Three-Body Problem

Cixin Liu's novels have taken China by storm. I recently read an English translation of his most famous work, The Three-Body Problem, and it was pretty good!

Utopia for Realists

We have come very far as a civilization, across many measures of wealth and health. But despite our advances, there is a lot of neglect. What should we do differently so that our society is even better? In Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World, Rutger Bregman seeks to answer this question.

Resolute in Selling

As the market has run, I've been selling securities where I think margins of safety have gotten small. When Mr. Market throws caution to the wind is when I like to fortify my balance sheet to take advantage of any hurricanes that may eventually turn up. One of my recent sales is of Resolute Forest Products (RFP), which I discussed as an investment a couple of years ago.

Superior: The Return of Race Science

After the Nazi regime's racial experiments and genocide horrified the world, race-related sciences saw a massive slowdown. It was no longer politically okay to draw conclusions about races as a result of studies, as the world feared how that information would be used to justify bad behaviour. But those days appear to be over, as it is becoming more accepted in mainstream circles (e.g. US governments, during Republican administrations, have hired people who have professed to confirm that there are scientifically-sound racial differences with respect to various human attributes.) So I was curious; what does the cutting edge research say about the differences between us based on our races? Superior: The Return of Race Science examines this question.

The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels

Alex Epstein goes against the grain in his book The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels. He makes a case that we should be using more, not less, fossil fuels, and at the risk of turning you off, dear reader, I dare say he made some good arguments.

Manning & Napier: Ultra-Cheap With Lots Of Cash, But Shrinking

Manning & Napier (MN) owns 88.2% of an asset manager with a similar name. This fully-consolidated subsidiary offers wealth-management services along with mutual funds and other similar products to its customers. Read more...

Bonfire of the Vanities

In early 1980's New York, a few characters try to improve their lots in life. All are selfish and flawed; in other words, they are human. How something will make one look is what guides behaviour, rather than what is right. This is the closest to describing real life that I've ever seen in a book: Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities