Dear Friends,
While COVID-19's peak infection rate has likely passed in the U.S., the reality is that many of us will remain on lock down for the next month or so. This, of course, isn’t ideal on many levels. But there is always a bright side!
As a team, we’ve found a lot more opportunity to read, think, and really enjoy the fundamentals of life. On that note, we wanted to share with you a reading list based on suggestions from our team (and many of you).
The books below cover the gamut of finance, fiction, self-help, cocktail preparation, history, and politics. We hope you find something that piques your interest. And if there is anything we should be reading, please let us know!
Cheers,
Daryl G. Jones
Director of Research
1. Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, by Matthew Walker, PhD
Sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life, wellness, and longevity. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why we suffer such devastating health consequences when we don't sleep. Compared to the other basic drives in life—eating, drinking, and reproducing—the purpose of sleep remained elusive. Now, preeminent neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker gives us a new understanding of the vital importance of sleep and dreaming
Click here for more.
2. The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: How Risk-Taking Transforms Us, Body and Mind, by John Coates
Before he became a world-class scientist, John Coates ran a derivatives trading desk in New York City. He used the expression “the hour between dog and wolf” to refer to the moment of Jekyll-and-Hyde transformation traders passed through when under pressure. They became cocky and irrationally risk-seeking when on a winning streak, tentative and risk-averse when cowering from losses. In a series of groundbreaking experiments, Coates identified a feedback loop between testosterone and success—one that can cloud men’s judgment in high-pressure decision-making.
Click here for more.
3. Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decision When You Don’t Have All the Facts, by Annie Duke
Annie Duke, a former World Series of Poker champion turned business consultant, draws on examples from business, sports, politics, and (of course) poker to share tools anyone can use to embrace uncertainty and make better decisions. For most people, it's difficult to say "I'm not sure" in a world that values and, even, rewards the appearance of certainty. But professional poker players are comfortable with the fact that great decisions don't always lead to great outcomes and bad decisions don't always lead to bad outcomes.
Click here for more.
4. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, by Jonathan Haidt
Drawing on his twenty-five years of groundbreaking research on moral psychology, Haidt shows how moral judgments arise not from reason but from gut feelings. He shows why liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have such different intuitions about right and wrong, and he shows why each side is actually right about many of its central concerns. In this subtle yet accessible book, Haidt gives you the key to understanding the miracle of human cooperation, as well as the curse of our eternal divisions and conflicts.
Click here for more.
5. The Future Is Faster Than You Think: How Converging Technologies Are Transforming Business, Industries, and Our Lives, by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler
In their book Abundance, bestselling authors and futurists Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler tackled grand global challenges, such as poverty, hunger, and energy. Then, in Bold, they chronicled the use of exponential technologies that allowed the emergence of powerful new entrepreneurs. Now the bestselling authors are back with The Future Is Faster Than You Think, a blueprint for how our world will change in response to the next ten years of rapid technological disruption.
Click here for more.
6. Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West, by Hampton Sides
In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West marched through Santa Fe, en route to invade and occupy the Western territories claimed by Mexico. Fueled by the new ideology of “Manifest Destiny,” this land grab would lead to a decades-long battle between the United States and the Navajos, the fiercely resistant rulers of a huge swath of mountainous desert wilderness. At the center of this sweeping tale is Kit Carson, the trapper, scout, and soldier whose adventures made him a legend.
Click here for more.
7. The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World, by Steven Johnson
It's the summer of 1854, and London is just emerging as one of the first modern cities in the world. But lacking the infrastructure-garbage removal, clean water, sewers-necessary to support its rapidly expanding population, the city has become the perfect breeding ground for a terrifying disease no one knows how to cure. As the cholera outbreak takes hold, a physician and a local curate are spurred to action-and ultimately solve the most pressing medical riddle of their time.
In a triumph of multidisciplinary thinking, Johnson illuminates the intertwined histories of the spread of disease, the rise of cities, and the nature of scientific inquiry, offering both a riveting history and a powerful explanation of how it has shaped the world we live in.
Click here for more.
8. The Second Leg Down, by Hari Krishnan
The Second Leg Down offers practical approaches to profiting after a market event. Written by a specialist in global macro, volatility and hedging overlay strategies, this book provides in-depth insight into surviving in a volatile environment. Historical back tests and scenario diagrams illustrate a variety of strategies for offsetting portfolio risks with after-the-fact options hedging, and the discussion explores how a mixture of trend following and contrarian futures strategies can be beneficial.
Without a rational analysis-based approach, investors often find themselves having to cut risk and buy protection just as options are at their most over-priced. This book provides practical strategies, expert analysis and the knowledge base to assist you in recovering your portfolio.
Click here for more.
9. Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius
Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor 161–180 CE, setting forth his ideas on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the Meditations in Koine Greek as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. It is possible that large portions of the work were written at Sirmium, where he spent much time planning military campaigns from 170 to 180.
Click here for more.
10. Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist
Great selection of cocktails and mocktails (if you don't fancy any alcohol). There are also some recipes which are scaled up to pitcher size - ideal if you're hosting a book club or just having some friends round. There's a section at the beginning that provides an introduction cocktail making for those who aren't already acquainted with the subject, and thereafter the recipes are split into "Drinks for Dames", "Gulps for Guys", "Bevvies for Book Clubs" (pitcher recipes), "Refreshments for Recovering Readers" (mocktails), "Bar Bites for Book Hounds" (some snack recipes) and "Games for Geeks" (drinking games). Each recipe also has a short introduction which also includes a short tongue in cheek review of each book which is quite entertaining,
Click here for more.
11. A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
A Confederacy of Dunces is an American comic masterpiece. John Kennedy Toole's hero, one Ignatius J. Reilly, is "huge, obese, fractious, fastidious, a latter-day Gargantua, a Don Quixote of the French Quarter. His story bursts with wholly original characters, denizens of New Orleans' lower depths, incredibly true-to-life dialogue, and the zaniest series of high and low comic adventures"
Click here for more.
12. The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, by Erik Larson
In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.” It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it’s also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London.
Click here for more.
13. Can’t Hurt Me, by David Goggins
For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare — poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a U.S. Armed Forces icon and one of the world's top endurance athletes.
The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside magazine to name him “The Fittest (Real) Man in America.”
Click here for more.
14. Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About The Business of Life, By James Kerr
When the going gets tough, the tough start changing. Difficult times call for different solutions.
In his global bestseller, Legacy, James Kerr goes deep into the heart of the world's most successful team, the New Zealand All Blacks, to help understand what it takes to bounce back from adversity and still reach the top.
It is a book about leading a team or an organization - but, more importantly, about leading a life.
In today's volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment, personal leadership has never been more relevant and Legacy goes to the heart of how great leaders - and we are all leaders - 'reboot' and reframe their future.
Click here for more.
15. Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think , by Hans Rosling
When asked simple questions about global trends―what percentage of the world’s population live in poverty; why the world’s population is increasing; how many girls finish school―we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess teachers, journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers.
In Factfulness, Professor of International Health and global TED phenomenon Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators, Anna and Ola, offers a radical new explanation of why this happens.
Click here for more.
*** Bonus Book ***
The Plague, by Albert Camus (Sorry, we had to recommend this one!)
A haunting tale of human resilience and hope in the face of unrelieved horror, Albert Camus' iconic novel about an epidemic ravaging the people of a North African coastal town is a classic of twentieth-century literature.
The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which condemns its victims to a swift and horrifying death. Fear, isolation and claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine. Each person responds in their own way to the lethal disease: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame, and a few, like Dr. Rieux, resist the terror.
Click here for more.