleb calls “antifragile” is the category of things that not only gain from disorder but need it in order to survive and flourish. A great example is the opportunity that some may gain from creative destruction within the economy.
5) John Allen Paulos – A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market
From the disastrous events of Enron and WorldCom to efficient market theory, technical analysis, fundamental analysis and risk analysis, Paulos does a great job of illustrating various exploitable biases, mistakes, and examples from an intuitive sense, as well as a sprinkle of agnostic reasoning in his conclusions. Follow along in his adventure and hopefully remember and don’t repeat his mistakes. A 9-star rating and an amazing book for anyone with a mathematics background or capital markets interest.
Outlier Allocators 