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.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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.
The 3 charities which most deserve our support
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.
I am satisfied
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.
My one secret trick to 5:2 fasting and regular running…
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.
The Alchemy of Reality
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.
Books books books and Christmas
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.