Liberty

[amazonsearch]Who Says Elephants Can't Dance[/amazonsearch] I'm only a few chapters in, but so far it's well-written and insightful. Helps better understand just how crucial good management and culture is to a business.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203686204577116853073660824.html

Ouch. That's gotta hurt. The master at work.

Thanks for sharing!

I'm kind of wondering the same thing. I tend to prefer the kind of companies that Markel Ventures has been investing in (very niche manufacturers, mostly). But I trust that the FFH people have done their due diligence..

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/business/how-samuel-palmisano-of-ibm-stayed-a-step-ahead-unboxed.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-30/ackman-s-pershing-is-said-to-urge-ceo-switch-at-canadian-pacific-railway.html

Ordinary is, by definition, 100 IQ :)

Been close to even lately, but for a long time I was down double digits.

[amazonsearch]The Billionaire Who Wasn't[/amazonsearch] One of the best and most inspiring books I've read in a while. Chuck Feeney is not only a great businessman and investor, but also a most special kind of philanthropist. I highly recommend that you check out this book.

In my mind, Amazon is part of the retail trinity along with Walmart and Costco. They each have found a different way to give people what they want in a way that is hard to replicate for the competition and keeps them ahead.

Amazon's pretty great. I ordered some speakers around the 20-21st of December, and used the Free Shipping option (it wasn't time sensitive for me, not a gift, but earlier is always better than latter ;) ). They upgraded me to UPS and I got them on the 24th (a Saturday). This is in Canada, not the US.

Also, as per an Economist article, it seems like infrastructure is so bad in India that many businesses are set up to do almost everything they need themselves rather than rely on the state. Businesses bigger than a certain size thus tend to sprawl and start to do a bit of everything..

They're great and I've seen tons, but they're different kind of thing. If looking for free, MIT and Stanford both make lots of video classes available. Great place to look.

Thanks for sharing your opinion. If it's really not that special, I don't think I'll buy it. There are better things I could use that $60 for.. But I still think that site's concept is pretty cool. Probably best to explore topics you don't already know tons about (ie. get an evolutionary psychology intro by Steven Pinker or whatever).

Just found this randomly: http://www.floatinguniversity.com/lectures-ackman $60 for a 1-hour lecture on investing by Bill Ackman.There's a sample video on the page above, and another one here: I've only seen the samples. Production values are great. Content is probably mostly stuff that we all know about, but going back over the basics over and over again isn't a bad idea... If anyone buys it, I'd be curious to know your thoughts.

It's a few weeks old, but I don't think it has been posted here before (sorry if it has). Part 1 & 2: http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2011/11/30/steve-forbes-interview-whitney-tilson-hedge-fund-manager-part-1/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2011/12/06/steve-forbes-interview-whitney-tilson-hedge-fund-manager-part-2/

Happy holidays to you too Parsad! Thanks for being a pillar of the community!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/housing/canadas-housing-boom-among-longest-in-western-world/article2277801/

Leverage/debt.

I second that. I would never invest in a company where management seemed to have forgotten its role or who the real owners are.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/household-finances/record-high-household-debt-in-canada-triggers-alarm/article2269210/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-12/sino-forest-will-miss-earnings-deadline.html

Only have a few pages left before finishing this one. I quite liked it. Lots of short case studies. Recommended!

I read maybe 4-6 books a month, and there's still way too many that I haven't read yet to re-read much... But there are many that I know I'll re-ead someday. The first that comes to mind is 'Godël, Escher, Bach' by Douglas R. Hofstadter. I highly recommend it.