Distant Force (Henry Singleton) - George A. Roberts

[Liberty]

[amazonsearch]Distant Force - George A. Roberts[/amazonsearch]

 

The library doesn't have this one. I'm trying to figure out if it's worth buying... Who here has read it? Is the book readable and the info valuable? Or is it a terribly written book full of platitudes?

 

 

 

[savant]

You can split the book into two parts (not literally but in your head) - one section being about technology and the influence that Teledyne had on this sphere. This part was less interesting to me and I basically sped through the techie sections. The other section is the part that talks about Mr. Singleton's brilliance with corporate finance and his thoughts around spin-offs, buybacks, having an insurance sub to provide funding to your other businesses in a downturn etc.

[Liberty]

You can split the book into two parts (not literally but in your head) - one section being about technology and the influence that Teledyne had on this sphere. This part was less interesting to me and I basically sped through the techie sections. The other section is the part that talks about Mr. Singleton's brilliance with corporate finance and his thoughts around spin-offs, buybacks, having an insurance sub to provide funding to your other businesses in a downturn etc.

 

And what did you think of the second part?

[savant]

Its good and I'm glad I have it in my library but that's because I'm a huge fan of Mr. Singleton's methods. There are quite a few other books that focus more on the financial / operational methods used by men of means to create wealth.

[Ballinvarosig Investors]

Fast-forward to 41:24 for a synopsis on this book (kudos to you, manualofideas).

 

http://manualofideas.com/audio/henry_singleton_teledyne_by_manualofideas-dot-com.mp3

[netnet]

The library doesn't have this one. I'm trying to figure out if it's worth buying... Who here has read it? Is the book readable and the info valuable? Or is it a terribly written book full of platitudes?

 

Spoken like a true value investor :D

 

I enjoyed it.  I would put in in the very interesting read category, not a must read.  In other words, it is not in the top 20 business and finance books to read, but is probably in the top 100.

 

(I felt I had to read it because Buffett had praised Singleton  so highly.)

 

Hope that helps,

 

Netnet

[Guest JoelS]

Any more thoughts on this book? Reviews seem to range from wonderful to average. I guess my main criteria is, are there insights in this book that can't be found elsewhere?

 

Joel

[peter1234]

Any more thoughts on this book? Reviews seem to range from wonderful to average. I guess my main criteria is, are there insights in this book that can't be found elsewhere?

 

Joel

 

It is an interesting read, but I would second netnets assessment of very interesting but not a must read.

 

If you want to get most of it, read the 1979 forbes article or the following case study:

http://csinvesting.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Teledyne-and-Henry-Singleton-a-CS-of-a-Great-Capital-Allocator.pdf

 

;)

[Guest JoelS]

Thanks Peter - I appreciate the reply. Great Forbes article!

[peter1234]

Thanks Peter - I appreciate the reply. Great Forbes article!

No problem, glad I could help.

:)

[Guest JoelS]

I ended up buying the book for Christmas. It is hard to judge whether it was worth the price, but an interesting book and I enjoyed it. On the CD, there are a bunch of scientific articles but nothing much of interest to someone wanting to learn about the investing philosophies of Singleton. However, throughout the book Roberts references shareholder letters from Teledyne Corp. I haven't been able to locate any of these letters.. does anyone have them or know where I might find them? Thank you,

 

Joel

[jschembs]

I've never seen the early TDY shareholder letters, but here's an interesting collection of TDY and Singleton-related material.

Teledyne-and-Henry-Singleton-a-CS-of-a-Great-Capital-Allocator.pdf

[mjohn707]

Am I seeing these used prices on amazon correctly?  I can't believe I threw my copy of this away a few years ago :(

[ScottHall]

I don't like this book. The author is a scientist, and writes like it.

 

It's dull and full of odd scientific anecdotes, detailing every little thing certain subsidiaries did, without explaining in much detail the financial jiu-jitsu Teledyne is famous for.

 

It covers it, yeah, but in my view not much more than you'd get from reading any competent article on the company. I didn't get the impression that the author's intention was to cover this aspect well, so that may account for it. It certainly didn't seem like it, in any case.

[mjohn707]

Yeah I agree it wasn't any good, don't even think I finished it.

[Liberty]

I don't like this book. The author is a scientist, and writes like it.

 

It's dull and full of odd scientific anecdotes, detailing every little thing certain subsidiaries did, without explaining in much detail the financial jiu-jitsu Teledyne is famous for.

 

It covers it, yeah, but in my view not much more than you'd get from reading any competent article on the company. I didn't get the impression that the author's intention was to cover this aspect well, so that may account for it. It certainly didn't seem like it, in any case.

 

Yeah, it's a bad book about an interesting topic, which is a very frustrating thing.

 

The Forbes article on Singleton is a good starting point, and the Manual of Ideas 2-hour podcast on Singleton covers pretty much everything that is interesting in Distant Force:

 

http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/315877-the-manual-of-ideas/30189-the-manual-of-ideas-on-business-leader-henry-singleton-founder-of-teledyne-audio

[plusalpha]

this article in seeking alpha also review the book and covers the investing related topic well.

 

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1939691-book-review-distant-force-a-memoir-of-the-teledyne-corporation-and-the-man-who-created-it

[Liberty]

Another one that might interest the Singleton fans: Leon Cooperman giving a presentation on him.

 

http://videos.nyssa.org/a-case-study-in-financial-brilliance-dr-henry-e-singleton-of-teledyne-inc

[Liberty]

There's a series of articles on Singleton here:

 

http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/02/henry-singleton-strategies/

 

Earlier parts are linked at the top.

[nickenumbers]

All,

 

Thank you for this thread on the book Distant Force.  I was going to get it, but instead I am going to read the articles and related content.

 

The general consensus was that the book was a dull read on a very interesting topic.  The book is a little expensive and out of print to boot.

 

The articles, studies and links give me more than enough to satisfy my appetite.

 

Henry Singleton is really unique and special!

[Mark Jr.]

Fast-forward to 41:24 for a synopsis on this book (kudos to you, manualofideas).

 

http://manualofideas.com/audio/henry_singleton_teledyne_by_manualofideas-dot-com.mp3

 

This link seems to be dead, or else you need a membership and they are not taking new members at the moment.

 

Does anybody have access to this link?

 

 

[DooDiligence]

Fast-forward to 41:24 for a synopsis on this book (kudos to you, manualofideas).

 

http://manualofideas.com/audio/henry_singleton_teledyne_by_manualofideas-dot-com.mp3

 

This link seems to be dead, or else you need a membership and they are not taking new members at the moment.

 

Does anybody have access to this link?

 

Is this it?

 

https://moiglobal.com/henry-singleton-lessons/

[Mark Jr.]

Yes it is! Thanks!

 

Fast-forward to 41:24 for a synopsis on this book (kudos to you, manualofideas).

 

http://manualofideas.com/audio/henry_singleton_teledyne_by_manualofideas-dot-com.mp3

 

This link seems to be dead, or else you need a membership and they are not taking new members at the moment.

 

Does anybody have access to this link?

 

Is this it?

 

https://moiglobal.com/henry-singleton-lessons/