Book: The Secret

The Secret, Rhonda Byrne

3/9/08

The Secret is perhaps best summarized in an entirely separate work, the Strangest Secret, which is an audio presentation by Earl Nightingale where he demands “you must control your thoughts.” Rhonda Byrne then explains by controlling your thoughts and ensuring that they are of a positive nature, anything, in any aspect of life, is achievable. More specifically, The Secret explains that like things attract, so positive, can do thoughts create positive outcomes while negative thoughts would create that negative reality.

The secret is powerful and if one were to incorporate these ideas into everyday life it would indeed be an unstoppable force. The reality is obvious; if you’re feeling happy you are thinking happy thoughts. What is exciting is to realize that one can use one’s feelings to understand what one is thinking. Further, one can use ones more readily controllable thoughts to affect ones feelings.

The Secret teaches us to understand today, create tomorrow, but allow the universe to positively influence us as we project positive energy. My favorite line was likening life to a road trip, at night, from San Fran to New York City. You know where you’re going, but you can only see 200 ft in front of you. Life must be taken as it comes though we can provide it direction. You must stay on track, but deal, positively, with the bumps that come along the way. We must be thankful for all that is presented to us because it defines us.

The book goes on to apply the concept of positivity to health, relationships, abundance, thankfulness, and ultimately life. Indeed the point is to be happy now, feel good now.

Notes:

On Thoughts and Creation:

• Nothing can come into your experience unless you summon it thought persistent thoughts.
• What are you summoning?
• Careful, the thoughts of doubt are powerful too.
• Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions
• Use Vision boards as ways to visualize your goals
• Your power is in your thoughts, “Remember to Remember,” live in the present

On Feelings and their power:

• Our feelings let us know what we’re thinking
• Our feelings are feedback mechanisms to us about whether we’re on track or not, whether we’re on course or off course
• Bad feelings are a warning from the universe
• You’re getting exactly what you’re feeling about, not so much what you’re thinking about
• Make a list of Secret Shifters, things to employ when you’re not feeling good or the way you want to

How to live the secret:

• What do you want; take time to write that down, you must be clear about what you want.

1. Ask, once, than listen
2. Believe you’ll get it, know that – Most of us have never allowed ourselves to want what we truly want because we can’t see how it’s going to manifest
3. Receive

On moving towards a secret centric lifestyle:

Most profound reality about living life, knowing where you’re going, but unable to see exactly how it turns out:

Driving a car at night, life is SFO to NYC, but you can only really see 200 ft ahead, be ok with that.

“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“All that we are is a result of what we have thought” – Buddha

“Pruning shears of revision” –Neville Goddard, 1954—“Each night replay the events of the day; if they didn’t go the way you wanted replay them in a way that thrills you.” --- This cleans up the frequency

On Thankfulness and gratitude

• Know gratitude, be grateful
• Praise and bless the things around you

On Relationships:

For relationships to really work we need to focus on what we appreciate about the other person, not what we’re complaining about

On Health:

Laughter attracts joy, rejects negativity and leads to miraculous cures

On Positivity:

• “I will never attend an anti-war rally. If you have a peace rally, invite me” – Mother Terresa

• Use I AM. I am received every good thing, I am happy, I am abundant, I am healthy, I am love, I am always on time, I am eternal youth, I am filled with energy every single day.

On life:

Joy, love, freedom, happiness, laughter. That’s what it is.

Be Happy now, fell good now.

Book: The Shovel Revival

The Shovel Revival, Zephyros Major

While I have never read a book about motorcycle culture I couldn’t help but pick up this 43 page manifesto as the author’s name struck a familiar chord. I found the book would do the same. You see, what is facing the motorcyclist today, be him a true rough rider or the weekend yuppie, is the same dilemma that s facing America and frankly, the globalized world. What is selling out and what is living true, and isn’t it possible that selling out to something could end up as a means of being true to oneself.

The book takes you though the evolution of the motorcycle culture and how it reached its state today. Then, it goes on to discuss what might become of it, and what should best become of it. It is the hope of something even better than what has materialized today, the integration of not just many, but all riders.

Major puts it best as he says “It is a matter of opening the gates, or tallying, re-invigorating and re-inviting the masses, of adopting an attitude of action, and of spreading the good word that the secret to happiness may just lie in challenging yourself to go after it.” And as I type that I can’t help but wonder if that statement isn’t just good for revitalizing and improving motorcycling spirit, but might be ideally applied to America as we remind ourselves, and the rest of the world, that we’re on to something pretty good.

I look forward to the day I’m working quads on the river, rain pouring down, and a few too many beers in sight.

Book: A Short History of Nearly Everything

A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
9/20/07

If you needed a refresher from middle school earth science and wanted to know what happened since then, Bill Bryson has got you covered; this time with a bit more depth and insight than would be appreciated by a 12 year old. Via his witty style of prose Bryson takes us back to the creation of the universe and brings us right up to how we got to today, and how amazingly lucky the journey was and at the same time how modern science really has no clue at all as to how it all happened or what happens next. There is a great deal of theory though, and a review of it is both astounding and at times discomforting.

The simple outline of the book proceeds though the following topics explaining what we know, who figured it out, how they figured it out, and many times, what’s more to figure out:
The Creation and history of the Universe
The size of the Earth
Atoms and stuff
The forces that make the Earth go
Life
Human history

Throughout the book Bryson does an amazing job of quantifying the unquantifiable. Starting with the creation of the universe and then into the size and nature of the earth. It is safe to say that the universe is bigger that you can understand and older than you can imagine. While I knew there were tons of microbes all over and in me, I didn’t really appreciate that there are more of them on me than cells in me. The book is full of these relational facts. In one case Bryson breaks the history of the earth down to what it would have looked like in one day’s time; humans don’t show up until the last instant of the day. Then the discussion of how we figured out chemistry is shocking, but fairly expected, folks just tried stuff out to see what was what, sometimes it killed them, and sometimes it didn’t. “All life is one” is the theme of DNA. We are 99.9% similar to everyone else and share many traits via DNA with plants and the like. We all come from this lifeless substance that we are all ultimately a slave too.

On the topic of our existence, it is amazing that we, humans, are not the point of it all, as many easily imagine. We’re awfully lucky to be here and we might not stick around forever. Bryson takes us through all the possibilities of how we as humans managed to get here. It seems the only thing that can be agreed upon is that we are awfully lucky to have made it. Throughout the book descriptions of what could have happened along the way are shocking.

Here are some of the ways that we could all go away, tomorrow. An asteroid could hit the planet. Apparently there are several close calls a week, but we can’t see them, the dark roids just sail right by. Think about it, there isn’t a telescope pointed in every direction, we are bound to miss a great deal of this. And if a big one hit, we’re gone. If not an asteroid, a huge volcanic eruption could take us all out. It is well argued that we are overdue for that. It is also well argued that either the asteroid or the volcano did the dinosaurs in, so, safe to say, it could happen. How about a big solar flare frying us with some radiation, certainly a possibility? And then on a small scale, a bacteria or virus could quite easily bring us to our knees, if you think about it, and what you recall about various plagues over history, we might be overdue there too.

What drives science today is thought provoking: we know so much, but at the same time, know so little. Where do you start? Where do you get the money? Do drug companies want to fight life long illness where you have to take a pill a day for life, or flu where you take a pill for a couple of weeks? How do you standardize everything? How can you look at all parts of the sky? How do you catch up, all the mosses are still in paper record, not electronic (mosses while trivial are used as an example that could be applied to a great many things that need categorizing)? Now that we have mapped a human genome, what can we do with it? Science, in my mind, expands as fast as we can figure a small part of it out. Indeed, there is so much to figure out, let’s hope another ice age or asteroid doesn’t ruin the search.

Book: The End of Medicine

The End of Medicine, Andy Kessler
9/3/07

Kessler, of Wall Street Meat and Running Money, puts technology to the side for a bit and takes a long look at how medicine might scale. And by scale, he implies, getting cheaper and therefore selling more. It is a fascinating question; think about the money that is spent on health care in the US alone: 1.8 trillion dollars, 15% of American GDP. That is a whole chunk of our economy. That is $5,400 for every American, the highest in the world. The book sights the Swiss paying $3,300, and $2,700 in Canada. The paradoxes are plentiful, however.

The book is a journey though these paradoxes and ultimately results in showing that one day, preventative scanning/detection will revolutionize medicine and end the way we currently think about medicine. The problems are many. False positives in testing result in more tests and treatments, a whole lot of heart ache, that are all unnecessary. False negatives are recipes for litigation. And if you are the one paying the bill, and it is likely that you aren’t, because you have insurance, and it is determined you do have a condition that means we have to fix you, and that costs money. To run the best tests medicine has to offer right now on the entire population is shown to be cost prohibitive, at least for now. And that is what will change.

So be on the lookout for imaging solutions, or other types of preventative detection that will scale, it is coming and it isn’t driven by passion for money, it is driven by the passion of survivors and memories of those who didn’t.

Book: Blueprint For Action

Pretty long book review here, but some HUGE ideas. I think the Heroes and Headlines that are discussed at the end are worth a few minutes of contemplation if your interesting in really thinking about where the world will be 20 years or so down the road.



Blueprint for Action, Thomas Barnett
8/29/07

Finishing this book makes me eager to watch the future unfold and simultaneously makes me wonder why it took me so long to get through the volume. I purchased this book more than a year and a half ago and have been reading it on and off since. If Thomas Friedman is thinking 5-10 years out, Barnett is 10-40 years out and his vision is unmatched by anything I have read. Indeed his blueprint for action clearly leads to a future worth creating.

In his first book, The Pentagon’s New Map, Barnett introduced a lexicon to discuss the current security and globalization situation. There is the Core, the connected states, and the Gap, the areas of the world that is plagued by violence and dictatorship. There are subdivisions, the New Core consisting of China and India, etc. and the Old Core, the U.S., Europe, etc. The seam states are those that are positioned to come one way or the next and allow the Core to access the Gap, i.e. Turkey. Barnett’s offering to establish a system to bring the Gap into the New Core revolves around a Leviathan force in the U.S. Military, able to win wars, and then a System Administration force to win the peace. (Where we lack the numbers in Iraq the Sys Admin coalition would step in)

This book sets out to find a realizable solution, though not immediately executable, clearly his solution is offered as an optimistic alternative to the many doomsayers. He premise is simple, connect the gap and it goes away.

What makes this book so challenging is not that it isn’t written in an easy to understand manner, and it isn’t dry either, it is simply overwhelming. It is hard to think about the reality of how these huge ideas can be applied the world over. So much subtlety yields so much possibility. Simple premises that Barnett injects are so true, yet so hard to comprehend. For example, one of Barnett’s premises is that so many futurists speak doom of the future upon the assumption that humans will not alter than ways or innovate around future problems. He explains that we didn’t leave the Stone Age because we ran out of stones just as we won’t leave the oil age because we ran out of oil; rather, we found a better alternative. The same will be true for oil. Not cause to stop the worry or concern, just a dose of reality.

One of the stunning realities is as the New Core grows; they will dictate rule sets and innovations to the rest of the world. It makes sense. Who needs alternative energy more, the U.S. or China? With China’s growth rate and pollution problems compounded by less per capita discretionary budget results in China needing alternative energy while the U.S. would just like alternative energy. Innovate they will.

As Barnett concludes his blueprint he suggests future heroes we should be looking for and then goes on to suggest one of the greatest ways to see the future is to write the headlines a few years down the road. He takes his own advice.

From the Conclusion (elaborated upon in the text, but headings only provide a summary):
Heroes to Look For:
In Military Affairs:
The four star military police general
Japan’s first combat causality since World War II
Americas first SysAdmin force civilian held captive by the enemy
The “father of Post conflict stabilization and reconstruction operations”
The first SysAdmin soldier to win the Congressional Medal of Honor
The inventor of the Peacemaker (a non lethal weapon with the impact of the Colt 45)
The Sectary of Everything Else (the new Peace Department)

In the National Security Establishment:
The feminist neo-con (spreading feminism throughout the gap)
The reeducation president (education for adults)
The Last Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security)
The first Hispanic major-party nominee for president
The first governor of the fifty-first state of the union
The firs “Chinese daughter” to run for major political office
The Echo Boomers “George Kennan” (Kennan the famous grand strategist, the Echo generation is the result of the baby boomers and as mentioned by Barnett, his key audience (born 1980-1995)

In the politics throughout the Core:
The EU’s: Woodrow Wilson (The Good Cop to the U.S. Bad Cop, keeps balance and builds consensus)
The first Brazilian chair of the G-20 summit
Russia’s Bill Clinton (builds the economy)
The Martin Luther King of Islamic Europe
The “Serpico” who blows the lid of human rights abuses in the global war on terrorism (Serpico investigated NYC police corruption)
The first Russian Secretary General of NATO
The first Old Core company to pay reparation to Gap victims (i.e. Germany after WWII)

In China:
China’s JFK (To the world, ask what China can do for you)
China’s Erin Brockovich (Clean up the pollution)
The first Chinese General Sectary of the North Pacific Treaty Organization
China’s Billy Graham
The first Chinese commander of a joint Sino-American SysAdmin operation

In India:
India’s Margaret Thatcher
India’s Bill Gates
India’s first Oscar-winning Best Picture producer

In the Islamic Middle East
Wired Magazines blogger of the year
The first Arab political leader who leaves office when his legal term ends
The Eminem of Muslim rap
The first Islamic religious leader to win the Nobel Prize
Iran’s John Marshall
Last peacekeeper killed along the Israel-Palestine security fence
The first female leader of an Arab state

In Africa:
The first VJay of MTV Africa
The first African Pope (we’ll there has been three before, but 1500 years ago)
The great African-American political spokesman for African security issues
The first African “Big Man” to surrender power on an ICC plea bargain
The first U.S. military commander of African Command (wait, this has been done since the book printed)
The African Union’s peacekeeping troops win a Nobel Peace Prize

Then, on to the headlines:
2010:
Nixon Goes to Tehran: Grad Bargain in the Works between US and Iran
Doha Round Agreement Hailed as Historic Breakthrough for Struggling Economies
Kim Steps Down After Joint US-China Ultimatum; Korean Reunification Near
Super Flu Overwhelmed Most Nations Medical Systems; Half of Deaths Preventable
Iran-Israel Agreement on Nukes Triggers Tehran’s Recognition of Jewish State
National Security Act Establishes Department of Overseas Contingency Response
Iraqi President Lifts Emergency Decree, Immediately Relinquishes Military Post
China-ASEAN Pact Accelerates Agenda for Asian Free-Trade Area; Japan Korea Next
Synchronized Attacks Drive G-30 to create World Counterterrorism Organization
China’s Demand for Resources Provided Economic Liftoff for Southern Africa
Nuclear Detonation in Northwest Pakistan Described as Terrorist ‘Mistake’
China’s ‘Black Summer’ Triggers Unprecedented Social Unrest; Tipping Point Seen
Putin’s Handpicked Successor Bows to Massive Protest, Accepts Election Defeat
Asia, EU Propel Negotiations for South American Free Trade Zone
Turkey Surprisingly Rapid Entry into EU Signals Europe’s Tilt Toward Arab World

2015
Response to Adana Earthquake Proves Utility of Multination Contingency Force
Taiwan Vote Clears Way for Political ‘Road Map’ Treaty with Mainland China
Russia Begins Formal Membership Talks with EU; Energy Ties Result in ‘Fast Track’
Caspian Coordination Group Finalized Long Term Pipeline Grid Construction Plan
US Led Multination Force Invades Northern Colombia; Bogota in Flames
Kyoto II Accord Goes into Effect When Indian Parliament Approves Pact
Thanks to NATO Effort, AU Peacemaking Force Proves its Mettle in Central Africa
Brasilia Harmonization Talks Yield Draft Treaty for Free Trade Area of the Americas
Korea’s ‘Four Powers’ Served as Embryo for Pacific Rim Treaty Organization

2020
Spread of Religion Across China Alters Policies, Style of Sixth-Generation Leadership
Islamic Opposition Parties Succeed in Loosening EU Restrictions on Immigration
Persian Gulf Security Alliance Cements Role of India and Iran as Regional Pillars
EU Pact with North Africa and Mideast States Completes Goal of Mediterranean Zone
Hispanic Voters Emerge as Key Swing Vote in US National Elections
National Elections Complete Transition of Saudi Monarchy to Constitutional States
Online Game Triggers Dictator’s Departure; Stunning Victory of ‘People’s Diplomacy’

2025
Final Section of Wall Dismantled as Peacekeepers Depart Palestine-Israel Border
Previously String Islamic Terror Network in Africa Now Described as Neutralized
In Historic Shift, Growing Hydrogen Economy Leads to Peaking of Global Oil Demand
Cuba’s ‘Statehood Movement’ Grows Island Vote to Become 53rd State Seems Likely
Lunar Base Global Consortium Plans First Roundtrip of Space Elevator This Year

Book: Success Stories

Success Stories, Robert Kiyosaki
8/26/07

Kiyosaki puts together a collection of 22 stories of people that have followed his Rich Dad principals and achieved financial success. Backgrounds range in age, walk of life, social class, etc., but all decided to focus in learning real estate or business investment or both. Indeed, the stories are motivational. Principals that are continually reinforced are being ok with failure, and through due diligence.

A story I noted was Michelle LaBrosse who had program management experience and desired to get her PMP (Program Management Professional) Certification and in the process wrote a course that she sold to others. Her business grew to the largest PMP training program in the industry.

The book is worth reading for motivation and to spur further study of topics found interesting.

Book: Wall Street Meat

Wall Street Meat, Andy Kessler
8/23/07

The book autobiographically takes the reader from Kessler’s leaving Bell Labs and beginning as an analyst for Paine Webber and then on to Morgan Stanley. It can almost be called an expose of the investment banking industry as technology entered the market. It is a quick and easy read that, like all of the Kessler work I have read, has many lessons to teach. The concept that everyone on Wall Street is meat is pretty founded. Wall Street provides the world access to capital and can never be replaced. The worlds smartest are there constantly looking for the next way to make a buck. If you want a glimpse of what Wall Street was like up until the internet bubble popped this tells the story fairly well.

Interesting to read this as the “credit bubble” is in the middle of popping, yet again, I’m sure Wall Street will reinvent its self. Another thing I noted was how, like anywhere, personal networks provide access to everything, from information to boxing tickets.

Book: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey
8/10/07

7 Habits is a tremendous life changing book that spells out the common
sense of living well and being happy. The idea is that habits based on
principals fit everywhere and drive to the core of what we would all
aspire to be. Simply summarized as "Make and keep promises and involve
others in a problem and work together to solve it.

As all the habits are applied the concept of Production vs. Production
Capacity is kept in mind. The balance between producing and improving
the machine that produces is key. This can be applied you one's self, a
business, a relationship, etc. So learn, develop (PC), and do (P).

The book, and habits really, are divided into two parts: 1-3 is
developing independence and creating a private victory (with ones self)
and 4-6 are about reaching interdependence and creating a public victory
(with a team). The last habit is about renewal.

First, one must define who they are. Habit 1 is to Be Proactive, decide
what you want to be and take action. Once you have created that, Habit
2 is to Begin with the End in Mind. That is, make the plan, write a
personal mission statement. This is the leadership step, how do achieve
what is really important, what does the end look like? Once you have
that, you're ready for Habit 3, Put First Things First. It is the idea
of prioritizing your day to day life. The management step. Developing
relationships is important, but not urgent and it is often neglected.
Naturally, there should be focus here instead of interruptions that are
"urgent." These first three steps liberate you from being dependent on
other people and value yourself and your time.

Once a platform of independence is established the quest for
interdependence begins. These habits rely on developing productive
relationships with everyone: in business, at home, etc. Habit 4 is
Think Win/Win. How can a solution be found that everyone feels good
about? You don't want to get walked on, but if everyone can win
relationships are strengthened and production increases. A caveat to
this is Win/Win or No Deal. In some situations, if a Win/Win solution
cannot be found, it might be best for both parties to walk away. Part
of getting to a Win/Win solution is Habit 5, Seek First to Understand,
then be Understood. To truly listen to someone and understand their
point of view is essential to effective relationships. To stop and
listen and understand is obviously very hard especially when people
think they are right or are passionate. Once Habit 5 is achieved, the
relationship is prepared for Habit 6, Synergize. Synergy is defined as
the whole being greater than its parts. 1+1=3. Once both parties
understand one and other and the foundations of the situation and
appreciated by all the group can come together to find new ideas and
growth that would have been otherwise unobtainable.

Habit 7 is to Sharpen the Saw. Taking time to develop once physical,
mental, spiritual, and Social/Emotional dimensions. Through this, the
study of the habits begins anew.

Following and implementing these habits is no small task, but striving
to do so is rewarding everyday. From developing a mission statement to
writing down goals to define one's self reveals endless possibilities.
Then, to have synergistic interaction may be, quite simply, the point.

Book: OPM

OPM: Other Peoples Money, Michael Lechter
8/11/07

OPM is a book about finding money to fund a venture. Instead of finding
a great business deal and saying "I can't afford it" you learn here that
you just have to find the right stream of capital. Funding sources are
many, but the book begins by reviewing why one would need funding and
typical ways businesses go about getting it. For starters, simple
stories that show how a business' present and future value is calculated
are told. That is followed by brief explanations of business plans and
financial statements that would be prepared to get funding. The major
sources of funding for both small to medium business are discussed and
include: Friends and Family (Seed Money), Angel Investors ($500k-$1M),
Venture capital ($1M-$50M), Banks, Joint Ventures, Strategic
Partnerships, and Licensing.

Throughout the book securities laws are reinforced and the importance of
having a good lawyer ensures that all are in compliance with them. The
book provides a great 300 page overview to a subject that could fill
many volumes. As part of the Rich Dad series it is simply a taste of
what is out there and as one becomes more interested in a specific
source of funding more reading and research would be required. This
makes sense as it would be unlikely that someone would be seeking Angle
and VC funding at the same time.

Book: Atlas Shrugged

Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand

8/4/07

 

Who is John Galt?  To understand you’ll have to read the book, but in essence, he is the voice of capitalism.  Ayn Rand uses a good story to illustrate the woes of government regulation that taxes capitalistic endeavors.  It is about rules that strip the competitive marketplace of its competition and kill the marketplace and the economy. The story tells how this might happen.  One must take into account that the book was written in the 1950’s and the results of the themes, Objectivism, as it is called, looks a lot like what globalization looks like today.

 

What I enjoyed the most was the spirit of the characters.  The industrialists were driven by nothing but desire to succeed.  Never mind the financial reward; though they slowly learned how it could be enjoyed, rather, the best reward was the running of a successful enterprise.

 

Additionally, the book teaches that the best industrialists, or business persons, have unquestionable character and that is impressive.  The concept is that every deal is a trade where both people can win.  Get rid of the tricks and you have a better marketplace.  The tricks are that of the looters, attempting to cheat and get ahead.

 

“Nobody stays here by faking reality in any manner whatever” – Ayn Rand

 

“I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine” – Ayn Rand

Book: Running Money

Running Money, Andy Kessler
6/1/07

Running Money is a memoir of Andy Kessler running a small hedge fun during the late 90’s tech bubble out of a small office in Silicon Valley. Andy takes the time to show us what kind of value he is seeking for his fund that isn’t trying to turn quick profit, rather take a longer, few year approach to finding “ten baggers” (stocks that will double 10 times over).

The fun money running stories aside, there was much to be learned about how money flows. He uses the example of the steam engine igniting the industrial revolution to explain how integrated circuits revolutionized the American intellectual property economy. The “scale” of the processor, or the steam engine, is such that everything needs it, from the cotton gin to the iron smelter, and from the browser company (Netscape) to the online vendor (Amazon).

Andy’s travels around the world and learns how the entire concern of a trade deficit is misunderstood. Perhaps the most interesting theme of the book is how American companies export a plan for a chip or a design for a part and then turn around and import the packaged product. Nothing of monetary value exported, only intellectual property, and then the goods are “purchased” back in. Hence the deficit, but then what do the foreign companies do with the money they made off of our ideas? They buy our t-bills and reinvest in our stocks there by driving our intellectual property economy. Simple powerful cycle. And of course the middle class rises in the manufacturing countries and they begin to produce a bit of their own intellectual property.

I like the business based globalized themes. The book is a great extension to Friedman’s The World is Flat.

Book: Own Your Own Corporation

Own Your Own Corporation, Garrett Sutton
2/25/07

Part of the Rich Dad series, Own Your Own Corporation, discusses corporate entities from inception to dissolution. The book is less of a “how to” own your own corporation, rather it is a overview of what corporations are, how they are created, concerns of corporations, and finally dissolution of corporations. The book is an excellent primer for people who want an overview of the corporate process.

Notes:
Entities discussed:
C Corporation – Big companies, many shareholders, double taxed
S Corporation – Small, starting companies, taxes pass though
Limited Liability Company (LLC) – Member or manager managed, can be big or small
Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) – General Partner managed, can be big or small
General Partnership – No liability control, 2 or more partners
Sole Proprietorship – No liability control, 1 manager/owner

A LLC could own a small stake in an LLP, be the managing member thus limiting the liability of all parties.

Each entity is discussed and advantages that can be leverage are explained. Some discussing of formation is given. The book recommends establishing entities in Nevada for many privacy and tax reasons.

After an entity is established the book discusses how corporate formalities protect the corporate veil and then how to go about protecting the company name by trademark registration, etc.

Now that the corporation is established the book explains how raising money works. It explains the SEC rules that govern how different rounds of stock can be offered. It is important to note that in most states; only 35 non-accredited investors (people who are not millionaires) are allowed to be involved in funding of companies, etc. The road to an IPO is also briefly explained.

Once the money has been raised, protection of the companies with respect to employee issues, buy sell agreements (what if a partner leaves, etc.)

The appendix reviews each state’s corporation laws.

Book: The World is Flat

The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman
5/18/07

Perhaps the best book I've ever read. Mind expanding yet gelling it all together and at the same time thought provoking and awe inspiring. As it turns out, the world is flat, and it is getting flatter everyday. By this, Friedman implies that the world is connecting in ways that are unobstructed: pick up a phone, step into a VTC, language matters less (and more all at the same time), business, supply chains, they don't care about boarders or distance; they are globalized, and getting more so everyday.

The result of this global flatness is deep. Global supply chains ensure security. Through global connectivity, business knows no bound, yet at the same time, the business of terrorism is allowed to thrive at the same rate as commerce. Fortunately, I believe that this greater connectivity will eventually allow most all to prosper. It will take time, and much change, but the world is connecting. And as Barnett would agree, the Gap is shrinking.

Fair treatment is paid to how the flattened, connected world, allows those who do not have opportunity in their own countries to see the opportunity of others. As they themselves are not allowed to achieve, they become frustrated, and frustration breads violence and all the other terrible, unflat, disconnected nightmares.

So much of the discussion of how the world has become flat and what that flatness allowed is obvious. However, Friedman throws it all in front of you amazingly meshing of statistics, common sense, and revealing examples. A tremendous journalistic work that, perhaps as he has set out to do, ignites your imagination.

In Summary:
The book begins by talking about events that occurred to “flatten” the world. In all, it started when the Berlin Wall came down and a huge chunk of the world was able to connect. This moves on to the development of the internet, outsourcing, open sourcing, off-shoring, supply chaining, in-sourcing, informing, and the steroids that are making it all go faster. All this is tied together by what is called a triple convergence of all of these technologies though out the world.

Some fascinating examples are how Dell Computers pulls form a hugely global, just in time supply chain. How UPS is delivering not just packages, but supply chaining, warehousing, etc. You could be a company and have UPS manage all of your inventory and its delivery; you don’t even need a warehouse. Toshiba even has UPS take care of their actual computer maintenance activities.

Friedman then goes on to explain the implications of this flattened world and how it pertains to the U.S., developing nations, companies, and geopolitics. The flattening is allowing the growth of business where there countries that have rule sets allow it. At the same time those who are disallowed to watch the process in plan view. Friedman uses this to provide an excellent analysis of what is driving the Islamist movement that is so degrading the development of the Middle East. He then explains how radicals can use the connectedness to further disconnect their societies. Paradoxical in essence, but plainly obvious after consideration.

Examples are provided of all kinds of different rules about forming businesses, hiring and firing. In the US, it is pretty easy, in other countries it may take a year to start a business and law may require more capital that is realistic. Innovation stifled by archaic rules.

The conclusion is that Imagination is the key ingredient in prospering in these flattened times. Imagination in America to keep us leading the charge, imagination in developing nations to bring their poorest people with them as they prosper, and imagination in disconnected states to find a way to connect (and remove the power grubbing elites).

Book: The Zone

The Zone, by Berry Sears
4/26/07

The Zone is, nutritionally, when your body is at its peak performance. From an athletic stand point, it is where you have the best access to fat stores as a source of energy. The way to get there is simple in concept. Instead of eating a high carbohydrate or high protein diet, eat a balanced diet (with respect to macronutrients) following a 40%-30%-30%, carbohydrate to protein to fat ratio. It is shown throughout the book that this is how the body was designed to eat. Several studies that showed how eating in the Zone boosted college athletes (Stanford Swimmers) to the Olympic class by simply balancing their diets are proof enough for me to buy The Zone.

The challenge of entering the zone is learning how much macronutrient is in different types of food. The following is the program:

Firs, Calculate Lean Body Weight, which is weight minus weight of fat (body weight times % body fat). Percent body fat can be determined by tape, skin fold, or emersion. Lean body weight is the multiplied by a “fitness factor” that ranges from 0.5 to 1, with 0.5 representing limited exercise to 1 being two a days with weight training, etc.

This number should be the grams of protein you eat daily. To simplify things this is broken into blocks, 1 block is 7 grams of protein. Now, say that divides out to 20 blocks for you a day. You should eat 20 blocks of each protein, carbohydrate, and fat (carbs multiply out to 9 grams a block and fat at 1.5 grams a block). To convert all this to real food, you can use a table at the following link.
http://web.rollins.edu/~gvaliante/zoneblocks.htm

Spread those blocks out across the day and you’re in the Zone. I asked my doctor about it, and his response was, “Why would you not eat like this, the body needs it all, and it needs it balanced.”

Book: Good To Great

Good to Great, Jim Collins
4/17/07
This book discusses what companies have done to go from good to great companies. Great companies are defined by market performance more than three times the average. The book explores what traits were common to all and allowed them to exceed by such measures. The results are astounding. These are companies with the right leadership, the right people, the right concept, and the discipline to make it all happen.

In reading Good to Great it convinces you to go out and work for a great company. If you have the drive and the discipline, it would be foolish to be on another “bus.” These businesses are the places that you want to work at. A simple hedgehog (focused) concept and a group of focused employees would clearly create an environment of success and reward, both intrinsically and extrinsically.

The book can further be applied to evaluation of investment in stock. Find companies that have a hedgehog concept and read about the leadership. Does it sound like it is a place you would want to work at? The changes are subtle, but the payback soars.

Book: Buy a Business

How to Buy a Good Business at a Great Price, by Richard Parker
4/16/07

How to Buy a Good Business is a very through treatment of the process of busying a business. The book first sets the stage for what type of people ought to buy a business and what kind of businesses they might be interested in. The book goes on to discuss searching for a business and then evaluating the business. There are Great ideas for evaluating competition, asking questions, and understanding the business within the context of everything else.

Once you have identified a business to buy Parker takes you though a very detailed process of making an offer and negotiating the deal. He goes on to discuss financing options and does so with a wealth of experience of buying and brokering business deals. He then covers the due diligence period and finally closing the deal.

If you want to buy a business this book is a must read and a tool to be used and reviewed as you prepare for each part of a business purchase.

Book: Retire Young, Retire Rich

Retire Young, Retire Rich, by Robert Kiyosaki
3/7/07

If “Why We Want You to Be Rich” explains why you ought to be rich, this Rich Dad series book explains what rich is, what the mentality is, and what the value in being rich is. It focuses on things that if you were not rich you wouldn’t even realize. How the rich can be perceived as greedy and really, it can often be the rich that are most generous, providing jobs, houses, etc. The book doesn’t really teach you how to become rich, nor does it intend to, I believe it aims to start you down the road to thinking with leverage and learning about what intelligent investors use to manage money and acquire assets.

From Sharaon: BUY ASSETS, buy assets that generate cash flow—NOW.

Book: The Omnivore's Dilemma

The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Michael Pollan

My Rating (1-10): 8

The book follows four meals from creation to stomach.

The Industrial meal, from McDonalds
Ties the history of corn, and then the economics back to why industrial food is the way it is. Corn yields more energy per acre than anything else we have. Push that through live stock or process it into corn syrup and you get cheap food. Cheap food that appeals to our human nature of liking sweet things because sweet is calories. Corn growing is encouraged by cooperate America because it is cheap, so more is grown, which drives down the price. So farmers want more money, so they grow more corn, further driving down the price and the cycle repeats. Companies like Cargill and ADM, private companies, handle all the middle stuff. They buy the corn and process it and sell its derivatives to all comers. They lobby the government to keep corn product consumption high. The result is lots of cheap food that enables the population to expand. The problem is that we can only eat so much, hence marketing to get us to eat more. The tragedy is that animals that wouldn’t usually eat corn are forced to, which is basically against nature, and problems of disease in our food supply (E coli, Mad Cow Disease) flourish. In the end, industrial food appeals to our tastes, it is everywhere, and we eat it.

The Industrial Organic Meal, from Whole Foods
Just because things are done the organic way doesn’t mean that the desire to produce huge quantities doesn’t take a toll on the land. No fertilizers results in over tilling land, etc. All in all, perhaps Organic is better for the land, and by the authors report, and I suppose my own experience, the food tastes better. Most interesting is how the market has manipulated the laws such that certain things are permissive that may not be organic in nature, such as how the crops are designed to fit the specifications of a piece of machinery, that is, organic, isn’t free range. Of course, to be free range, the hen house need only have a little door to the outside land which is avoided because it is barren, and away from the food in the house.

The Pastoral Meal from Polyface Farm
This meal comes from Polyface Farm http://www.polyfacefarms.com/ in Swoope, VA and of all that has been talked about, it makes you want to go there and pay any price for a meal. Everything is tied to everything else, the cows are rotated to “mow” the grass, then come the portable chicken coops to clear the fields or bug larva from the cow pats and add nitrogen to the land via feces. And meanwhile the rabbits with urine high in ammonia suspended over hens that temper the ammonia with the nitrogen rich feces fertilize woodchips that go into the barn. In the winter, in the barn, the cow manure collects, throw in some corn as it happens, bring the pigs in the spring to dive for the corn and till the pile and you have got a bunch of rich compost to spread around the felids. Then send the pigs into the forest, the feed themselves by eating the rye grasses and keeping the trees happy, moisture retaining, farm field cooling, etc. Simply amazing to watch nature and the symbiotic relationships that are so easily (well, a lot of work really) cultivated. And from the sound of it, the food is just simply the best food you might ever taste.

The proceeds are seasonal, red meat in the winter, when it’s cold out, not spring lamb, the ideal birthing time because the grass is lush in April. The industrial food cycle is out of synch with nature (p 253). Polyface products are delivered to Charlottesville, VA to fine restaurants and I’m sure I’ll make the trip. You could also stop by the farm to pick up the products or perhaps find them in a D.C. farmers market, this is eating on a small fresh, scale.

The meal is a Polyface chicken, corn, and a soufflé made with Polyface Eggs, and the author and his friends found the chicken more chickener, as expected. Some discussion is made of the health benefits and you continue to see that the industrial food complex is producing food in ways nature never intended. Out of balance diets for meat make for out of balance diets for humans.

The Hunted Gathered Meal
The hunt is for wild boar in Sonoma, CA and discusses how human instinct is prepared for hunting. How hunters can maintain a still crouch longer as the body adapts to the instinctual activity. Alertness and hunger drive a hunter, stalking thorough the woods. Eventually, the author gets his pig and then, with the aid of his friend, learns to skin his prey.

I found myself closely reading the gory details of the “dressing” of the pig. I had avoided any close reference to industrial slaughter. I felt slightly more comfortable with the pastoral slaughter of chickens, but the hunted pig was easier, this was one animal, which had been well discussed by the author’s friend as to how each part would be used to produce different cuts of ham and sausage. It felt appropriate and comfortable as the pig was eviscerated and prepared.

The human reaction of disgust is mentioned several times regarding how that mechanism protects us from things that shouldn’t eat. Think of the smell of decaying flesh, slaughter, waste, etc; those things disgust us and we don’t want to eat when we feel that.

The last adventure is “hunting” for mushrooms. The entire process of hunting mushrooms is incredible. Science knows little about mushrooms, why they fruit, how they develop, the symbiotic relationship with the trees they are always found near, etc. A forest could have no mushrooms until a fire, which will trigger the fungus to produce the mushroom; it is thought that this allows the mushroom spores to migrate to their new land. Fungi are essential to the land, they decompose leaves, etc, creating the circle of life and if nothing were to decompose, the food chain would end. Interesting there hasn’t been more study.

The meal came from a Pate of Pig Liver, Egg Fettuccine with sautéed Morels (mushroom), braised leg and grilled loin of wild Sonoma pig, wild east bay yeast bread, garden salad, cherry galette, chamomile tea, and a petite syrah. He attempted to follow a few rules, but admits some were bent: 1. Everything on the menu must have been hunted, gathered, or grown by the author, 2. The menu should include animal, vegetable, fungus, and minerals, 3. Everything served must be in season and fresh, 4. No money may be spent, except for already purchased spices, etc, 5. Guests would be folks who helped him hunt and gather, 6. He would cook the meal himself.

In All
This is the sort of book that all high schoolers should read. I come away knowing where my food comes from, for better or worse, and also, where I would like it to come from. Good food takes time and is expensive, industrial food is fast and cheap. The transparency of the hunted and gathered meal is something few of us have experienced. How many times would you say you have sat to a meal and know the story of each ingredient?

As the book progresses you go from disgust to desire, and it would be well worth spending some time procuring food from the wild to truly appreciate what the author refers to as the body of the earth.

Book: Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes

Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes
Gary Belsky and Thomas Gilovich

The book proceeds by discussing several realties of behavioral economics, like why a tax return feels like a windfall payment. Why the value of money is less when more is on the line, like $5 more for a car vs. a CD. The intent is to assist the reader in stepping away from such faults and make smarter decisions. The book goes on to make a series of suggestions to improve ones personal financial situation.

The Ego trap reminds us that we are not as smart as we think we are and we need to be mindful of that. We remember past success better than past failures. It is important that we learn detailed lessons from past failures. We can temper optimism with prior experience, but in general, we don’t learn well enough from our past mistakes.

A good rule for adjusting for over confidence is by taking 25% of the high estimate and adding 25% to the down estimate. Like, think you could make $1000, thing again to $750, think you could only loose $1000, think losing $1250.

Principals to Ponder:
Every dollar spends the same
Losses hurt you more than gains please you
Money that’s spent is money that doesn’t matter
It’s all in the way you look at it
All numbers count, even if you don’t like to count them
You probably pay too much attention to things that matter too little
Your confidence is often misplaced
It’s hard to admit mistakes
The trend may not be your friend
You can know too much

Steps to take:
Raise you insurance deductible
Self insure against small losses
Pay off credit card debt with emergency funds
Switch to index funds
Diversify your investments
Review your assets
Max out on retirement plans
Set up a payroll deduction plan
Keep Track (of how you spend money and where it is)

Book: Buffettology

Buffettology, Mary Buffett
2/28/07
Excellent take on how Warren Buffet evaluates, not stocks, but businesses. Easy to forget that that is what the strock market is, the buying and selling of parts of companies. Buffet sees two “parts” to the market, the near term speculative market and the longer term investment market. He has no interest in the speculative market.

When evaluating a company buffet looks first at what he wants to buy (type of company) and then evaluates qualitative properties followed by quantitative prosperities. That is, what to buy, and then, at what price.

Qualitative (p 101):

1. Does the biz have an identifiable consumer monopoly?
2. Are the earnings of the company strong and showing an upward trend?
3. Is the company conservatively financed?
4. Does the business consistently earn a high rate of return on shareholders’ equity?
5. Does the business get to retain its earnings?
6. How much does the business have to spend on maintaining current operations?
7. Is the company free to reinvest retained earnings in new business opportunities, expansion of operations, or share repurchases? How good a job does the management do at this?
8. Is the company free to adjust prices to inflation?
9. Will the value added by retained earnings increase the market value of the company?

Consider business capital and the cost to replace, the candy company vs. car company.

Quantitative
Test 1 – Determine, at a glance, predictability of earnings… are they going up?
Look at rate of equity growth and consider the rate of increase, project fut value.
Do the same with earnings

Alternative Investments
When not in a good investment, the following are used:
· Long-term fixed-income securities
· Medium-term fixed income securities
· Short-term cash equivalents
· Short-term arbitrage commitments (favorite)

Arbitrage
G, expected gain, if a gain
L, expected loss, if a failure
C, changes of success, percentage
Y, expected time of holding, in years
P, current price
Annual return = (CG-L(100%-C))/(YP)