Hey, a book. Finally. I had to change genres to get it done. But I thoroughly enjoyed Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life.
Updated stats through August:
New feature – in order to add some perspective to each article, I’m adding a quote or comment for context.
Here are my most influential reads – in no particular order:
- The Buzzkill News About Drinking Alcohol – “The notion that one or two drinks a day is doing us good may just be wishful thinking.”
- Why Cryptocurrencies Look Like a Bubble, and How Investors Can Brace for Lower Returns – “I have big tolerance for maverick risk.”
- Taylor Swift is smart enough to not let her shows sell out – “Although some naive critics derided the tour as a “disaster” for not selling out, Swift is laughing all the way to the bank.“
- The Quote of the Decade – “You can’t talk about savers without talking about consumers. And the latter outnumber the former by orders of magnitude. Whatever people are not receiving from a low rates is being more than made up for in their mortgage and other items that are financed.” Got it, people should take out more debt and stop complaining about not earning anything on their savings. If they have more debt than savings, it’s all good. If not, just go buy something on credit (e.g., a house, or a second home, or a couple cars). It really doesn’t matter so long as it’s financed. Brilliant. And, isn’t the second sentence going to become a problem at some point?
- Today’s Reckless, Irresponsible, Politically-Motivated FOMC Rate Cut – “There are very few legitimate reasons to cut rates from the low Effective Federal Funds rate of 2.38%. Some argue Underemployment is a reason, others say its insurance against an ordinary recession (?!), still others say it is needed to reduce the strength of the US Dollar. To which I call bullshit.“
- Reading and rabbit holes – “Follow the questions, not the books per se. Don’t focus on which books to read, focus on which questions to ask.“
- This is what leaders need to do to prevent work-life stress from taking over – “A leader I worked with previously used to say, ‘You should trust the people who work for you; if you don’t, they shouldn’t work for you.’ ” Hmmm, this probably cuts both ways, don’t you think?
- A Clever Hack to Reading More Books – “But one thing has: an electronic library card tied to a Kindle. You can get one online, signup with your mobile phone number and start checking out books in less than five minutes.” Yes, I commandeered my daughter’s Kindle.
- The Decision Matrix: How to Prioritize What Matters – “The decisions we spend the most time on are rarely the most important ones.“
- How to Do Great Things – “You need to strive for excellence. This isn’t as easy as it sounds but it as an essential feature of doing great work.“
Note: This is based on when I read the article, not necessarily when it was first published. Unfortunately, my backlog of things I would like to read always seems to dwarf the amount of time I can devote to reading.