Book Recommendations

A collection of speeches and talks by Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet's business partner. A great primer on Munger's mental models and investing philosophy.

The autobiography is written in simple langauge. The book demonstrates Ben's thinking style. The self-improvement plan had the most impact on me. In short, he made a list of 13 virtues 1.  Temperance
2.  Silence
3.  Order
4.  Resolution
5.  Frugality
6.  Industry
7.  Sincerity
8.  Justice
9.  Moderation
10. Cleanliness
11. Tranquillity
12. Chastity
13. Humility and tracked them daily to improve his character.

I initially dismissed this book because it seemed to encourage inauthentic behavior. Over time, I found it helpful to understand people better. It's quite useful to read and re-read every couple of years.

This is the best book on negotiation I've read. If I had to sum up the book in one quip, negotiation is “The art of letting someone else have your way."

It's not the easiest read, but there were several concepts that I found nowhere else. My favorite insight was in a truel (3 person duel), the person who is the best shot has the lowest chance of survival.

The book is about the Kelly Criterion, a formula for determining the optimal size of a series of bets. This book exposed me to Claude Shannon, who is the father of information theory. A key insight is that you can go broke even when your expected value is positive.

The book starts off with:

"Only a fool would try to compress a hundred centuries into a hundred pages of hazardous conclusions. We proceed."

— Will Durrant

History begins once we record it. Everything before that is prehistory. Will Durant traces civilization from ancient Egypt through to the 20th century.