Monday, June 25, 2018

A Gentleman in Moscow

A Gentleman in Moscow is a novel about the life of a Russian aristocrat who goes from the top of society to somewhere around the middle following the Bolshevik revolution. Over the course of his life and through his eyes, we see the gradual degradation of society into an inefficient, authoritarian/centrally-planned regime that makes life suck.

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Bad Blood

I didn't follow the Theranos story too closely over the years. It was a private company, unprofitable, new-ish and had a ridiculously high valuation, keeping it squarely outside of my investing sweet spot. And yet it was so famous that I still knew so much about it: the charismatic, young and attractive CEO, and a technology that was going to change the world. But it was a fraud: a fake it till you make it promotion which couldn't deliver that was eventually exposed thanks in large part to Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou. In his fantastic book Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, he details the rise and fall of this now disgraced company.

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Why We Sleep

Some of us look for a lot of ways to improve ourselves and our outcomes. But in so doing, we often neglect perhaps our most important tool: sleep. The benefits of a full eight hours are numerous, and fully detailed in Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams.

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Harvey Nash Mashed

About a year ago, I discussed Harvey Nash as a potential value play. Not much has changed with respect to the company; operating profit is about the same as it was last year. But the stock price has seen a huge shift.