Reader’s Diary

William Bernstein

This extremely useful book provides clear, not-overly-mathematical, explanations of topics like risk, risk vs. reward, risk measurement, standard deviation applied to investment performance, portfolio construction, and correlation of asset classes.  I’ve long been a believer in holding a diversified portfolio of index funds, but this book has given me some tools to use to make better choices.  On the basis of Bernstein’s advice I plan on tilting my stock holdings toward small-cap and value index funds.

It was interesting to read this book – written in 2000 – in light of the recent crash.  Most of what he wrote back then is good advice, advice that would have cushioned anyone who followed it from the worst of the recent meltdown.

“The Intelligent Asset Allocator” is a good book to pick up after reading Bogle’s “Common Sense on Mutual Funds” (updated 10th anniversary edition), which is a book everyone who has any interest in investing should read before committing a penny.  Bernstein builds on Bogle but provides more actionable advice.

I did skim Bernstein’s more recent “The Investor’s Manifesto: Preparing for Prosperity, Armageddon, and Everything in Between”.  While it’s worth looking it, I don’t think it rewards a careful read like “he Intelligent Asset Allocator” does.

Philip Hoare

This is a absorbing, discursive book about “Moby Dick”, Herman Melville, history, natural history and, yes, whales.  More history than natural history, it still contains plenty of fascinating cetacean facts.  Hoare concludes with a moving account of his close encounters with whales while filming the companion BBC documentary.

“The Whale” is beautifully written.  I really enjoyed this one.

Full disclosure: I’ve read “Moby Dick” twice and have an Arthur Moniz print of  Moby Dick’s moonlit flukes with the “Pequod” in the background hanging over my desk (see “The Chase” here).

“The Book Inscriptions Project” blogs book inscriptions.  As their “about” page says:

We collect personal messages written in ink (or pen or marker or crayon or grape jelly) inside books.
Pictures count. So do poems. So do notes on paper found in a book. The more heartfelt the better.

Check it out.

John Barnes

In this near-future novel an apparently leaderless emergent terrorist movement creates organisms that destroy plastic, rubber, and petroleum products: chaos ensues.  The directive of the title refers to a 2007 presidential directive designed to insure the continuity of constitutional government  in the event of a great disaster.  Why the author devotes so much attention to presidential succession is the second biggest mystery in the book (the first being the never-told story of how the terrorist movement started and whether or not it has leaders).

Barnes started with an intriguing premise, but the book degenerates into one of those Turtledove-style SF novels that jump from character to character and from place to place without any rhyme, reason, or transitions.  With a couple of exceptions, the characters are hard to distinguish.  Ultimately the story wanders off into the weeds.  A good editor could probably have made this into a good book, but as published it reads like a first draft.

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