This book was strongly recommended to me by a colleague whose opinion I thought and think very highly of. He is a techie with broad knowledge and the best generalised problem solving skills I’ve ever seen. He’s also much more than an uber-geek, with wide and varied interests. So I was expecting good things from this book. Maybe too good.
Summarising Gibbon’s full, unabridged “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” is a little bit intimidating. Nearly as intimidating as the books themselves. It’s essential though. If I read a book but don’t reflect on it then I might as well have never opened the cover. Here’s my attempt at a summary, comparatively brief but longer than average, promoted to a blog post and comments welcome.
There are at least 1.5 million charities world-wide. Which ones should one give to?
That’s a hard question, and I don’t have an answer for everyone, but with some research and reading I do have an answer for me. Each of the charities represents a theme that is important to me.
Earlier this year I realised: I don’t want to receive birthday gifts or Christmas gifts any more. Below: the words of an old friend as inspiration and explanation. I add a couple of personal comments to the end.
So a short while back (erm, January 2015) I promised an update on fasting. This post isn’t it. Instead I want to share my retrospectively obvious tip for consistently doing both each week: Do them on the same days. If I run, I fast. If I fast, I run.
Nominally, “The Alchemy of Finance” is about understanding markets and making better investing decisions. If that is all one learned it would be a crying shame, because the book is actually about understanding reality and making better decisions. To restrict it to the markets is a serious mistake and not one Soros makes.
I like books. I also really like giving and receiving books as gifts. They make the best present, bar none. Let me explain a little bit more.
Daniel Kahneman is an interesting man. Born in 1934, he is a psychologist mostly concerned with prospect theory, decision making and the psychology of judgement. Incidentally and as a sideshow he also established the intellectual foundations of Behavioural Economics, for which he was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics. Unsurprisingly (or is it? he would ask), he also writes very interesting books.
Which line is longer?
Ostensibly, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” (RDPD) is a book about how to make money. In this respect Kiyosaki’s formula is blindingly simple, so much so that I think he makes a good point that most of us are blind to it. At a deeper level, this book is about what it means to be an adult. Let me explain both of these.
I’ll write more soon, but just a quick tease: I am very excited! I have made great progress so far and the I foresee a future so shiny I shall have to wear shades. Tasteless, tacky shades!
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