Weekend readings - 22 Jan, 2021 : Edition 25

A compilation of few interesting, multi-disciplinary reading links from the internet

It will opportune to start the weekly​​ newsletter with India’s historic series win in Australia against all odds earlier this week. Sambit Bal sums this as the greatest moment in our test history as in below excerpt (which incidentally rungs so true for investing as well).

Test cricket is life itself: not only is it a game of the highest skill, it is also a test of endurance and adaptability, patience and courage. There is the toil, ball after ball, session after session, day after day. You can glide on the waves only if you have the heart to weather the storms. There is heartbreak and there is redemption: Test cricket always gives you a second chance

Section 1 - Investing & Personal Finance

(a) Good investing is not necessarily about making good decisions. It's about consistently not screwing up - Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money.

This twitter thread by Brandon who has been an investor for over 20 years highlights how NOT to be a bad investor.

(b) For the second consecutive week, featuring Anand Sridharan who argues that for reasons deep rooted in psychology - we question does ‘hold forever’ work?

Giving time is surprisingly hard, as it requires us to do nothing. Absolutely nothing. For years on end. We’d rather die than sit still. We sit still only after we die. Psychology, not intellect, is at play. What follows covers how the approach in question helps tackle this problem. 

Section 2 - Economic Trends & Themes

(a) In the past 15 odd years, we had many cricketers coming from the smaller towns of India - none bigger than MS Dhoni. This piece by Sidhardth Monga on ‘Miya bhai’ Md. Siraj (who stayed back in Australia to play the test series despite his father passing away in late-Nov-20) highlights how sports in interiors has given the young generation skill, endurance and willingness to take on the mighty.

(b) As I started reading No Rule Rules this week - a book on Netflix, also came across this listen - The World According to Boyar Podcast: Episode 18: David Zaslav, CEO of Discovery, Inc. on the future of streaming.

Our mission is that traditional business is more like a boat now that had a river with a current with it and now the current has moved against it. We’re adding engines and firepower to power through it but ultimately, the current is against us. If we can take all of our global IP and with Discovery Plus build a real global IP business, then the value creation for our shareholders will be enormous.

Section 3 - Personality study & Development

(a) It is usually advised that habits must be made easy, removing all obstacles so that we do not resist what ever it is that we want ourselves to do. However, sometimes it is helpful to place obstacles rather than remove them in order to make a habit stick, as this article by Ben Carlson explains.

(b) This 41-min podcast with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, neurosurgeon at Emory University and CNN’s chief medical correspondent, is a good listen to understand how learning new skills (however basic they may be) helps in Strengthening the brain circuitry. This NY times article reinforces the point that its always a good time (and almost never too late!) to build on to your skill sets.

Section 4 - Business History & management

(a) We are all aware of the importance of good management in the making of a good business. It may therefore sound a little surprising at first that Joe Magyer in this article tells you to not trust management, at least not take them at face value. He also prescribes some hard work that must be undertaken before trusting management.

Section 5 - Reading  & Entertainment

(a) This 2012 dated article by Chinmay Bhogle explores the science of inference using databases with old Hindi film music as reference. This is an excellent, informative article that entices you to explore and learn about the world of Data science and Analytics, redolent of Edward De Bono's famous CORT Thinking techniques!

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Additional links:

Constructing portfolio is like building a cricket team

We are not (yet!) following the inflation trade herd

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Now listening (on loop) : Amit trivedi’s Sound of the Nation performance

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That's it for me. Have a great weekend!

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