Hoehn’s Musings

… and what I haven’t been reading.

Mario Puzo’s “Fools Die” – I’ve been reading this for what seems, to me, like an embarrassingly long time, and I just finished it.  It’s the longest book I’ve read since “Atlas Shrugged” (but nowhere close to as long).  I really liked the first two-thirds of the book, then grew to dislike the narrator, who was overly empathetic to every sleazeball around him.  But overall, I really enjoyed it.  A nice break from non-fiction.  Favorite quote: “What we think of as our sensitivity is only the higher evolution of terror in a poor dumb beast.  We suffer for nothing.  Our own death wish is our only real tragedy.”

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov” – I bought this because I’d heard great things about it.  For now, it’s sitting on my bookshelf, taunting me with its 1,000+ pages.  I’ve only read one other Dostoevsky, so I look forward to this… someday.

Malcolm Gladwell’s “Blink” – About 60 pages in.  So far, so good, although not quite as dynamic as “Tipping Point.”

Nassim Taleb’s “Fooled by Randomness” – Also about 60 pages in.  I really am stumped on why this has gotten so much hype.  I just can’t get into it for some reason.  If you’ve read this, please tell me why you did or didn’t enjoy it because I’m trying to decide whether I should keep going.

Guy Kawasaki’s “The Art of the Start” – I had already read this but I decided to go back through it with a highlighter and sticky notes.  Love this book, it’s great for entrepreneurs.  Which leads me to…

Richard White’s “The Entrepreneur’s Manual” – Read about this while looking through Casnocha’s del.icio.us bookmarks.  He just wrote a post about how it’s one of the best entrepreneurship books ever written.

Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholder letters – I’m going to print all of these off and read them.  If you have any interest in investing, definitely check these out.