The January Reading List

 Hello All,

Apologies for the delay to this month's reading list... I've been away on holiday sunning myself since the end of January (gaining a bit of vitamin D-ubai for a few days) and therefore haven't had a chance to publish the reading list. 

This month was pretty varied, I read the Bourne Identity, Mastering the Market Cycle, Nixon - The Life, and Value(S) by Mark Carney. It was therefore a pretty varied month. As many of you will know, I also published in the previous month my top 5 of 2021, and Thinking Fast and Slow came top, so I also read this (as preparation for both my exams and life) so this made up the 5 books. You can read the Thinking Fast and Slow review here.

That's me outside the British Pavilion at Expo 2020. 

The Bourne Identity - Robert Ludlum: 

I'm sure many of you have seen the film "The Bourne Identity", and so had I before reading the book. While the film is actually brilliant, I much prefer the book. Ludlum goes into such a great level of detail and it's one of those perfectly constructed books where only just enough information is ever given to keep you hooked and reading. 

I like reading fiction before I go to bed, generally just a chapter or two to help myself off to sleep. However, with this one I would frequently storm through 50-100 pages in an evening, generally just because it was (sorry cliche ahead...) too good to put down. 

The book differs quite a bit from the film, but it's still very familiar and enjoyable, so go out and buy this one, I highly recommend for popular entertaining literature. 

Value(s): Climate, Credit, Covid, and How We Focus on What Matters - Mark Carney: 

OK, this was probably the most important book I read this month. Carney, with his wealth of experience across finance, takes each of the title issues in turn and explains both how finance can help and hurt these topics, and what must be done in order to ensure the best outcome for all generations. 

While this book was essential reading, I am not going to stand up and say I completely agree with every chapter and the conclusions which Carney draws. For instance, I was not particularly convinced by the chapter on "Creating a Simpler, Safer, Fairer, Financial System". Clearly, Carney has expertise here having been in central banking for the last decade, but I felt like the chapter lacked the necessary detail to actually be convincing. Many of the policy recommendations here seemed, to me at least, naive and difficult to implement. I appreciate Carney is trying to write a book for the masses, but the prescriptions here lacked detail, and a global action plan also seemed to be missing. 

In general however, this book is a seminal achievement, it has significantly altered my perception of some areas of finance particularly those related to ESG metrics, and I have learnt a huge amount about the role finance can play in the transition to greener power. Also, the topics on the financial crisis are exceptionally interesting and provide concise summaries of what went wrong. 

On the whole, this is a must read for anyone in finance / economics / interested in global warming. So really, everyone. 

Mastering the Market Cycle: Getting the odds on you side - Howard Marks

This book from legendary investor Howard Marks provides a very concise overview of cycle psychology throughout various aspects of financial markets. 

While it may appear a little simple, and state a number of obvious truisms, to anyone with any experience of investing, it is very well worth reminding yourselves of the role of psychology in financial markets. While everyone knows they should "Buy Low and Sell High", nearly always, people do the exact opposite as soon as fear turns to greed, and greed to fear. 

Marks takes us through a number of the recent cycles and what were the key drivers and also looks at various cycles in other sectors than just equities/credit by looking at housing and the economic cycle. 

Marks' investment philosophy has been one I have tried to follow myself implicitly, without the direct influence of reading the book, so it was reassuring to see that my approach closely mirrored that of Marks. Nonetheless, for anyone trying to start investing, I would mark this as essential reading. 

Richard Nixon: The Life - John Farrell

Ah Nixon... one of those presidents who is always one to inspire controversy, relatively successful in a number of key areas of policy, but mired by scandal throughout his tenure. 

Writing a book on this President is, therefore, exceptionally difficult - given you need to appear unbiased to have any kind of authority. In this respect, Farrell is extremely successful. We do often sympathise with Nixon throughout the book, and find that he is often unfairly treated, and did stand up for Civil Rights in his years as vice president, and was an advocate for many policies which advanced the cause of minorities, yet we cannot forgive him for the extension of the Vietnam War despite his knowing of its un-winnability. 

This is, probably, the best Nixon biography available. It is concise, and yet detailed and precise. It is a simple one volume (worth about 550 pages) and intimately details the life of the President. The biography is unsparing, and I cannot recommend it enough to anyone who wants to learn more about one of America's most controversial Presidents. 

So that concludes the January Reading List and actually marks the 12th reading list I've written! Onto the next year of reading lists. 

Next Month, I'll be Reading The Presidents by Iain Dale, The New Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan, Radical Uncertainty by Mervyn King, Twelve Caesars by Mary Beard, and some fiction... which I haven't yet decided on (recommendations requested :) ).