Reviews and Comments

Behavorial economics, or why we make the decisions we do, and the anomalies within. Said that anomalies help define the limits of theories.

This is a rework of the 1990's classic. It apparently includes the original essays with updates and thoughts at the end, and some new chapters. The updates look at how the theories have held up, and surprisingly so, many have.

It is a pretty tough read and many may feel it's dry. The chapters cover theories about our behavior and models of such. Very academic approach. Luckily, there are brief summaries at the end of each chapter that make it clear for economists and normal people as to the significance.

This is an excellent book. I heard the author on a podcast and had to borrow this. Goal was to become familiar with the content. Plan is likely later to purchase a copy and use it's resources and worksheets.

The author is a Certified Financial Planner, and pulled a lot of contacts for other advice throughout the book. She details the actions she had to go through to prepare and manage her mothers finances. This is a heart tearing story most of us will have to go through..

Highly recommended if you will need to manage your parents in the near future. Don't wait.

I enjoyed this bio/memoir. He goes through major phases of his life, through to getting appointed to the Supreme Court. He then writes on a dozen topics that cover hundreds of cases with his general thoughts.

There's a bit on the day to day at the Supreme Court including his relationships with the other judges and clerks. Fascinating look at how they work.

He's a very wise man and has a lot he can teach us about being better humans. I enjoyed reading this book.

I do like the author and creator. This is the last book of his four part series on virtues, and probably the hardest topic as well.

Overall, the book is mostly about Abraham Lincoln and he pops up in almost every section of the book. Many of the chapters he bounces around between famous people from different ages, Lincoln, Grant, Richard Feynman, Lou Gehrig, Joan Didion, George Raveling, etc. At some points, the flow is injured - In one of the sections about Lincoln, author/writer Joan Didion comes up for a paragraph, then it's back to Lincoln. It just didn't feel right in many places. Also, the first mention of someone in the section didn't always use their full name.

There's a good chapter on Elon Musk, and another on Donald Trump. But the rest of the book has this hurried flow of name dropping and weaving back and forth that didn't work for me.

Compare with the Afterword, which is a smooth coherent piece of work.

Wisdom, a tough topic.

This is a pretty detailed look at the key players and activities leading up to and just after the 1929 stock market crash. It comes in at 440 pages and has a couple hundred pages of notes. The author was heard to say he had been writing this on and off the last 8-9 years.

That said, it's a great trip through time to understand what was going on at the time. Included are a dozen pages of photos of the key players and some of the events.

Some of the regulations set up back then are still in place, and a few others have been bent.

File this under history, financial history, banking history.

A follow on to The Psychology of Money, the other looks at the philosophy of living and dealing with money. Lots of stories are here and personal notes that make the topics even more relatable. I really enjoyed this and learned a lot. I plan to re-read it in the future as I'm sure reminders and new takes will come out. I took a pile of page numbers to revisit to extract notes.

A well written memoir by the author on his early life and experience in Hollywood and in plays. His life intersected with many famous people and he talks about them and working with them.

Anyone interested in the author or Hollywood would probably enjoy this book.

Two writers document their getting into the CIA and their assignments in a nearby country to a hosile country. They claim they brought the cell model to the CIA, where a group of various experts come together for a particular plan or goal.

They go back and forth between each other talking about their work and one assignment in particular, with an interesting ending.

While there isn't a lot of eye opening data, this does show the extent at which countries spy on each other. It was a pretty entertaining read - anyone who likes reading about spies and intrigue will probably like this.

For personal finance fans, money managers and financial advisors. All others may find this tedious.

The author came up with the 4% withdrawal rule that retirees should use on their investment portfolios to ensure that they don't run out of money later in life.

The author revises his work and walks through various scenarios, making a case that most of us can increase the percentage and spend more.

I really liked this book. Part biography, part philosophy, part societal commentary, and ultimately meant for his sons in several years, this is a good take of what is running through his head and his priorities.

Mostly meant for his current teenage boys probably to read later, and just in case something happens to him, they'll have this reference to look back to.

He does focus on his own mortality in a few places throughout the book.

This is a pretty amazing book if you are a Didion fan. As her notes from her therapist sessions, there is a lot of flashbacks to her past and family life. A significant portion around her daughter, and smaller bit on her husband.

There are occasional footnotes to identify the other people mentioned, some of which are pretty famous or well-known.

It's clear from these one-sided notes from her sessions that she was a bothered soul. Exquisite prose and writing though. Obviously she had a lot of practice.

The book would be a good read for anyone interested in her life as a result of her work. For others, it may just seem like a one sided therapist log. I enjoyed it.

As one of the employees at Ritholtz Wealth Management which has several Internet/content celebrities, the author brings his experience of working with clients and defines 6 levels of personal wealth.

For each level, he steps through generally speaking of what they do and the kind of things they do to manage their money.

Most of us will be in Level 4, being $1mil-$10mil. What he says is getting to level 5 $10mil - $100mil, requires different strategies and usually involves owning/running a business.

Suffice to say, the steps to get through the first four levels are generally attainable by most.

It's an entertaining read and the content won't harm you. One could shorten the book and ship a few levels, either the lowest or highest. Depending.

It's short, 120 pages. An author I follow recommended it around Halloween time saying it was scary. Oh yeah. Many of the lessons in this book are eerily present today. Each lesson covers actions and duties for us to do to thwart it.

Even though it was published in 2017, it's still present for this day and age. This is a manual for any patriot to own and use. We all should read this book. I plan to reread it every couple years.

An author I follow recommended this book during Halloween, saying it was scary. Oh yeah. This covers 20 lessons from recent history (pre/during/post WWII) and what happened, and also covers some recent political action, such as the 2016 US Presidential election. Does have mentions to the founding fathers fear of tyranny which influenced their debates and early documents.

Essentially, the lessons give you actions to fight tyranny and what signs to look out for, and how to be a patriot.. Unfortunately, many of the signs can be seen today.

A short read for this book, as it's smaller in size. There is also a full size graphic novel version. Get either. I plan to re-read this every couple years. Fantastic book. I hope I won't need it as a reference.