2023 - Books Read

 List of book that I read and the youtube channels that I enjoyed in 2023, just as a mean to keep it recorded somewhere.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (4*)

People have only a limited amount of energy to spend. Spending energy to a stuff which is not worth, will drain the energy tank.

1. Atomic Habits (4.5*)

Make any new habit {{obvious, attractive, easy, satisfying}}. To begin with a habit, it should be a very small step that doesn't require any effort. Typically it should be performed within 2mins. E.g: If one wants to run marathon, spend 2mins every day to wear the shoe. Have some behavior and later improve on it.

            Consistency is more important than correctness!

 

Retrospective Analysis:

Looking back, I remember few small changes that transformed my and my peers life a lot. I share one such incident here. My 12th grade chemistry teacher Mr. Shankaran is a true gem. He made the dry subject very enjoyable. After being unhappy about most of our grades, he wanted to change things. The change he employed was simple. 

 

The school usually starts at 09:00. He insisted the students to come at 08:45, sit in the classroom, write test each day. The scope of the test is limited to 5 pages and only one question is asked from the 5 pages. Write the answer, handover the answer paper to the teacher and get the correction!

It was very simple to follow, didn't need much effort to come 15 mins early (many of us were already early), no punishment if someone failed in the test. It was so tempting to write the tests and get feedback. After a couple of months, the grade for the whole classroom got improved drastically! The teacher might/might not know about the power of atomic habits, but he has mastered it.

Needless to say that the teacher didn't receive any extra penny for his outstanding thinking. It was purely out of his passion, and I'm gifted to have such legends!

2. Outliers (5*)

Any outlier is the indirect beneficiary of the special opportunity provided too him/her. Be it Bill Gates or the starring Canadian sportsmen. Of course their personal talent and persistence matters, but on top of that the extra advantageous opportunity gave them perks. 

Among many interesting things, the one caught my eyes is 10,000 hour rule. Anyone who practices something for 10k hours, will definitely be a master of it! Forget about the quality of the stuff, focus here about the quantity. You will eventually get it there.

 3. The Dhandho Investor (4.5*)

Mr. Monish Pabrai had a startup, then it was sold to 20 million USD. With that money "Pabrai Funds" was founded and until 2006 it was giving net 28% year on year return. The technique he suggests is to invest in Low Risk, High Profit stocks. Well, how do we know which stock is is that one? Here are the recommendations

1. Find the intrinsic value of stocks. If the stock is sold less than the intrinsic value, then it might be a good deal. 
2. Read the ideas in Value Investor Club, where the many professionals are active.
3. Look at the 52 week lows on the  New York Stock Exchange. One such place to find the info is Wall Street Journal.
   
4. Be active in https://www.gurufocus.com. Read the portfolio reports of successful investors.
5. Subscribe to major business publications: Wall Street Journal, Barron's, BusinessWeek...
   
6. Discounted Cash Flow Analysis to find approximate value.
   
7. Kelly Bed Calculator to know how much of the bankroll shall be invested in a stock.
8. Attend conferences E.g: Value Investing Congress.

The main thing to focus here is the minimal risk and potential for maximum gain. Heads => I win, Tail => I don't loose much.

 

4. Factfulness (4*)

A Swedish researcher dedicating his whole life to prove with the data that the world is getting better day by day. Visualization of data are interesting in https://www.gapminder.org/. It clearly tells the progress that humankind is making. They have very nice animation to grasp the data. Also the author explains that the future economic hub will be in the Asia because more and more population there will move from 2$/day economy to 16$/day economy in next decades.

5. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari (4.5*) 18-May

A very successful lawyer quits his job and goes for expedition in search of the meaning for life. He meets a monk in Himalayan icy mountain and learns some techniques there. The so called techniques are explained in detail

1. Mind is the very fertile ground. Whatever is thrown grows there like a monster. If good vibes are the stuff constantly put into mind, it grows. The first step is to be aware of what is entering in mind (fertile ground). And then to make a fence, then have some security guards who allows only positive thoughts to enter in the field. 
2. Set a goal and you can move towards it. On avg, a person thinks about 60,000 thoughts per day. Write your goal in a paper. This gives the signal that you are prioritizing that one goal higher than other 59,999 goals.
3. Practice continuously improvement
4. Live with discipline. Have the habit of consistency. Any habit practiced for 21 days becomes part of the life.
5. Respect your time
6. Selflessly serve others
7. Embrace the present

 In my understanding, just take one technique and bring it as a part of life will have dramatic impact.

The book also talks about home office to have better work life balance, which is very surprising. Because the book was released in 2012, at the time thinking about it itself is a luxury.

6. The Psychology of Money (2.5*) 09-June

Tells/Reasons about ones behavior with money and relate it to science. The impact of this book on me is rather less, as the lessons did't go deep in the subject (at least my feel). Often the author quotes about stuff from various books and the explanation or the interpretation stops there. It felt like having a very tiny bite on many other books that the authors read. The following few are my takeaways from this book

1. Have room for error. Plan that the plans won't go as expected. More important is that the investor should be happily sleeping at night regarding the decisions he/she made.
2. People want to be admired rather than looked upon as rich. 

7. The Man Who Solved the Market (4.5*) 13-Aug

A hungry and talented mathematician has attempted to predict the stock market. Not only he has succeeded, but also made billions (yes, billions) out of it. He has started the Medallion Fund by 1988, by 2021 it has average annual return of staggering 37% after the fees. That means, just investing 100$ in 1988 and doing nothing, the value would have been 8.3 million by now! That's what Jim Simon has achieved!
 
Reading the book revealed that achieving such a monstrous success would require more than will power, special knowledge, perseverance, etc. I'd call it as frenzy. The difficult times for the Medallion fund was higher than the good times it had. The breakthrough came after a decade of dedicated work by multiple people. Simons did the math and algorithm stuff during the initial years, later he realized he needed more man power, then recruited the best scientists to form the team. In later decades Simons managed the man power and brought in more investors. Some of the top scientists left the company in between, then the company had hard times, then new one was recruited then moved on to the next challenge. It was a perfect roller coaster ride came together with a huge reward! The book is somewhat lengthier to read, but it is worth imo.

 

7. The art of thinking clearly (4.5*) 15-Oct

It compiles a list of very frequent cognitive errors that almost every one makes at some point. Every such error is studied in detail in the past, some are given it's own name such as swimmers body illusion, etc. I enjoyed many of such fallacies. All the stories are just 2-3 pages long, making it a good read during a coffee break. One analysis is listed below.

A two year MBA program costs $100k, which statistically gives $400k benefit on average during the entire career span of 30 years. Most people would think that it is a good option. The person could earn $300k extra in his lifetime by studying an MBA. That's the cognitive error!

MBA is for people who are already qualified with at least one degree. So they have the potential to earn. During the two years of study period, the potential earning is lost, in addition the $100k fee should be paid. So totally 100k + 2 * (65k) = 230k is the correct fee. Here I have assumed $65k as the salary per year.

Alternatively, work for two years, earn $130k, invest in S&P500 index fund, it will grow to 2.2 million in 30 years with an expected growth of 10% per year! In addition, the $100k fee is also avoided by not studying an MBA. $2.2M is the cost of missed opportunity here.

 

 Last updated: 15-October-2023 20:45 CET