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Quarterly Reading – Spring ’20

April 3, 2020 by Jon

My first quarter reading began with my head in a textbook until a vacation and this lockdown freed up time for more interesting books. Thankfully, I finished the textbook, along with the course, before the lockdown kicked in.

Here’s what I’ve been reading the past three months:

  • Buffett Partnership Letters – I first read the partnership letters several years ago. This was round two. The letters are considered essential reading by the likes of Seth Klarman and others, which is partly why I read them again. The great thing about rereading something after a few years is seeing what stands out now compared to the first read-through. The best books always provide some “new” insights despite having read it before. I hope to get the notes done in the next few weeks.
  • Lombard Street – Walter Bagehot describes the British money market in the mid to late 1800s and the important steps to be taken when managing through a financial crisis. Read the notes.
  • Selected Speeches of Floyd B. Odlum – The book is a collection of Floyd Odlum speeches given from 1930 to 1960. The speeches cover a range of topics, including two on investment trusts and some back history on the Atlas Corporation, which is why I read it. Odlum founded the Atlas Corporation in 1928, which went on to buy investment trusts and companies trading at a deep discount following the ’29 crash.
  • Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t – It’s a short book with shorter chapters on how to construct and structure writing so it’s appealing and digestible for readers.
  • Once in Golconda – John Brooks tells the story of the 1920s bull market, its collapse, and the Great Depression that followed. I’m only a third of the way through, but it’s a different perspective based around the famous and infamous names on Wall Street during that period.
  • Fundamentals of Investments for Financial Planning – This is a must read…only if you love long, boring textbooks and/or it comes attached to a course that fulfills part of an education requirement for a certain designation.

And some book lists:

  • Book Riot’s Quarantine Reading List
  • Ryan Holiday’s 20 Books for a Better 2020
  • MOI Global Book Recommendations

Last Call

  • Marks Memo: Which Way Now? (pdf) – H. Marks
  • Predictions for the Coronavirus Stock Market – R. Shiller
  • A Viral Market Meltdown V: Back to Basics! – Musings on Markets
  • The Limits to Lessons from Past Bear Markets – ValIdea
  • Why Time Has Slowed – M. Housel
  • Punched in the Face – Above the Market
  • When Should I Rebalance? – Irrelevant Investor
  • The More You Know a Stock, The Worse Your Performance Gets – Klement on Investing
  • The CARES Act: From Rebate Checks To Small Business Relief For The Coronavirus Pandemic – Nerds Eye View
  • What Everyone’s Getting Wrong About the Toilet Paper Shortage – Marker
  • What Leaders Can Do Now – GatesNotes
  • How Epidemics of the Past Changed the Way Americans Lived – Smithsonian
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