Shantaram

Shantaram is a terrific novel based on the author's true story as an Australian prison escapee who works his way through the slums and criminal underworld of India.

Homo Deus

I really enjoyed Harari's book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind so I was excited to read his latest, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. It was good, but not out of this world.

Hillbilly Elegy

Yale Law graduate JD Vance grew up poor, in a neighbourhood full of abuse and irresponsibility. In Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, he tells the reader what it was like to grow up in Middle America.

Preferred Shares of Dundee

Dundee is a holding company involved in a lot of businesses in Canada: real-estate, energy, wealth management and other investments. The market cap of the company is currently $160 million with a tangible book value of about 800 million.

Dreamland: Opiate Epidemic

I didn't quite know what to expect when reading Quinone's book about America's drug epidemic, Dreamland, but probably the last thing I would have anticipated is that it felt very much like a business book. The suppliers of drugs have evolved to emulate something like a highly efficient pizza delivery business, and this is their story.

Harvey Nash Goes Smash

Harvey Nash Group (HVN) is a recruitment business. The company is diversified (no customer concentration risk) and operates in a number of geographies (e.g. UK, Europe, US). It trades for 56 million pounds, and I expect them to earn (based on their history) about 7 million per year. Since they have a net cash position of 5 million, this gives them an adjusted P/E of just over 7.

Canam Goes Private

It feels like just last month that I was discussing Canam Group (CAM) as a new potential value investment - because it was. Thanks to extraordinarily lucky timing, I no longer own any shares, as last week the company's management (in concert with private equity) decided to take the company private.