netnet

I'm reminded of Buffett's quip (paraphrased): "It's good to own a business that an idiot can run, because one day an idiot will run it."

It's a great book. There is already a thread on it: http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/books/influence-by-robert-cialdini/msg164239/#msg164239 (but for some reason it is not very searchable.

I would respectfully suggest that speed reading and knowledge acquisition are totally compatible, at least the way I do it. Part of the reading process is to stop, make the connections, ask questions then dive back in. I think what you learned in high school was not the half of it! If you can read/scan something three times (in the half the time it takes some to make one pass) and make the connections that I submit is great knowledge acquisition, but it is not easy and contemplative.

Get a book on speed reading. I liked Breakthrough Rapid Reading http://www.amazon.com/Breakthrough-Rapid-Reading-Peter-Kump/dp/073520019X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404750511&sr=1-1&keywords=speed+reading I read Thinking Strategically many years ago, when that was book was new and ( I was too). I don't really remember it but game theory is definitely in my mental model toolkit. I will have to go back and reread it. Thanks for the suggestion!

The last time I looked at the literature on insider buys, as I remember there were three salient points: The best results were in companies that were value plays to begin with. The best insiders to follow were the most knowledgeable insiders, i.e. senior corporate executives. Sales were not particularly predictive

I just talked to someone at the Daily Journal who said that the meeting has not been set yet and that the proxy materials and AR have to go out 40 days in advance. Now this is not the person I have talked to in the past and she sounded junior, but that is what she said. (I'm glad I called, I was about to book a red-eye flight from NY to get to the meeting.)

Thanks for the suggestions. I wound up with: The $100 Startup The Dhando Investor The Outsiders And Steve Job's commencement speech!

Although I have my own ideas, I wanted to solicit ideas from this board on book recommendations for young professionals, undergraduate and older high school students. (Traditionally, I will send my kids and nieces and nephews book recommendations for the summer.) Last year it was Power by Pfefer and Influence by Cialdini.

There is a mildly interesting article on Buffett in the the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/business/the-oracle-of-omaha-lately-looking-a-bit-ordinary.html?hp&_r=0 Unfortunately, the article is based on what I think are two somewhat flawed posts in the blog , Statistical Ideas, written by the sharp statistician, Salil Mehta, who know statistics and Wall Street, but still is a bit like the turkey predicting that the week before Thanksgiving is like every other week. It is interesting to compare the (both) blog posts to the article, one on alpha, the other on Buffett. I think that NYT article over states the blog and the blog make some errors, such as yearly performance measures are per se significant and understates the difficulty of managing the amount of cash that Buffett has to manage. And the blog post specifically about Buffett really mostly is a critique of Buffett's statements about years of under performance. Here is his blog post on alpha, which is a bit better than the Buffett blog post http://statisticalideas.blogspot.com/2014/02/forever-elusive-alpha.html Here is the post on Buffett: http://statisticalideas.blogspot.com/2014/02/forever-elusive-alpha.html

+1 It should be on everyone's bookshelf.

No word yet. The auditors have not finished. As I said before, if this were not a Munger operation, I would be worried!

I just happened to be listening to a RSA (Royal Society of the Arts) podcast of Dan Hurley, who wrote Smarter. He pretty convincingly refutes that meta analysis paper--that at least there is something to braintraining.

they have already started. -Netnet

Creative Problem Solving, Coursera, University of Minnesota. https://class.coursera.org/cps-001 enjoy!

Four thinking courses online that are happening now, MOOC's: Elements of Thinking, edx-- this is a mathematical approach to improving thinking. If your math skills are rusty this is a good course. The idea is to develop translatable skills and habits of mind. If you are pretty good at math, it can be a bit tedious, get the book instead--Five Elements of Thinking by Starbird and Berger Creativity--Coursera. This is really a good one to improve your creativity. Thinking 101 edx A bit like Munger's Psychology of Misjudgement only structured better, superb. Ariely's class Coursera, 'nuff said!

Anecdotally, this forum and the high frequency boys trying to exploit millisecond differences in execution! Statistically, the average number of netnets.

Both the pro and anti brain gain researchers have their positions. I would not put absolute credence in the anti- camp -meta analysis can be devilishly difficult to do properly. What makes me wonder is that one of anti's states that working memory training does not help working memory, well we know that is most probably wrong, in fact most certainly wrong. So I would argue that the claims of the proponents are probably overstated, but the anti's seem to have their biases too. We all know multi lingual idiots, but clearly learning another language helps you learn another language; that is not a bad thing!

The only thing in that article that is really "true" is that this is old news. The guy's analysis is so wrong as to be laughable. From the article: Lehman paid for this (in more ways than one). To book a immediate profit on the trade has been a common, if dodgy practice that both Warren and Charlie have critiqued. The trading desk booked the profit which counted on the that quarter's PL. From the trader's perspective what's not to like? The real deal BK gets relatively cheap float for years. From a BK perspective, i.e. long term and corporate, what's not to like?

The annual meeting has not been set as yet. The investor relation's person suggested that I call towards the end of Feb. (The hold up is the filings, which if it were not a Munger deal, would give me pause!)

The meeting has not been scheduled yet. Now they think that it will be Feb. 18. I must say that I think something is up. I hope it is not Charlie Munger's health.

Influence is great. Didn't care for Seeking Wisdom. If you're interested in stoic philosophy, also check out Marcus Aurelius's Meditations. Currently 200 pages into Bleak House by Dickens. Not sure how I feel about it yet. I love Seeking Wisdom. For the diligent it is a fabulous, but it basically it is way too dense to absorb it all at once. It is encyclopedic, but there are no pictures ;). Kidding aside, it requires reading and re-reading to get it. I just finished Plateau, which is good. I picked up a couple of models out if it. (One basically is an enrichment of the decreasing marginal returns that turn into increasing negative marginal returns. Think an occasional drinking versus alcoholism. It's funny I know this model from medicine, but had not generalized it.) I am reading Social: Why our Brains are Wired to Connect, by Lieberman, it is excellent. It is by a social neuroscientist. So far it is brilliant.

Remember Keynes's quote while shorting: Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent! This problem applies both to puts and shorting. Unmentioned in the discussion so far is a paired trade either with a derivative or stock. In the former, you could sell a lower strike call and buy the high strike call for "protection". In the latter you could buy the strongest company in the industry and short the fraud, so a rising tide doesn't kill you. One of the better trades all things being equal, is to have a derivative cap your downside and potentially lessen your margin. So buy a warrant or a call and short the common.

Great suggestions. I completely forgot the Lowenstein book. He is normally pretty taciturn, but he said, "that is one smart, old dude" (I had to chuckle.)

During the holidays this year, a youngish cousin (just turned 20) is coming over for a family dinner. He is a business and economics major. I want to get him interested in value investing as well as Buffett and Munger. What is the best introduction to get him on this "path of virtue". I did send him copies of "Elementary Worldly Wisdom" last year. Suggestions? I'm thinking biographies as the first "hook"-- like "Damn Right".

He's a local... He's posts on the board.