October 8, 2006 –
In a previous blog, we mentioned that an abundance of perspective is a critical key to building significant amounts of wealth. Why? Because perspective is the only tool that allows you to sort out reality from the masses of junk contained in information that is circulated by the mass media today. In continuation of that theme, I have decided to provide a Down the Rabbit Hole reader’s list that contains many of the books that have widened my historical perspective and that were critical in the development of strategies that have exponentially increased my investment success. They are not traditional investment books with titles like “The Warren Buffet Way” and “How to Build a Seven Figure Portfolio”, so they may surprise you. But since I am a contrarian by nature, these books were much more critical and helpful to the development of my investment strategies than any traditional investing book ever could be.
Everyday, I read articles online on stock and investment sites from MSNBC to Barrons to Bloomberg that are written by guys with all kinds of letters after their name that quote government statistics that inflation is in check, the economies are performing exactly how the central banks desire, and so on. And it doesn’t matter if these analysts are located in China, Japan, the U.S., or Mexico — it seems that there are analysts all over the world that succumb to government bull. I am dumbfounded at how apparently intelligent people consistently accept official statistics as truthful at face value without digging deeper to uncover the real truth.
What is most important about this Reader’s List is that I believe most of these books will help people realize that when processing information, the overwhelming majority of people give an inordinate amount of signficance to information that validates one’s beliefs while casually dismissing any information that contradicts one’s beliefs. It is this very biased, subjective filter that destroys one’s ability to make rational decisions and build wealth. If one truly is to become a top investor, one must learn to widen one’s perspective when making investment decisions to include information that does not necessarily mesh with one’s internalized beliefs about an industry, a sector, a government, a CEO, or a politician.
Therefore I am presenting a Down the Rabbit Hole Reader’s list that expanded my critical thinking skills. If you missed our Down the Rabbit Hole Movies list, you can see it here. Again, please send us your Reader’s list in our comments!
Expansion of critical thinking skills, no matter how acquired, will help you build wealth. That is the applicability of this blog to investing.
It is an abundance of perspective that is critical to building wealth, not whether you agree or disagree with the wider perspectives that you become familiar with. Thus it was a purposeful task on my part to seek the lesser, almost unknown perspective to widen my own perspective on critical issues that control the moneyflow in this world. Without this perspective, I can honestly say that there is a 0% probability that I would have been able to be as successful as I have been with my investment decisions.
So without further delay, here is our first annual maalamalama Reader’s List
The People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn
An absolute necessary read for anybody that wishes to understand American history. While written with a decidedly biased slant, I don’t have a problem with this as it offers a perspective that is not told by 99% of other history books. Most times media bias is the purposeful omission of telling “the other side of the story”.
A People’s History fills in much of the gaps missing from history books used in American schools, revealing the repeated deception of governments starting as far back as treaties with the American Indians up to the present day. It is sure to challenge many of your historical beliefs. It further reminds us that there can be no literature with a greater, biased-slant than history, for history, almost 100% of the time, is written by the winners. This book will be sure to make you question the current outpouring of economic statistics given to the masses by governments. As we revealed in a blog last week, the Hungarian PM admiited that there was not a shred of truth in the economic statistics his government has been telling his people for over two years.
The Zapatista Reader, edited by Tom Hayden
An unflinching examination of an important icon, revolutionary Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos, otherwise known as Delegado Zero, with essays by Nobel Prize laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jose Saramago, Octavio Paz, John Berger and more. As an uncompromising idealist in his quest for justice for Mexico’s subclass, Marcos recently commented that despite the great divide that exists today in Mexico in a widely disputed Presidential election, that the emergence of a clear victorious winner was irrelevant due to the fact that both candidates were just servants to the same system.
Agents of Power, by J. Herbert Altschull
When President Bush Sr. spoke of a new world order years ago, he also meant a new information world order as well. J. Herbert Altschull, a professor at John Hopkins University, investigates how media has become an agent for capitalism and explores the agendas of media moguls such as Ted Turner and CNN, Rupert Murdoch and Fox News, Time Warner AOL and Robert Maxwell. He further compares the politics of media in the former Soviet Union, Peru, Iran, Africa and Asia. A truly important book that will help you dig down the rabbit hole to get at the truth of investment opportunities.
International Power and International Communication, by Mark D. Alleyne
Like Altschull, Alleyne explores how concentration of mass media throughout the world has given a small number of powerful institutions the ability to communicate and spread their agenda to billions of people. Alleyne dissects the flow of global news, the international trade of cultural products, and how government propaganda shapes popular opinion throughout the world. Take a journey through the looking glass and enter another wonderland unknown to the average individual with this book.
Information Inequality, Herbert I. Schiller
A critical book to understanding how media has transformed over the years from serving the social, public good to private, corporate interests. The Journal of Government Information stated “This is must reading for information professionals who [desire to] maintain some sort of professional literacy”. This book supports the allegations made by Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) no longer protects the public interests in the U.S. but instead, helps powerful agricultural interests maximize their profits. I believe it is must reading for anybody interested in serious investing. If all financial journalists read this book we would stop receiving shoddy analyses from them in regards to inflation indexes, national debt figures and so forth.
Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser
Want to know what’s in your fast food burgers and fries? With Schlosser’s exposition of the fast food industry, now you can. An important book not only for your health, but also for understanding the deep collusion that exists between corporations and the very governmental agencies that are supposed to protect the very public interests they help erode. I’ll soon be recycling a blog about this topic that I sent out as a newsletter but have yet to post here.
The Warrior Elite, by Dick Couch
A fascinating book for understanding not only the motivation of the best elite forces in the world, the U.S. Navy SEALs, but also for understanding the dedication and drive that infuses such a warrior culture. After reading this book, you’ll realize that if you haven’t accomplished your goals in life, the only thing that truly prevents you from doing so is a lack of wil, desire, and discipline. One of the best motiviational reads out there. For four years, I trained under the tutelage of a Navy SEAL, and I can attest that physically I achieved things I thought were not possible. I can personally attest to the drive, passion, dedication and motivation of Navy SEALs. Much respect to SEALs everywhere.
Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn
Ishmael is a series of philosophical telepathic dialogues between a gorilla named Ishmael and a mentored pupil about the model of Plato’s republic. That’s probably all I need to say to intrigue enough curiosity about this book. I vaguely remember a Hollywood movie starring Sean Connery that was made about this book that hardly resembled it at all. If you saw the movie, do yourself a favor. Forget that the movie ever existed and read the book.
The Art of Life, by Dan Eldon
Dan Eldon, a photojournalist for Reuters, accomplished more in his life by the time he was tragically murdered at age 21 than most people do in their entire lifetime. Eldon, whose photographs helped called attention to the famine situation in Ethiopia, stated that sometimes the scenes he witnessed were so heartbreaking that he could not bring himself to photograph some of the most gut-wrenching scenes he stumbled across. Tragically, Eldon died at the hands of a justifiably furious but misguided Somalian mob as he entered Mogadishu after some of the most intense conflict of any modern day war since the Vietnam war (which inspired the film Black Hawk Down). Only wishing to document the tragedy for the rest of the world to see, a fearless Eldon instead met an untimely death.The book, however, is much more a celebration of the life of a remarkable young man.
Hello. Here is my Down the Rabbit Hole reader’s list. Maholo. KAEHO
News of a Kidnapping, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
As far as I know, this is Nobel-prize winner Garcia Marquez’s only non-fiction book about the kidnappings carried out on prominent Columbians by notorious drug dealer Pablo Escobar. A tale of courage under extreme psychological duress told from the viewpoint of the kidnapped abductees. If this book doesn’t give you a new appreciation of life, nothing will.
Book of Five Rings, by Miyamoto Musashi
The seminal book on sword combat by famed samurai Miyamoto Musashi who is said to have never lost a fight and had so mastered the sword that he was equally skilled fighting with the sword in his right hand, his left hand, or with two swords in both hands. An important book that describes how singular focus can contribute to the achievement of a goal.
Tao Teh Ching, by Lao Tzu
One of the most important spiritual books ever, this text was written over 3,000 years ago. Filled with advice on leadership and how to rule a nation, U.S. President Kennedy frequently paraphrased the Tao The Ching in his speeches. Ever leader that desires the support of his nation would be well to abide by the wisdom contained in this book.
Other books both Kaeho and I both like that have nothing to do with economics or politics:
The Bob Marley Reader, edited by Hank Bordowitz
At the height of his fame, it was said that Bob Marley financially supported in some way over 30,000 of his fellow countrymen in Trenchtown, Jamaica. The first musician that gained world wide popularity seamlessly fusing wondrously melodic songs with political lyrics of justice, defiance, and resistance. Includes essays by Alice Walker, Rita Marley, Robert Palmer and others. Kaeho and I both agree that there is no other music than Bob Marley’s that can turn around our mood from one of darkness to one of joy so easily. Bob’s last words to his son Ziggy were “Money can’t buy life”. Ziggy, in turn, inherited from his father, a strong sense of pride and honor. When scum lawyers fought over Bob’s multi-million estate after Bob died and failed to leave a will, Ziggy, weary over the treachery and greed that typified the fighting over his father’s estate, responded, Let them have it. I can make my own way.
This Blinding Absence of Light, by Tahar Ben Jelloun
Based on a disturbing true account of a prisoner interned for attempting to overthrow Prince Hassan II and consequently sentenced to 20 years in a dark, windowless tomb in the Moroccan desert that was too short for him to fully stand up in and barely long enough for him to lie down in. A harrowing tale of the strength and endurance of the human spirit. An important read if only to realize that while those imprisoned in inhumane, tortuous conditions struggle so mightily for their freedom, those that are free often voluntarily imprison their spirits and never accomplish the great things every human is capable of accomplishing.
Catfish and Mandala, by Andrew Pham
As an immigrant’s memoir, Pham does a superb job in capturing the struggles of his family to escape war-torn Vietnam and the subsequent struggles of adjusting to life in a foreign culture and land in the U.S. Pham elucidates with eloquent prose what it feels like to be an outsider in his motherland upon his return to Vietnam 20 years later and also to feel like an outsider in his now adopted country of America.
