35 Comments

Thanks. Currently reading "Man Who Solved the Market". Half way through and I find nothing of value despite countless five star reviews. The book describes the increasing sophistication of their data analysis but you never really get a "how". Charlie would call this a sunk cost and tell me to stop reading!

Expand full comment
author

Interesting. I've been meaning to revisit this book. I like his story but I would agree that it's not immediately practically useful as is often the case with the stories of those who 'solve' the market in a quantitative way. The 'what' will not be disclosed or be outdated. That said, there are life lessons in his story. Will share when I get to it.

Expand full comment

Good one! Know this struggle well.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you🙏

Expand full comment
Mar 11, 2023Liked by Frederik Gieschen

Fantastic written article. Loved it very much.

Put it down framework is so powerful concept.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you, Ajit. So hard to do yet so important.

Expand full comment
Mar 11, 2023Liked by Frederik Gieschen

Great stuff.

Expand full comment
author

Thanks, Conor!

Expand full comment
Mar 14, 2023Liked by Frederik Gieschen

Amazing...Thanks.."I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." - Bruce Lee

Expand full comment

Wow, this is wonderful!

Expand full comment
author

Thanks, Matthew!

Expand full comment
Mar 12, 2023Liked by Frederik Gieschen

Hey Frederik. Enoyed the post. Niall Ferguson was on Macro Hive podcast days ago. In the last 5 minutes of the interview he talked exactly about your point regarding input vs output vs [put it down]. He said that in order to write well, you first need to learn how to think well. And "thinking" being a skill that is not tought anywhere. He also talked about how "mentally unfit" most of us are for the exact reasons that you point out in this article.

Expand full comment
author

Thanks so much for highlighting! Enjoy his work and the macro hive pod.

Expand full comment
Mar 12, 2023Liked by Frederik Gieschen

“Life is not a quest to read the most books and investing is not a race to out-read your competitor. Value is created by applying what you’ve learned through better judgment. ”

Beautifully said. Another great piece.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you!

Expand full comment
May 5, 2023Liked by Frederik Gieschen

while reading Ted Gioia's excellent essay https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/my-lifetime-reading-plan

reminded me of this post again. the part he wrote on reading slowly resonated with your equally excellent piece:

"For many years, I felt that my slow reading was holding me back. I would be wiser, I would be smarter, I told myself, if I could just read faster. I often keep going back over the same sentences again and again, trying to decipher their inner meaning. This slows me down to a tortoise’s pace—and it’s frustrating.

But now I believe slowness was a benefit. My learning was deeper and more mind-expanding because I didn’t rush it.”

Expand full comment
author

Ted's work is phenomenal and his reading habits blew me away. Inspiring.

Expand full comment

slow is fast

Expand full comment

I listened to this article in a normal speed. Thank you for the reminder. In the past 5 years I started to read more based on curiosity, for both fiction and non-fiction.

I like the similarity between Rubin and Munger. Thanks.

Expand full comment

Agreed in spades.

Expand full comment
Mar 11, 2023Liked by Frederik Gieschen

Really enjoyed your article, relatedly at times I've struggled with the why read books vs synopses and attempted to articulate that "why" here (wrote it a while ago)....would love any thoughts as even still don't love my answers!

http://clearingfog.com/why-books/.

Expand full comment
Mar 11, 2023Liked by Frederik Gieschen

"Marty: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?

Nigel: These go to eleven."

I can't stop laughing!!! 😁😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣

Expand full comment
author

It's an evergreen great scene/meme😂

Expand full comment
Mar 11, 2023·edited Mar 11, 2023Liked by Frederik Gieschen

This topic is on point. Well said sir. A good reminder. We particularly liked your three segments for productive time. Thank you!

Expand full comment
author

Thank you!

Expand full comment
Jul 22, 2023Liked by Frederik Gieschen

As someone who is voraciously curious, this rings true. I guess the key wisdom is for which inputs it pays off to slow down for. And this wisdom is in my view only shaped by extensive experience of having been a reading, and more generally, an information input machine.

Expand full comment
author

Absolutely remain a learning machine. Just make time for proper digestion and processing. FOMO/status game is the distraction.

Expand full comment

Do what you love and love want you do

Expand full comment