Monthly Archives: November 2023

11.10.23
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GOING INFINITE/ MICHAEL LEWIS

Was Effective Altruism a creed to do good or a cover for personal greed? Does anyone understand the Crypto marketplace? Will you understand Crypto and Bitcoin exchanges and millisecond trading after immersing yourself in the pages of Michael Lewis’s new book GOING INFINITE? Maybe, but it will be a struggle.

What I can say is that you will get a good look at the persona, ethos and tactics of Sam Brinkman-Fried and exactly how he momentarily became the richest person in the world under 30 years of age. Brinkman’s rise and fall and the monetary and human wreckage he left behind is an astonishing story as told in Lewis’s unique style.

With Lewis’s book you need not have been in the courtroom to predict what would be a guilty on all counts verdict. You will understand why and may decide never to become a Crypto investor.

11.09.23
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ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE/NETFLIX

I disagree with the tepid reviews in the New York Times and Boston Globe about the NETFLIX mini series of Anthony Doerr’s novel All The Light We Cannot See. Of course no mini series or even a full length film can completely do justice to the book but the NETFLIX film interpretation is well worth viewing and I believe captures the essence of Doerr’s novel.

Search Gordon’s Good Reads for my take on the book.

Tune in. You will be entertained.

11.09.23
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ELON MUSK/WALTER ISAACSON

Like all of Isaacson’s biographies you will come away with an intimate knowledge of the subject. Elon Musk is trademark Walter Isaacson excellence.

I choose to peak your interest in this very large volume by selecting quotes from throughout the book that I feel are particularly relevant to Musk and his formula for success. Some may even hint at his personal idiosyncrasies.

Move fast, blow things up, repeat. It’s not how well you avoid problems it’s how fast you figure out what the problem is and fix it.

Nobody is going to pay for something that looks like crap. The way to get a car company started was to build a high priced car first and then move to a mass-market model.

Every part, every process and every specification needs to have a person’s name attached to it to personalize blame when something goes wrong.

I think the best defense against the misuse of AI is to empower as many people as possible to have AI.

Musk made a rule to be wary of anyone whose confidence was greater than their competence.

And finally:

Is being unfiltered and untethered integral to who is is? Could you get the rockets to orbit or the transition to electric vehicles without accepting all aspects of him, hinged and unhinged.” Sometimes great innovators are risk-seeking man-children who resist potty training. They can be reckless, cringeworthy, sometimes even toxic. They can also be crazy. Crazy enough to think they can change the world. Walter Isaacson.

Just like his biographies of Franklin, Jobs, Einstein, and da Vinci Elon Musk is a six hundred fifteen page read that is part of our nation’s history.

Go for it.