What have you read recently? 2009 -2020

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ksr said:
I'm not sure if this thread is supposed to be limited to pleasure reading, but I just finished an excellent investment book: The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need by Larry E. Swedroe. I've read a lot of investing books, including many often included on lists here, but something about this one really pulled a lot of ideas together for me. It might be that I had reached a point where I was ready to absorb this info, or it might be the way the information is presented, probably both. Either way I highly recommend it. It has helped me to finalize an asset allocation I've been working through for sevreral years, and as a result I've been moving funds around for the past couple of weeks.
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Isn't that one great? I think it was the first book on investing that I ever read, and I absolutely loved it. It is clear, logical, and a pleasure to read. So in a sense, it IS pleasure reading. :LOL:

Another one that I like for the same reasons is the Bogleheads Guide to Investing, by Taylor Larimore, Mel Lindauer, and Michael LeBoeuf.
 
It's Your Ship - Management Techniques from the best Damn Ship in the Navy. Had to pic a HR-related book to do a "professional book report" (gack!) What a suprisingly delightful read! Nothing like a bunch of sea stories to illustrate life lessons!
 
lsbcal said:
I recall reading that in the Bronte's time graveyards were sometimes uphill from the drinking water sources. Possibly one explanation for their untimely deaths.
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Seem like most of them died from consumption. I believe Charlotte died from pregnancy complications and the brother died from drinking and opium use. I've read a lot of English literature and it seemed to me that death pervaded a lot of them. People just died really young even the Royals. The Royal family history is even more facinating and morbid. Several years ago I read a series of books about the British royal family. I could not put them down.
 
W2R said:
Another one that I like for the same reasons is the Bogleheads Guide to Investing, by Taylor Larimore, Mel Lindauer, and Michael LeBoeuf.
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Yes! That was my all-time favorite investing book before I read Swedroe's book. I even own the Bogleheads Guide - unusual for me, as I normally borrow almost everything from the library. Now I'd be hard-pressed to choose a favorite; they're both great books.
 
I own a few of Swedroe's books too. Here is a recent one that is very good: The Investor's Manifesto by William Bernstein. He has improved his writing skills, it's thin, and is up to date covering the 2008 period. Also there are some sample portfolio's towards the end which I found interesting. There is a video by him at Amazon along with book reviews: Amazon.com: The Investor's Manifesto: Preparing for Prosperity, Armageddon, and Everything in Between (9780470505144): William J. Bernstein: Books
The only gripe I have with the book is the cover design -- really ugly :).
 
lsbcal said:
I own a few of Swedroe's books too. Here is a recent one that is very good: The Investor's Manifesto by William Bernstein. He has improved his writing skills, it's thin, and is up to date covering the 2008 period. Also there are some sample portfolio's towards the end which I found interesting. There is a video by him at Amazon along with book reviews: Amazon.com: The Investor's Manifesto: Preparing for Prosperity, Armageddon, and Everything in Between (9780470505144): William J. Bernstein: Books
The only gripe I have with the book is the cover design -- really ugly :).
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Wow! That is a persuasive review of The Investor's Manifesto. I had not even considered buying it but now I might.

I think reading Bernstein's Four Pillars of Investing was an invaluable experience for developing good investment instincts, and I have read it three times and recommend it to all, but it is also so boring I could almost puke. But if Bernstein has improved his writing skills, The Investor's Manifesto could be fantastic. Guess I will read it after all. :flowers:
 
I am reading The Twelve Year Reich by Richard Grunberger. (1971) It is a social history of daily life and attitudes in Germany 1933-1945. Grunberger was born in Austria, but early in his life moved to London. He graduated from Oxford and wrote German history.

Amazing the shifts that can take place in the way a society views events and actions. It can make you conclude that the socio-political ground you think you are standing on may not be very stable.

Ha
 
I just finished Veiled Freedom, by Jeannette Windle. It's a contemporary novel about three people whose lives intertwine in Afghanistan. I found it quite engaging. Apparently the local details are sufficiently accurate that the CIA questioned Windle on how she came to know what was going on.
 
Free To Canoe said:
Next up,

Moby Dick by Melville.
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Look for my signature line as you read it! :D I didn't get it from a quotation website or other canned collection of quotations - - it was a sentence of Melville's that really spoke to me (as did the entire book).
 
In that vein, Two Years Before the Mast is good. I think I read it twice.
 
A Failure of Capitalism, by jurist Richard Posner. It is about our recent problems in the economy, which he calls a depression. I like his way of thinking, but he is a polymath and thinks he knows more of the details of non-legal fields than he really does.

However, he really does know a lot! And his thinker works quite well.

An interesting thing is that he seems to be neither a conservative nor a liberal. He seems to approach each question openly with modest pre-existing ideas other than whatever solution is chosen, it ought to have a high probability of helping at least somewhat, and a low probability of making things worse.

Ha
 
I recently finished one of the best mysteries I have read in years. The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo, by Stieg Larsson, follows a Swedish Reporter and a 23 year old girl with Asparger's syndrome as they track down the story on the disappearance of a 16 year old girl 45 years ago. Good plot, nice twists, interesting setting in rural Sweden. Unfortunately, Larsson only has two books in him - he died shortly after turning the two manuscripts in to his publisher. His second, The Girl Who Played With Fire, is waiting for pickup at the library.
 
Hey Don, they made that book into a movie called Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (Men Who Hate Women). In Swedish and it probably has English subtitles. We saw it and it's quite good. Same for the second one (Flickan some Lekte med Elden), which we haven't seen.

Lena says there are three books by Larsson, the third being "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest."
 
TromboneAl said:
Hey Don, they made that book into a movie called Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (Men Who Hate Women). In Swedish and it probably has English subtitles. We saw it and it's quite good. Same for the second one (Flickan some Lekte med Elden), which we haven't seen.

Lena says there are three books by Larsson, the third being "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest."
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Thanks Al. I didn't know about the movies or the third book. I will have to get them all.
 
W2R said:
Look for my signature line as you read it! :D I didn't get it from a quotation website or other canned collection of quotations - - it was a sentence of Melville's that really spoke to me (as did the entire book).
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I will. So many good books to read / intersting ideas. Makes me glad I am ERed!

Free to canoe
 
W2R said:
Wow! That is a persuasive review of The Investor's Manifesto. I had not even considered buying it but now I might.

I think reading Bernstein's Four Pillars of Investing was an invaluable experience for developing good investment instincts, and I have read it three times and recommend it to all, but it is also so boring I could almost puke. But if Bernstein has improved his writing skills, The Investor's Manifesto could be fantastic. Guess I will read it after all. :flowers:
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I downloaded a free sample of The Investor's Manifesto, skimmed it, and saw his writing style is MUCH improved compared to 4 Pillars. :nonono:
I just downloaded it to my Kindle for $9.99. :D
TY to both W2R and lsbcal for the tips about this book. :flowers:
I haven't read any serious investing books for a long time, so I'm overdue for a refresher.
 
Just finished Rebecca Goldstein's, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God. Goldstein is a philosopher and a MacArthur Genius Award winner. This novel satirizes the inanity of academe while seriously exploring the "new atheism" and a lot of interesting things about Hassidic Judaism. It is funny and deep at the same time.
 
I've been reading every diabetes book ever written. Ugh. What a mish-mash of conflicting information is out there. Even the ADA seems to have outdated info.
 
BUM said:
The new Highlights For Children is in! Now where did I put those crayons?
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I love Highlights! I got it myself when I was in elementary school, and that was pretty long ago. 40 years of working with kids under the age of 11 changes your perspective on everything.
 
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I read Amazon.com: Between the Bridge and the River (9780811853750): Craig Ferguson: Books. It was very creative, but a little too much. New characters every several pages, and it was hard to keep track of them. I rated it a 6.

I'm enjoying Amazon.com: The Autobiography of Ben Franklin (9781595475725): Benjamin Franklin: Books, recommended here.
 
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