The May Reading List

Hi Everyone! Here's a slightly delayed version of the May Reading List. With exams and the long bank holiday weekend, I've been a bit behind, but no matter. I am now finished and the latest version of the reading list is below. Just as another pointer, there are a few books I've decided to re-read in June, and therefore there will be no June Reading List. This is simply to allow me to spend some time reading back important material and books which I'd like to pass over again. 

The Retreat of Western Liberalism - Edward Luce: 

This was an interesting read from Edward Luce and it is important to add a bit of context to do with the date of release of the book. Trump had just been elected, and the Brexit process had just started to begin. What this means is that the perspective of the book is somewhat troubled by mistaken predictions about the end of the world under Trump and other catastrophic events. With the benefit of hindsight, of course, this did not happen, but the view presented by Luce is not that different to what many expected at the time. 

This is an excellent history of the world order following the fall of the Berlin Wall and aptly sums up a number of issues. Another great thing about the book is the brevity - Luce goes through the key content rapidly and it took me probably only 2.5 hrs to read. After the heights of populism with Brexit and Trump, we can perhaps hope that there is a brighter future for a more expansive Western order once again, but make no mistake, with a new migrant crisis likely underway and resentment at the cost of living, I am convinced populism is about to make a comeback - and thus we must be ready to deal with the fallout. Read this one. It's well worth the short investment of time. 

Walking London's History: 2000 years in 15 Walks - Tim Potter: 

This was a gift I received for my birthday. I'm a big walker and anyone who has ever taken the liberty of visiting me in London will have undoubtedly received one of my fact-filled walking tours. This book has added 15 new walks and hundreds of interesting tidbits to my routes. No doubt, many of my close friends will be most excited to undertake some of these new manageable and fact-filled walks. 

Great book for walkers and a fantastic gift for Londoners who like walking. 

Boris Johnson: The Gambler - Tom Bower: 

Ok this is going to be one of those rare highly critical reviews from me. It's safe to say, I thought the way Bower handled this tricky topic was well structured, but the views expressed are utterly biased. Basically, the central message of the book is "don't blame Boris". Blame Stanley Johnson, his difficult childhood, blame Eton, blame Dominic Cummings, but don't blame Boris. Clearly, this is nonsensical. 

I actually listened to the audiobook version of this, and through most of the version I was quite content simply because it was an apt analysis of Boris' life and did not shy away from issues like Boris' particularly *ahem* unique love life. The coverage of his time as Mayor of London I thought was also balanced and well handled. But then, it is all ruined as we get to the saga of Brexit. Bower always portrays Boris as this man who is deeply struggling over whether he wants to be in or out, but the reality as we all know is that it was a self-centred attempt to win power which only fell apart due to a spat with Michael Gove. In the audiobook, the narrator actually says "Brussels" with such a level of contempt it is almost impossible to not laugh at the clearly biased nature of the recording. 

What would be interesting would be for an epilogue now we are heading toward a confidence vote. One wonders whether Bower would still be able to tell the same story of "don't blame Boris" now we have seen the utter ineptitude and law-breaking which has plagued Downing Street through the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, it is not right to criticise an author with hindsight, and Bower's chapters on the first phases of COVID-19 are actually incredibly informative and a perfectly good history, but since it was not in the public eye at the time, party gate is not covered, and any subsequent history of Boris Johnson will need to have such a coverage of those events in order to make it a full and complete biography. 

Trillions: How a Band of Wall Street Renegades Invented the Index Fund and Changed Finance Forever - Robin Wigglesworth: 

Another slightly critical review here. I'm not going to lie, I was a little disappointed. Perhaps it's because I'm not new to finance and have been aware of the growing investment levels within index funds and therefore I just didn't learn a huge amount. It reminded me in many ways of Zuckerman's The Man Who Solved the Market but this just didn't have the same level of insights in my opinion. 

My other issue with this book is what I believe is the idolising of those behind the efficient market hypothesis and other finance "academic revolutions" such as the development of portfolio theory and the CAPM etc. I personally don't have much time for the efficient market hypothesis, but I do think there was an overemphasis here on the importance of academia to the real world of finance. 

I would also suggest that the potential risk behind indexification (might have coined a new term there...) was underplayed. Bogle himself was deeply concerned by the time of his death that the revolution he was involved with might have gone a little too far. 

Unfortunately, I didn't quite have time to finish the second volume of Gibbon, so that will have to wait until the next reading list. As already mentioned though, I'm taking a month of reading new stuff to revisit a few books from the past. The next reading list will be the July Reading list published around August 1st!