⭐⭐ Going Infinite by Lewis
| Full Title | Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael Lewis |
| Year Published | 2023 |
| Date Read | November 20, 2023 |
| Rating | 2/5 stars |
The first ~20% of this book was nearly insufferable and I almost put it down then. Perhaps that was the proper decision, because while it got a bit better, overall I came away quite disappointed.
As others have said, I think Lewis was far too credulous of SBF’s claims and towards the end of the book it is clear the time the author spent with the subject tied Lewis too much to SBF’s version of events. That’s one of the big issues here — there isn’t really a multi-faceted view of what happened, mostly one from SBF himself and then only towards the last chapter one from the incoming FTX CEO (John Ray).
My other big issue with the book is that we get no more clarity on how the fall happened or where the creditor money actually went. It’s really hard to parse here but it seems like it was a combination of hackers, extremely poor internal controls, and a complete lack of concern for investment risk on the part of SBF. Perhaps the profits from Alameda and the
investigations of Ray will ultimately be able to recover most of the funds, but it’s still insane to think that there wasn’t even completely rudimentary tracking of assets and liabilities.
I think the best part of the book is the middle third, where Lewis focuses on Jane Street and the mechanics of firms like it — if you’ve got recommendations for a text on this, I’d be interested. However, overall I think this is quite a poor showing for Lewis and the way that the subject is treated makes me start to question his competence on his previous reporting on finance, like Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt or The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine.
⭐⭐⭐ The Comfort Crisis by Easter
| Full Title | The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael Easter |
| Year Published | 2021 |
| Date Read | November 16, 2023 |
| Rating | 3/5 stars |
Not bad. Gets stuck in the classic non-fiction pitfall of pushing too many references to why you should do something without weaving a story.
⭐⭐ Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Zevin
| Full Title | Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gabrielle Zevin |
| Year Published | 2022 |
| Date Read | November 08, 2023 |
| Rating | 2/5 stars |
The story was just not compelling enough. Two of the primary non-protagonist characters (Marx and Dove) come off as caricatures, lacking much depth. I found it hard to really root for Sam or Sadie, and especially had difficulty seeing the linkage between stories about Sam’s early life and the current timeline. Perhaps that would have been tied together in the latter part of the book, but I stopped about half-way.
I wonder if I’m just not the target audience for this book; in retrospect, it reads more like a young-adult novel.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Minimalist Entrepreneur by Lavingia
| Full Title | The Minimalist Entrepreneur: How Great Founders Do More with Less |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sahil Lavingia |
| Year Published | 2021 |
| Date Read | November 08, 2023 |
| Rating | 4/5 stars |
I’ve seen Sahil talk a few times previously (once at a “fireside” at Stripe) and am generally already a fan. Overall I’d say pretty good: the book has a great signal-to-noise ratio and does a good job of balancing between the approach that Sahil is promoting while weaving in stories from other founders that have also found success. Does not come off as too prescriptive.
I listened to it, which was fine, but I think this probably works best as a ‘workbook’ of sorts that you reference at different stages of your entrepreneurship journey. Would recommend for anyone that is interested; this guy offers a much better ROI than your average non-fiction book.
⭐⭐ The Capitalist Manifesto by Norberg
| Full Title | The Capitalist Manifesto: Why the Global Free Market Will Save the World |
|---|---|
| Authors | Johan Norberg |
| Year Published | 2023 |
| Date Read | November 08, 2023 |
| Rating | 2/5 stars |
Originally saw this on Musk’s Twitter.
I’m already sold on the thesis. What I was hoping for was some new perspectives on the ‘morally right’ part, or explanations of non-obvious mechanics that make capitalism so successful. Instead you get chapters full of stats on just proving the success and not much more.
Would not recommend. If you’re interested in this area, I think Capitalism without Capital: The Rise of the Intangible Economy is an excellent alternative. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind would be further away from capitalism but in the same abstract area.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Elon Musk by Isaacson
| Full Title | Elon Musk |
|---|---|
| Authors | Walter Isaacson |
| Year Published | 2023 |
| Date Read | October 20, 2023 |
| Rating | 4/5 stars |
Takes a little bit to get going but then becomes quite compelling. Much of the book is focused on the last two years, when Isaacson shadowed Musk directly — this means that there’s less focus on his earlier background than I’d like, but does result in a very high-fidelity telling of some of the most recent events (Twitter acquisition in particular).
As someone that generally has a positive view of Elon but doesn’t follow what he does very closely, I found that the book overall improved my perception of him. It’s unclear if this is because Isaacson was not critical enough of Musk (as many online have accused him of), or if in general Musk is simply bad at personal PR and he’s really a mostly non-insane dude that sometimes Tweets crazy stuff.
For those interested in Musk and how he runs his companies, I’d recommend reading sooner rather than later due to book’s recency bias. Probably wouldn’t recommend otherwise, especially so if you’re already anti-Musk.