The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

Another Agatha Christie murder mystery.

I read Christie's books more as a lesson in the anatomy of murder mysteries. Christie invented many of the tropes still used in murder mysteries today... the timings, the liar who is hiding something else, the distractions, the number of accomplices (Taken to extremes in Murder on the Orient Express) It's fun to read their original incantations in these books.

Murder at the Vicarage

By Agatha Christie

The first Miss Marple novel. 

Another fun read by Christie. Perhaps it depends a little too much on people who know exactly where they  were and what they heard at 6:20, not 6:15 and definitely not 6:25. The in habitants of this book are either clock watchers or liars.

Burn Book.

by Kara Swisher

Swisher had had an amazing life, reporting on the growth of  Silicon Valley from the 90s and beyond. This book is crammed with many fascinating anecdotes of how she built relationships, watched startups and technologies grow and die, grew her values and got the scoop.

Along the way, she observed Silicon Valley's elite evolving from wide-eyed people who genuinely wanted to change the world, to more money  focused folks, who just want to grow there power.

The Undoing Project

By Michael Lewis

I've been reading about Prospect Theory and biased thinking for years. It was great to read the bio of two of the great minds behind it...

"People don't choose between things. They choose between the descriptions  things."

Thoughts on Warren Buffett

 

1. Buffet didn't retire. As of 2024 he is 93 years old. Warren Buffett, Oracle of Omaha, didn't occur until he was in his sixties. If he had retired in his fifties, he'd be rich, but not a famous billionaire. 
2. Buffet doesn't just buy and sell stocks. He finds companies that he knows how to run better, invests in them, reorganizes them, and then enjoys the profits. Berkshire Hathaway Real-estate is a great example. Over time he bought ok, but not great regional real estate companies, merged them, gave them a national presence, and earned profit from the result.
3. Read up on Buffett's long bet. Buffett bet that over a period of 10 years, the S&P index would outperform a bundle of hedge funds. And it did.
4. His estate will be passed on to his wife using a 90-10 investment mix-- 90% S&P Index. 10% Treasury bills.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

By Agatha Christie

I'm enjoying Christie's novels. They are well written murder mysteries. I was aware of the controversy surrounding the ending of this novel, but it didn't bug me. When I read murder mysteries I never become emotionally attached to the outcome. It's not a competition. The author constructs the reality, builds the characters and shares the facts to mislead and misdirect. Why should I care about that? What matters is the story the author tells, and the skill used to misdirect. Christie does this well.

When Christie wrote The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, this was current, trendy literature. When I read her books, I read them being informed with the legacy she left on other authors. I see strains of Roger Ackroyd in "Knives Out" and "See How the Run."

Misquoting Jesus

By Bart D. Herman

The Bible is an amazing piece of work. The Bible that we know is the product of probably 20,000 different copies of different documents. This book is about that history, plus the types of edits, errors and changes that occurred along the way.