Give the gift of knowledge! Here are three books to give to your friends, family or colleagues this holiday season!
- Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes – Morgan Housel
- Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of the New Tycoon – Michael Lewis
- Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life – Arnold Schwarzenegger
How do you show someone special that you care this holiday season? Cross off any ideas on your list related to gift cards, scented candles or fruit cake and give someone an entertaining book instead. While some may rightfully disagree, we have always considered gifting a great book as a personal and thoughtful gesture. A great book is an excellent way to introduce someone to a promising new author or exposing them to a fascinating subject matter. We share below some book ideas published this year that have a business or investing theme.
Same As Ever: A Guide To What Never Changes by Morgan Housel
This year artificial intelligence (AI) has been capturing headlines as the public has seen firsthand the potential impact the use of platforms like ChatGPT and Google Bard can have on our daily life. In the world of finance there have been no shortage of opinions about how this will affect our world, and predictions on who will be the winners and losers. This situation brings our attention to Morgan Housel’s newly released book Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes. This is Housel’s follow-up to bestseller The Psychology of Money.
In Same as Ever, Housel crafts a collection of short stories that were sourced from his blog posts that highlight the behavioral traps that humans have fallen into time and again when making financial and life decisions. Housel contends that rather than direct our attention to predicting how the world will unravel in the future, we should consider how humans will react, which has been consistent over time. New technologies, geopolitical turmoil and pandemics arise in an unexpected fashion, but how people react to greed, opportunities, and fear follow a similar pattern over time. We appreciate Housel’s simple storytelling and how he communicates through personal stories such as how he averted a ski run that killed his two friends, to how the weather helped George Washington fight the British and found a Nation.
Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of the New Tycoon by Michael Lewis
One of the most fascinating stories in the world of investing over the last decade has been the enormous growth of the cryptocurrency market. The industry has seen many different players who have been at the forefront of the emerging industry. Among them is Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) who founded cryptocurrency exchange FTX, became one of the most influential players in the cryptocurrency market, and was recently found guilty of criminal charges for fraud.
While Michael Lewis’s book Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of the New Tycoon provides insights into the inner workings of SBF’s chaotic world, we had a greater appreciation of the stories, characters and writing in Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall by Zeke Faux. Faux is an investigator reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek, and he casts a wide net to meet the people supporting various ventures in the cryptocurrency. The trail and encounters with a cast of characters across Europe, Asia and the Caribbean are reminiscent of a James Bond or Ocean’s Eleven movie. The book will likely appeal to the skeptic of the crypto market. Nonetheless we appreciated Faux’s investigative work and his humorous tone.
Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger
Last on our list is Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger. For decades Schwarzenegger has been underestimated as an athlete, actor and politician, and he has seemingly always proved people wrong. In the book Schwarzenegger shares stories of the seven tools he has relied on to excel from his early days as a bodybuilder to becoming the Governor of California. We were particularly interested in how Schwarzenegger’s business acumen was built by watching his mentors such as Joe Weider and how it honed his salesmanship to win over customers whether it be Hollywood executives or the citizens of California. Though the stories are told is a simple and straightforward manner much like Schwarzenegger is known to communicate in his movies, we appreciated the authentic tone and the positive approach in the messages in the book.
While all these books may not have the same appeal of the latest Apple iPhone or a designer handbag, we are confident your loved ones will gain valuable personal finance ideas that will reap rewards for decades to come.
