Read These Always
I admitted to Clayton recently that I was running out of ideas for daily emails and he said something along the lines of why don’t you just make more recommendations? Everybody does that and I’d be interested in yours…
As flattered as I am/was by Clayton’s interest, the internet seems like it has turned into a lot of people recommending other people’s stuff (and monetizing it to ridiculous gain without creating real value) and so I am reluctant to do that, but I am running out of ideas and it appears effective and so be it (and maybe I can get some advertising dollars?).
Recommendations!
For what it’s worth, I made my regular reading recommendations earlier in this season, so these are my canonical picks:
Flesch, The Classic Guide to Better Writing. If you can’t write well on a fourth grade level, you can’t write. And worse, others probably can’t also read you. This one was recommended to me by Karl Rove when I worked at The White House. Say what you will about me and him and when, but that lesson coming from him in that context resonated.
Gonzalez, Deep Survival. A lot of people ask me about investing books, but my opinion is that investing books get outdated fast. I mean, there are no more cigar butts like The Intelligent Investor imagined them (still a good read though). What’s constant is risk management and life or death situations are all about that.
Stead, A Sick Day for Amos McGee. Nostalgia matters. Thoughtfulness matters. Be kind. Be caring. Don’t be cynical. There’s a reason why kids’ books teach what they do to our kids, so don’t forget them even if you age out of reading them.
Those are my reads. You can read a lot more, but those are mine. Have a great weekend.