In my last post, I introduced "The Investor's Manifesto" and William J. Bernstein. In this post, I'll give you my notes from the Preface.
Bernstein starts off optimistic as hell:
Finance is a relatively circumscribed field; not that much is really known for certain. The body of knowledge that the …
I saw a recommendation for "The Intelligent Asset Allocator" by William Bernstein and checked it out of the library. It's supposed to be (with "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Burton Malkiel) one of the essential books on investing.
Bernstein wrote two later books on asset allocation. In the …
I've long been interested in the local food movement, slow food, and sustainable agriculture. I was probably started down this road by Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" and "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals" (both highly, highly recommended). I've just finished "Everything I …
I recently finished The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande, and the short version of the review is this: you should read it.
For those few still reading, I'll go into a little more detail about the book. Atul Gawande is an associate professor at the …
"Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management" by Johanna Rothman and Esther Derby is a strange book; while not having any ideas that are really NEW to anyone who's read the other management books I've recommended, BCD still manages to impress and be worth reading. It does this by having …
This should, of course, be subtitled "Books Not To Read If You Are Me." These aren't necessarily bad books (in fact, both of them are good books) but they weren't that useful to me or to people in exactly my situation. Take this with as much salt as you feel …
I just finished reading two different books on software development and management; both are highly recommended.
First, and best is "Peopleware", by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister. This is another one of those must-read books. I've been telling everyone that I can't believe I've been allowed to have the job …
If you're in the business of developing software, you should read the "Joel on Software" book. Period.
(Shortest review I've ever written.)
While I don't agree with everything Joel has written, I find most of what he writes to be a clear exposition of common-sense approaches to managing software development …
I just finished "Release It!: Design and Deploy Production-Ready Software (Pragmatic Programmers)" by Michael T. Nygard, from The Pragmatic Programmers. This isn't the book I thought it was when I bought it, but it's still a really valuable read. "Release It!" focuses on (and most of the author's experience seems …
Super Crunchers, by Ian Ayres, is subtitled "Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart." It's all about the use of numerical analysis, regression testing, and randomized assignment to learn more about a variety of topics, from the quality of wine to the quality of medicine -- and how to …
I just finished reading Our Inner Conflicts: A Constructive Theory of Neurosis by Karen Horney.
It's one of the seminal books in analysis and therapy. I really found it full of insights and recognitions, both pleasant and unpleasant. I'm not really one for "self-help" books -- most of them strike me …