The Digest #203
The Digest #203
American Scripture, Prometheus Bound, Herodotus on wealth, Apple intelligence, NetJets, Value Investor's Club, Nietzsche's world view, Are wrist watches effeminate?, Seinfeld on writing, and more ...
New Articles
I published three articles over the past week on my website, The Rational Walk. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I no longer send out individual articles via email but I will mention all of my work in issues of The Digest and I also provide a RSS Feed.
The Other Side of the Trade, June 6, 2024. When Berkshire Hathaway’s Class A shares were briefly quoted at $185.10 on June 3 due to an exchange malfunction, I placed an order in an attempt to win a “free lottery.” In retrospect, I am glad my trade was not filled since my instinct to try to capitalize on this anomaly was misguided.
American Scripture, June 8, 2024. I have been studying early American history over the past few months. This is a review of a book that provides a detailed account of how the Declaration of Independence was drafted, but the author also does a good job of setting the scene in a way that is not often discussed in other histories of the period.
Prometheus Bound, June 9, 2024. I have completed reading the plays of Aeschylus, a Greek tragedian who lived in the fifth century BC. This article is about Prometheus Bound, which is the first play in a trilogy. The second and third plays of the trilogy have been lost but the overall story can be reconstructed from other accounts. I wrote a separate article about The Oresteia, a complete trilogy by Aeschylus, in late May.
Quote of the Week
“The very rich man is not more fortunate than the man who has only his daily needs, unless he chances to end his life with all well. Many very rich men are unfortunate, many of moderate means are lucky. The man who is very rich but unfortunate surpasses the lucky man in only two ways, while the lucky surpasses the rich but unfortunate in many. The rich man is more capable of fulfilling his appetites and of bearing a great disaster that falls upon him, and it is in these ways that he surpasses the other. The lucky man is not so able to support disaster or appetite as is the rich man, but his luck keeps these things away from him, and he is free from deformity and disease, has no experience of evils, and has fine children and good looks.”
Articles
Apple Intelligence is Right On Time by Ben Thompson, June 10, 2024. I found Apple’s long awaited announcement on AI underwhelming, but apparently the stock market disagreed and so does technology expert Ben Thompson. (Stratechery)
Buffett's NetJets sues pilots' union for defamation by Jonathan Stempel, June 6, 2024. NetJets has had poor employee relations and frequent controversies for over a decade. In 2010, I wrote an article about David Sokol shaking up NetJets due to large losses at the time. NetJets sells a high end service and wealthy customers might be put off by the idea that they are being flown by a pilot disgruntled about his pay. (Reuters)
Joel Greenblatt's Greatest Investment by
, June 5, 2024. This is a very interesting article about the origin of Joel Greenblatt’s Value Investor’s Club. Anyone can apply to become a member of VIC but few are accepted. VIC grants two $5,000 prizes each month for the best ideas submitted by members. (Dirt Cheap Stocks)The Truth About Ben Graham’s Powerful Rivals for Hazel, June 2024. This article has no actionable investment insights and reads more like a soap opera about how Ben Graham courted his wife. But it is a fun and enjoyable read. (Beyond Ben Graham)
, June 9, 2024. Good observations about the need to conserve mental capacity for important aspects of investing, such as reading periodic filings, rather than obsessing over day-to-day quotations. (Investment Talk)Brooks Running’s CEO plans to build a $4 billion brand by Phil Wahba, June 4, 2024. This is an interview with the current and former CEOs of Berkshire’s Brooks Running subsidiary. I purchase four or five pairs of running shoes per year but I rarely opt for Brooks. It seems like Brooks are not on sale nearly as often as Nike. (Fortune)
Reducing heavy alcohol intake: a lifeline for cardiovascular health by Peter Attia, June 8, 2024. This is a review of a study that sought to determine whether reduction of alcohol intake, as opposed to abstention, results in health benefits. While there are many confounding factors in such studies, Peter Attia believes that cutting back “can significantly enhance heart health at any stage and for anyone.” (Peter Attia MD)
Podcasts and Videos
Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morality Explained, June 7, 2024. 1 hour, 36 minutes. This is the first in a series of lectures about The Great Books by
. In past issues of The Digest, I linked to Johnathan’s seven-part series on Mimetic Theory. This was my first exposure to Nietzsche. I found the contrast between the Greco-Roman worldview and the Judeo-Christian worldview particularly interesting. (YouTube)Nietzsche's Advice For Living Without Free Will, June 8, 2024. 54 minutes. This interview builds upon the discussion of Nietzsche in the main lecture. (YouTube)
The Founder of Rolex: Hans Wilsdorf, June 4, 2024. 57 minutes. Transcript. This is very surprising: “The fact was for men, the wristwatch or the bracelet watch was an object of derision. The idea of wearing a watch on one's wrist was, at this time, thought contrary to the conception of masculinity. One guy remarked that he wouldn't be caught doing such an unrefined thing, meaning wearing a watch on his wrist. He said you'd be likely to catch him in a dress as you would to be wearing a wristlet.” (Founders Podcast)
Avoiding Innumeracy, June 6, 2024. 1 hour, 6 minutes. Transcript (pdf). Video. Why do people hate math? “I think part of the reason is the way it's taught. It's generally taught there's a bunch of formulas, and you're supposed to blindly follow the algorithm and get an answer. And that's part of it. But an analogy I sometimes use, imagine you're in English class in middle school, high school, and all you ever did was diagram sentences. You wouldn't have a real keen appreciation for English literature when you got to college. So finding roots of a quadratic equation, 100 different equations, or the derivatives of polynomials, 100 different polynomials, I mean, that doesn't get to the actual, in a sense, analog of the literature of mathematics. It's kind of playing chords on a piano. If you never play a song, you're not going to be real fond of your piano lessons.” (Infinite Loops)
Brent Beshore: Business Brilliance and Happiness at Home, June 11, 2024. 2 hours, 15 minutes. “Succeeding in both life and business is very difficult. The skills needed to scale a company often clash with those required to cultivate a thriving home life. Yet, Brent Beshore seems to have cracked the code—or at least he's actively working on it. In this conversation, he spills his secrets on excelling in both arenas.” (The Knowledge Project)
Jerry Seinfeld’s Rules for Writing, June 12, 2024. 41 minutes. David Perell shares key insights about writing that he learned from Jerry Seinfeld. (How I Write)
The Case for Reading Straight Through the Bible, February 10, 2023. 37 minutes.
makes the case for reading through the entire Bible in a relatively short period of time. I have read the entire Bible several times, but always as part of a daily reading plan that spans a full year. I might give his suggestion a try. (Books of Titans)Is the Bible a Great Book?, February 2, 2024. This article provides my thoughts on the Bible as one of the Great Books of the Western World. (The Rational Walk)
Prometheus Bound
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