Liberty

McKinsey's Valuation interests me... I've read a few reviews on Amazon, but I'd love to get your opinion (or anyone else here who has read it) on why you think it's good and useful, and the kind of stuff that it does well. Is the thinking in the book directly compatible with value investing, or is it more general tools that you can then try to transpose to a different approach? Has anyone read Investment Valuation by Damodaran? Seems like another interesting one.

http://brooklyninvestor.blogspot.ca/2014/07/heinz-update-whos-next.html

I wouldn't recommend buying from a source that infringes on Andrew Kilpatrick's copyright (as I'm pretty sure this PDF is), as he obviously put a lot of work into compiling this book over the years. He also reads this forum, afaik.

Indeed. I think the environment he was operating in had something to do with it too, though. He had more bargains than he knew what to do with and seemed to frequently trade up (or trade down, depending how you look at it), which is something he couldn't do as often when 1) overall valuations went up and 2) he had more money, limiting him to bigger companies.

I think it depends what you think the thesis is. I would agree with "Buffett cared about quality earlier than most people think", that he wasn't one-dimensional in his thinking even that early, but I would not agree with "everything he bought back then was high quality rather than cigar butts". There were a bunch of those too, and I'm sure he did quite superbly with them too. It's a bit like Ben Graham is known for cheap stocks but a lot of his returns came from holding GEICO for a long time.

Good blog post on Buffett's early investments. http://basehitinvesting.com/buffetts-early-investments/

Totally agree.

Thanks Sanjeev, and thanks to Paul and his team :)

I got it from Amazon.ca, and I think I got the last copy they had. Sorry about that :-\

Thanks for the suggestions above. I did some more research on meditation practices this weekend. Here's what I found. Basically, it seems like there are 3 major types of meditation: [*]Concentration - to focus exclusively on one thing, such as your breath or a rock in the grass (Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, Samatha); [*]Mindfulness - to experience and observe all your sensations and thoughts without attachment (Vipassana, MBSR); [*]Transcending - to think or experience nothing at all (Transcendental Meditation, NSR, Hindu meditations). From these buckets, I found 2 specific techniques that are both widely taught in the West and claim to be backed by scientific research: Transcendental Meditation A meditation in which one silently repeats a specific, meaningless phrase (mantra) while sitting quietly for 20 min twice daily. Popularized by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who turned the technique into a "movement" backed by programs and organizations starting in the 1960s. Maharishi Foundation owns the registered trademark on "Transcendental Meditation" and charges $1500 to teach the basic technique. Claims to be backed by hundreds of scientific studies, but the validity of this research is widely disputed. From my own cursory review, it does seem that much of the research on TM is seriously flawed at best. Personal opinion: It smells a little cult-ish and reminds be of scientology in some ways. Charges big money for something no one else does. Touts a long list of celebrity practitioners, a few of whom evangelize for the "movement" (David Lynch, Ellen Degeneres, Jerry Seinfeld). Used to make crazy claims about levitation and "yogic flying" (not anymore). Claims to be completely secular, but requires the practice of some ancient Hindu ceremonies and incantations. Appears to have a well-funded marketing infrastructure and a very active PR strategy. Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Combines mindfulness mediation with yoga for 45 min daily. Developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, a professor of medicine at the University of Massachusets. Now widely taught as a 8-week workshop course in medical centres, hospitals, clinics, and non-profit organizations. There are also numerous self-study books written by Kabat-Zinn and others. Completely secularized, with no religious or mystical theory or practices. Lots of peer-reviewed research available. Conclusion from one literature review done at Johns Hopkins in 2008: "MBSR is an effective treatment for reducing stress and anxiety that accompanies daily life and chronic illness. MBSR is also therapeutic for healthcare providers, enhancing their interactions with patients. No negative side effects from MBSR have been documented." Liberty, I think you might enjoy these blog posts by Sam Harris, a neurologist, meditation fan, and outspoken critic of religion: How to Meditate Killing the Buddha For me, I am now going to look further into MBSR and mindfulness meditation. In particular, I'm looking at these books and CDs: Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World A Mindfulness-Ba​sed Stress Reduction Workbook Full Catastrophe Living (Revised Edition): Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness Guided Mindfulness Meditation Series 1 It looks like there are also MBSR classes offered in Vancouver by certified trainers (mostly clinical counselors and therapists): http://www.mbsrbc.ca/pages/classes.htm I may look into those further after reading some of the books. Thanks to this thread for prompting me to pursue this area of interest again! Thanks Leftcoast, this is golden. I had a similar reaction after doing some quick research on TM; if it's as easy and simple as you say it is, why do you need to be to pay someone hundreds of dollars to show you and select a mantra for you? It had kind of a bad smell to it... At first glance I was expecting something more like Toastmaster.. I just got the book mentioned earlier in the thread, Mental Resilience, so I'm going to start there. If that doesn't satisfy me, I'll dig deeper into MBSR.

That sounds like a good starting point. Thank you, I think I'll order it and see where it leads me. Amazon is so ridiculous. I ordered it late Saturday night, iirc, and I got it today. That's the free shipping option. No idea why I would ever need to upgrade shipping... Good timing too because I finish the Ed Catmull book last night (and in a later chapter, he talks about how he discovered meditation and silent retreats...).

Thanks Meiroy. Do you happen to have the links to the youtube videos that got you started?

Finished it. Quite liked it. There's a very good chapter at the end about Catmull's 25 years relationship with Steve Jobs. There's also this podcast about the book, for those interested: http://5by5.tv/incomparable/197 And this recent Farnam Street post: http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/06/the-role-of-a-critic/

That sounds like a good starting point. Thank you, I think I'll order it and see where it leads me.

I got quite interested in this last January, and purchased a few books on my kindle. What I found is that it's difficult to find a "how to" guide that separates the actual techniques of meditation from all of the new-agey spiritual and religious (Buddhist) stuff. Not that Buddhist theology isn't interesting, but it's not what I am looking to learn about... I just want a practical guide on the techniques of meditation and how to setup a meditation program. (I guess I see it as analogous to learning how to set up a personal fitness program and how to perform the specific exercises therein.) My engineer brain just wants to understand what to do and how to do it (and a scientific explanation of how/why it works would be icing on the cake). I did look look at www.getsomeheadspace.com, because it claims to offer just that ("we've secularized meditation") but was turned off by the aggressive marketing and shameless promotion of their subscription service. "We've monetized meditation" might be a better tag line. Would definitely be interested and appreciative if anyone can recommend resources (books or courses) that focus on teaching meditation without the mysticism. I live in Vancouver and would be interested in either in-person classes or online courses. This is exactly what I'm looking for. Please let us know if you find something. Thank you.

For you practicing TM people, do you think getting the TM course in person is worth it, as they claim it is, or can this be done via books?

You guys have piqued my curiosity. I'm definitely looking into this. I added the two books recommended by Carvel46 to my list and I've been looking around the net for info about this. Youtube has some stuff too, which I've added to the list and will watch later. Thanks guys :)

Not everybody learns the same way. I learn best by myself, reading. Some people learn better from other people.

Look up what Buffett has said and written about the concept of a "circle of competence", I think that will be helpful. Either start withs something you already know well and keep going deeper and wider, or pick something that interests you and focus on that industry for a while (ie. if you want to learn about insurance, there's tons to read on the web, and you can study the top companies in that industry). Even if you don't find any investable ideas right now, it's ok. You are just building out your circle of competence. It'll come in handy later.

Anything specific made you sell ALS?

Nice work, Norm.

I wouldn't say I've learned a lot of non-obvious business things so far either. But to me, that doesn't make it bad. A lot of the same simple principles are worth revisiting over and over again, as Buffett does in his writings. And I'm very interested in the culture inside Pixar and how art is created (both the creative aspect and technology), so I guess I'm the target audience.

[amazonsearch]Creativity, Inc.[/amazonsearch] This might not seem like a business book at first, but it is one of the best kind. Ed Catmull is an extremely smart and introspective manager and engineer (he invented texture-mapping!) who tells us how he very deliberately built an excellent business (Pixar, for those who don't know who Catmull is). No management consultant platitudes here. It's very interesting that he focuses mostly on his mistakes and what went wrong rather than only talk about the glory. There's also some interesting backstory on Steve Jobs' strengths and weaknesses (he was Pixar's largest shareholder, though not super involved in the day-to-day, mostly big strategic decisions). I haven't read the whole thing yet, but I've read 200 pages since last night and that's quite enough to make me recommend the book.

Thanks, that was a good read.

INTP I read a Keirsey book on that kind of stuff a while ago and go INTJ.