The April Reading List

 Back in February, I published the first edition of the "Reading List", outlining the books which I had most enjoyed reading over the previous month. Since then, we have had the March Reading List too and I continue to be surprised by how much interest my reading habits have generated. 

The best thing I've found about publishing these lists so far is the interesting conversations and recommendations I get from a huge range of my peers. Furthermore, it's opened up conversations with people whom I haven't spoken to in months or even years, sparking a number of catch-up calls now being on the books. 

So, below are the 5 books I am recommending from my readings in April. The main focus of April continued to be on history, with an emphasis on Presidential history once again, but I promise the May Reading List will be more diverse. As always, please do reach out to me about any of the books, and please do share your recommendations in the comments, or ping me a message on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. 

Something Historical: Theodore Rex - Edmund Morris

Frequent readers will remember that last month I read another book on Theodore Roosevelt by the same author - The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. That particular book focused on the upbringing and rise of the great President whereas Theodore Rex is a history of his time in office. 

After becoming President following the tragedy of the McKinley assassination, there was a significant amount of apprehension surrounding a Roosevelt Presidency. This partly stemmed from the President's apparently imperial ambitions and love of using force (particularly in nature) in his earlier life. However, the Presidency of the first Roosevelt is now looked upon as an almost unqualified success. His work on antitrust lawsuits, arbitration's between both the great powers of the world and great powers of industry, and impressive legislative record clearly show that he was a force in the Presidency. 

Morris' writing style is gripping and convincing, as per The Washington Post summary on the front page, "A great president has found a great biographer", and I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an example of a President who acted based upon what he thought was right, rather than what he thought would benefit his own career. 

Something Environmental: A Life on Our Planet - David Attenborough

This has been on my personal reading list for a while given that, like most people in the UK, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Attenborough given his life of raising awareness for environmental causes, not to mention his excellent narrations! 

This book is structured in two parts, the first as a kind of mini-autobiography explaining what he has witnessed over his nine decades on the planet. The second half is devoted to how humanity can attempt to save itself from itself given the unprecedented and rapid damage which we do to our home planet every day. 

The middle section of the book though, is perhaps the most terrifying. Attenborough's description of the likely self-reinforcing, destructive, hysteresis-like cycle which would lead to the next mass extinction event on earth. 

It's not all hopeless, and Attenborough does guide us through the various industries which will need to change (and outlining possible ways how they can change) in order to drastically cut emissions, and also raise the wildlife levels of the planet. 

I'd go as far as to describe this book as a must read for every citizen. It should be mandatory reading, and serve as guidance on how to live a more sustainable life. 

Something financial: The Great Crash - J.K. Galbraith

This was my fourth (or maybe fifth) reading of The Great Crash. I consider it essential reading for trying to identify when financial markets have reached a level which Galbraith terms a "speculative orgy". The book focusses primarily on the causes of the financial market panic of 1929 and the events which led up to "The Great Crash" and the subsequent onset of the Great Depression. 

What's particularly concerning is that this time around, a number of the telltale signs of exuberance are present in the economy at the moment. Over the past few months, I have had messages from a large number of different people who I had not heard from in many cases for over a year on various financial instruments - and particularly those of a speculative nature. I've recently been asked for my views on Crypto (specifically... Dogecoin), GameStop, SPACs, and lumber. Clearly, when people who had previously not expressed any interest in markets are considering buying lumber futures because of the media coverage, we are living in a speculative environment. 

So, are we on the precipice of another "Great Crash"? My answer is no. Not yet anyway. Let's wait for the Fed to hike rates, and then we'll take a view again :) 

Something biographical: Reagan: The Life - H.W. Brands

Apologies again for the Presidential History overload, but I particularly enjoyed this one - and the Audiobook version is exceptionally good value if you have an Audible subscription (since its about 27 hours long). 

I've long known that Reagan is one of my favourite Presidents, primarily because he was a man of action rather than what I would call a "passive President". Much like the two Roosevelt's before him, he was unafraid to stand up for American rights and to fight for what he believed in. Reagan was a man who was against big government, who believed that by cutting taxes for the many he would force government to become less lean, and thereby restore the power of the individual to drive the economy. 

Brands covers Reagan magnificently, and while it does seem that he is sometimes overly favourable to the Reagan cause, he also notes that much of the Reagan success can be attributed to his fortunate timing in entering the White House. Were it not for the harsh and aggressive inflation culling actions of Fed Chair Volcker, it is hard to imagine that the economy would have reached such strengths and allowed Reagan to win such a hefty majority. That said, Reagan's achievements are perhaps greater than many of his contemporaries because throughout his tenure he was dealing with a House of Representatives majority composed of Democrats, and clearly this made his policy decisions more difficult. 

I cannot possibly do the book justice in a few short paragraphs, but I highly recommend this easily digestible, yet highly detailed,  book on one of America's most memorable Presidents. 

Something Different: Nomadland - Jessica Bruder

A couple of days before the Oscars, I was wandering through Waterstones and saw this on the shelf and immediately picked it up and bought it. I've been aware of the book for a while given its critical acclaim, but have never got around to reading it. 

The essence of the book is that a large number of Americans (particularly following the financial crisis) have abandoned the costly existence of living in houses and moved into trailers and old recreational vehicles to try and stay afloat. Bruder's writing is magnificent and incredibly vivid, no detail is too small and she tries to draw upon the physical experiences of the generally quite old people who have been forced into this subsistence style existence. 

The book reveals the insufficient nature of the US social security net, and the way in which a great proportion of the population who had worked hard their entire lives were forced into financial ruin following the collapse of the housing market in 2008. Now, many retirement age individuals are forced to work long and hard hours (in either forest parks, Amazon Warehouses, or other Gig work) for very low wages just to survive. 

I am yet to watch the Oscar-winning film, but I am looking forward to it, and this book really does emphasise some of the problems with the current safety net systems, and raise questions about how ethical the current system is when social security payments are not enough to survive upon. 

And that marks the end of the April Reading List. 

The books for the May Reading List are below - as always let me know what books you've read and enjoyed, and feel free to get in touch and ask any questions! 

Books for May: 

1. Battle Cry of Freedom - James M. McPherson 
2. Beautiful Things - Hunter Biden 
3. The New Case for Gold - James Rickards 
4. Mao - The Unknown Story - Jung Chang & Jon Halliday 
5. The French Revolution - Christopher Hibbert