I followed a similar path. Two degrees in Engineering (MIT and NU) where I largely scoffed at the Liberal Arts (tho MIT made us take 6 "Humanities" courses, and two of them stay with me to this day.) I blew off engineering to follow some fraternity brothers into trading options in Chicago, for 20 yrs. Then, a tiny private JBO for 10. Then I became a sailing bum.
Shortly after starting trading I realized the most erudite people I read had liberal arts degrees, so I set about self-educating about the Great Books and Great Minds. I realized that historically, the people who got solid Western Civ, Liberal Arts degrees later went on to B-school, Med-school, etc, and were leaders of important institutions, and thus were the torch-bearers of our Western legacy. Whether Democrat or Republican, certain core Classical Liberal values were sacrosanct.
Several years ago, I found Daniel Kahneman, Cialdini, etc and persuasion and why the human mind does what it does. (Having seen so many manias during my career. Or guys who just couldn't admit they were wrong, even to the point of bankruptcy.) I learned to see these human traits in myself. That humility and discipline had saved me often. I learned that the hard-learned values and institutions of The West were the only thing that kept us from even more frequent spasms of irrationality, mass delusions, and genocides. (The 20th Century was a doozy in this respect.)
Sadly, in the blink of an eye, a bunch of insane people have seized every institution and thrown these values out the window. Sadly, they've spent the last 30 yrs, via the schools, propagandizing vast swaths of the young. I am simply stunned at the swiftness and severity of this ideological blitzkrieg and takeover. I hope it is not too late, but this 65 yr old is pretty pessimistic.
I enjoyed this. Previously a voracious reader, I now find myself devouring podcasts while my books languish on the shelf. I feel guilty, and lazy, but even so, I am in fact still consuming large amounts of information and opinions, even though they are heard rather than read. My goal is to find balance again, some kind of happy medium between written and spoken.
Very good article. I think one of the best gifts one can have is the love of reading for pleasure…even if it starts with the Hardy Boys or something similar.
We've also learned so much from Munger. Especially as we've attempted to model his critical thinking style.
https://specialsituationinvesting.substack.com/p/modeling-mungers-mind#details
I followed a similar path. Two degrees in Engineering (MIT and NU) where I largely scoffed at the Liberal Arts (tho MIT made us take 6 "Humanities" courses, and two of them stay with me to this day.) I blew off engineering to follow some fraternity brothers into trading options in Chicago, for 20 yrs. Then, a tiny private JBO for 10. Then I became a sailing bum.
Shortly after starting trading I realized the most erudite people I read had liberal arts degrees, so I set about self-educating about the Great Books and Great Minds. I realized that historically, the people who got solid Western Civ, Liberal Arts degrees later went on to B-school, Med-school, etc, and were leaders of important institutions, and thus were the torch-bearers of our Western legacy. Whether Democrat or Republican, certain core Classical Liberal values were sacrosanct.
Several years ago, I found Daniel Kahneman, Cialdini, etc and persuasion and why the human mind does what it does. (Having seen so many manias during my career. Or guys who just couldn't admit they were wrong, even to the point of bankruptcy.) I learned to see these human traits in myself. That humility and discipline had saved me often. I learned that the hard-learned values and institutions of The West were the only thing that kept us from even more frequent spasms of irrationality, mass delusions, and genocides. (The 20th Century was a doozy in this respect.)
Sadly, in the blink of an eye, a bunch of insane people have seized every institution and thrown these values out the window. Sadly, they've spent the last 30 yrs, via the schools, propagandizing vast swaths of the young. I am simply stunned at the swiftness and severity of this ideological blitzkrieg and takeover. I hope it is not too late, but this 65 yr old is pretty pessimistic.
I enjoyed this. Previously a voracious reader, I now find myself devouring podcasts while my books languish on the shelf. I feel guilty, and lazy, but even so, I am in fact still consuming large amounts of information and opinions, even though they are heard rather than read. My goal is to find balance again, some kind of happy medium between written and spoken.
I read Mark Twain's comment many years ago. Subsequently, as efforts were undertaken to ban Huckleberry Finn, I wondered what he would think.
Very good article. I think one of the best gifts one can have is the love of reading for pleasure…even if it starts with the Hardy Boys or something similar.
Excellent work.