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).

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.

Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis, author of “Liar’s Poker“, returns to Wall Street to tell the story of the big crash.  He focuses on several people who were smart enough to short (i.e., bet against) the housing bubble. On almost every page I found myself amazed at just how crazy things were.  Even the subjects of the book found themselves wondering if they’d missed something as the bubble got bigger and bigger and they seemed to be the only ones in the casino who realized that it was already burning down around the gamblers.  If any book every proved that truth is stranger than fiction, this is it.

This is a great read full of interesting people doing arcane things while making and losing billions of dollars.  Lewis does a good job of explaining how the whole corrupt system worked.

Piers Paul Read

This novel about a plan to kill the pope reminded me of “Day of the Jackal” in that character, setting, and plot are more important than frantic action.  It’s an old-school thriller, short, not terribly surprising,  but enjoyable

John Birmingham

The premise of “Without Warning” is, to put it mildly, far-fetched: a curtain of energy of unknown origin descends around most of the United States, and, within it, everyone disappears.  From this beginning, John Birmingham tells a compelling story of what happens to the remaining US citizens, military forces, and the rest of the world.  I had feared this would be a right-wing screed to show how important the US is, but I was pleasantly surprised.  This is a good read, reminiscent of the best of Stephen King’s work. I’m looking forward to the sequels.