What I Just Read

A biology professor buys 300 acres of Maine woodlands with money he doesn't have and spends the better part of his life exploring it. This book is a collection of essays musing upon his experiences over the years, as he brings the reader along on a tour of all the bugs, birds, trees and fungi in the forest ecosystem. This work will seem very familiar to readers of Edward Abbey, Paul Gruchow, Henry David Thoreau and other important environmental advocates. It has the same flowing and  at times convoluted  style, the same gentle lecturing of what happens and why on the trail and in the forest, and the same subtle misanthropy as he tells us all the things we're doing wrong by having the temerity to live on this planet. [A quick  affiliate link to Amazon  for those readers who would like to support my work here: if you purchase your Amazon products via any affiliate link from this site, or from my sister site  Casual Kitchen , I will receive a small affiliate c...

There's a well-known video clip of a post-game press conference where  Bill Belichick holds forth for ten minutes on the forty-year history of the long snapper in football . In football circles, this video is shocking, because of the stark contrast from the famous grunts, stares and derisive silence with which he typically responds to questions. The way Belichick handled the media as an NFL coach was flawless, a beautiful thing to behold. He made sure to reveal nothing to the competition, and he never allowed himself to be baited into anything, ever. But every once in a while he'd surprise everyone by holding forth on some abstruse sub-domain of football, astounding everyone with the encyclopedic depth of his knowledge. Reading this book is like hearing Belichick answer the long snapper question. It's blunt, it's insightful, it's candid (with one glaring exception), and it's more interesting than you'd expect. [A quick  affiliate link to Amazon  for those re...

Quite a lot of horse sense in this book! Suitable for beginner- to intermediate-level investors, particularly if you want to invest competently with a minimum of fuss, worry and fees. There are two sections: Part I goes over the author's 17 Basic Rules, and Part II goes over each rule in more depth. The rules are useful and complete, and if you apply them, you'll have a robust investment plan. Let me specifically cite the author's Rule #11, which describes his extremely simple, low-fee "bulletproof" portfolio of 25% each in stocks, bonds, cash and gold, with basic annual rebalancing. I'd also recommend pairing this book with two short and excellent books by William Bernstein:  The Investor's Manifesto  and  The Four Pillars of Investing . [A quick  affiliate link to Amazon  for those readers who would like to support my work here: if you purchase your Amazon products via any affiliate link from this site, or from my sister site  Casual Kitchen , I will...