Post: #101

I'm reading the Walt Disney biography by Neal Gabler. I'm reading it after previously reading the Biography of Steve Jobs, and some of the similarities are striking.

Post: #102

(01-20-2014 09:27 PM)tarquin Wrote:  I'm reading the Walt Disney biography by Neal Gabler. I'm reading it after previously reading the Biography of Steve Jobs, and some of the similarities are striking.

Sounds interesting ... can you give a few examples?

Post: #103

The Mabinogion, a collection of Ancient Welsh heroic epic tales from the Middle Ages.

Post: #104

(01-21-2014 03:00 AM)Scuba_Instructor Wrote:  

(01-20-2014 09:27 PM)tarquin Wrote:  I'm reading the Walt Disney biography by Neal Gabler. I'm reading it after previously reading the Biography of Steve Jobs, and some of the similarities are striking.

Sounds interesting ... can you give a few examples?

The one that stands out the most is the "reality distortion field" that Steve Jobs is said to have. He would force his viewpoint on others so much that even if what he demanded was considered impossible, people would find a way to get it done. Where there is a will there is a way, basically.

Walt pretty much forced more realism in cartooning, began using sound in cartoons, and ushered in the age of color film. He did this while increasing the budget for each short cartoon from around $2,500 to $15,000 or so (not finished reading yet).

Steve forced through a computer revolution. He wanted not just innovation in the operating system (icons, using a mouse etc...) but he also forced the product to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye and went even so far as to make one of the factories look like an incredibly pleasing Willy-Wonka-like assembly line. All at the expense of profits (both foolishly and ingeniously at different times).

Walt was always the final arbiter of when something was good or not. Everything had to be passed through him before it was good enough. In one instance he stopped a reel because he noticed a single frame was placed backwards. Steve was the final arbiter and would often dismiss something as being shit if he didn't like it, even if it would have been amazing work for any other company.

Both created cults. The Mickey Mouse cult was a huge cultural phenomenon. Apple products create a religious experience in followers.

Both had off-beat romantic lives. Walt didn't seem interested in women until he met his future wife. Steve was aloof and an asshole, to the point of being extremely self-centered and refusing to even acknowledge his own daughter, Lisa. I didn't get the impression that Steve was a natural at game, just that he was an aspie or some sort of manic-depressive.

Both, at times, cared more about their product/company than money which drove them to greater success. Perhaps an unconscious form of delayed gratification.

Both were pranksters. Steve pulled pranks in high school. Walt cross-dressed in his mother's clothing and would knock on the doors of his family and pretend to be somebody else.

Steve spent time in India finding himself. Walt spent time in Europe post WWI in the Red Cross.

Steve became an idea guy at his own company (in fact, Woz was the one who did the heavy-lifting early on). Walt stopped animating at his own company and was an idea guy, overseeing the process of each cartoon.

Steve was screwed over (to a certain extent) by Bill Gates. Walt was screwed over by some of his early distributors as well as a few artists who left him.

Apply and Walt Disney Studios both had times where they had to restart, seemingly from scratch.

Both started out incredibly young at their business and were bosses to people twenty plus years their senior.

Walt dropped out of High School (if I recall correctly). Steve dropped out of College.

I'm sure there are a lot of other similarities. I honestly think the subject is worth of an entire topic. Perhaps when I finish the book I can give a better analysis.

Post: #105

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Post: #106

The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. So far the writing is excellent, the best I've read since Burmese Days by George Orwell.

Post: #107

"The Black Count. Glory, Betrayal and the Real Count of Monte Cristo," by Tom Reiss. It's a Pulitzer Prize winning account of General Alexander Dumas, the son of a Haitian slave who rose to command 50,000 men in Napoleon's army. He was the father of novelist Alexandre Dumas.

Post: #108

I am currently listening to this Audio Book : "Books That Have Made History: Books That Can Change Your Life"

http://www.audible.com/pd/Classics/Books...B00DB3U12U

Brilliant stuff - highly recommended. There are 30 minute lectures on each of these books :

Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers From Prison
Homer, Iliad
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Bhagavad Gita
Book of Exodus
Gospel of Mark
Koran
Gilgamesh
Beowulf
Book of Job
Aeschylus, Oresteia
Euripides, Bacchae
Plato, Phaedo
Dante, The Divine Comedy
Shakespeare, Othello, the Moor of Venice
Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago
Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
George Orwell, 1984
Vergil, Aeneid
Pericles, Oration; Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
Confucius, The Analects
Machiavelli, The Prince
Plato, Republic
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
Sir Thomas Malory, Morte d'Arthur
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, Part 1
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, Part 2
Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Lord Acton, The History of Freedom
Cicero, On Moral Duties (De Officiis)
Gandhi, An Autobiography
Churchill, My Early Life; Painting as a Pastime

I brought it for 1 credit ($15) from Audible.

Post: #109

Ooh, I listened to the great courses version of that.

I enjoyed it a lot, but then I actually read one of the books (Goethe's Faust) and I found that what it actually said was a good deal different than the summary that he gives. So maybe be cautious with what you're listening to.

Post: #110

Mike Tyson's autobiography - Undisputed Truth. It's good. Tyson (or his co-writer) has a cutting, red pill prose. He went through a seriously rough time as a child. He is honest in his version of the truth of race in America.
http://www.amazon.com/Undisputed-Truth-M...uted+truth

Post: #111

Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel, technology and invention jn the MiddleAge by Frances and Joseph Gies.

Post: #112

I read the Mike Tyson autobiography.

I can't remember him discussing race much in the book.

The only comments that come to mind is that Don King abused his trust and ripped him off under the guise of 'one brother joining forces with another against the bad white men'. And his love for Cus D'Amato - which even his black friends envied since they too wished they had a white family looking out for them.

Other than that - I don't recall much else. Even his bullshit rape case was bought against him by a woman who was black and not white.

Post: #113

(01-29-2014 01:08 PM)cardguy Wrote:  I read the Mike Tyson autobiography.

I can't remember him discussing race much in the book.

The only comments that come to mind is that Don King abused his trust and ripped him off under the guise of 'one brother joining forces with another against the bad white men'. And his love for Cus D'Amato - which even his black friends envied since they too wished they had a white family looking out for them.

Other than that - I don't recall much else. Even his bullshit rape case was bought against him by a woman who was black and not white.

Marketing strategy.

He knows that the majority of his readers will be white, it's bad publicity for him if he discusses race relations. Discussing race nowadays is kind of a taboo, not many people are ready to come out of their races and observe things for what they are and no many people are ready to take criticism from other races. We see what happens on this forum when we discuss race...

Post: #114

(01-29-2014 01:08 PM)cardguy Wrote:  I read the Mike Tyson autobiography.

I can't remember him discussing race much in the book.

The only comments that come to mind is that Don King abused his trust and ripped him off under the guise of 'one brother joining forces with another against the bad white men'. And his love for Cus D'Amato - which even his black friends envied since they too wished they had a white family looking out for them.

Other than that - I don't recall much else. Even his bullshit rape case was bought against him by a woman who was black and not white.

It's more subtle to me. I got the sense that he knows that white people generally had a certain fear of black thugs like him, street rats, but that he accepted who he is and didn't try to be anyone else.

Post: #115

I am reading the Horus Heresy

Post: #116

Almost done with Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout. Lots of trivial truths, tons of stuff I don't find convergent with my existing knowledge.. Nevertheless has some good points.
Just starting La Impresionante Vida de Un Seductor - Porfirio Rubirosa by Lipe Collado. Inspired by thread from RVF

Post: #117

(01-21-2014 09:26 PM)tarquin Wrote:  

(01-21-2014 03:00 AM)Scuba_Instructor Wrote:  

(01-20-2014 09:27 PM)tarquin Wrote:  I'm reading the Walt Disney biography by Neal Gabler. I'm reading it after previously reading the Biography of Steve Jobs, and some of the similarities are striking.

Sounds interesting ... can you give a few examples?

The one that stands out the most is the "reality distortion field" that Steve Jobs is said to have. He would force his viewpoint on others so much that even if what he demanded was considered impossible, people would find a way to get it done. Where there is a will there is a way, basically.

Walt pretty much forced more realism in cartooning, began using sound in cartoons, and ushered in the age of color film. He did this while increasing the budget for each short cartoon from around $2,500 to $15,000 or so (not finished reading yet).

Steve forced through a computer revolution. He wanted not just innovation in the operating system (icons, using a mouse etc...) but he also forced the product to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye and went even so far as to make one of the factories look like an incredibly pleasing Willy-Wonka-like assembly line. All at the expense of profits (both foolishly and ingeniously at different times).

Walt was always the final arbiter of when something was good or not. Everything had to be passed through him before it was good enough. In one instance he stopped a reel because he noticed a single frame was placed backwards. Steve was the final arbiter and would often dismiss something as being shit if he didn't like it, even if it would have been amazing work for any other company.

Both created cults. The Mickey Mouse cult was a huge cultural phenomenon. Apple products create a religious experience in followers.

Both had off-beat romantic lives. Walt didn't seem interested in women until he met his future wife. Steve was aloof and an asshole, to the point of being extremely self-centered and refusing to even acknowledge his own daughter, Lisa. I didn't get the impression that Steve was a natural at game, just that he was an aspie or some sort of manic-depressive.

Both, at times, cared more about their product/company than money which drove them to greater success. Perhaps an unconscious form of delayed gratification.

Both were pranksters. Steve pulled pranks in high school. Walt cross-dressed in his mother's clothing and would knock on the doors of his family and pretend to be somebody else.

Steve spent time in India finding himself. Walt spent time in Europe post WWI in the Red Cross.

Steve became an idea guy at his own company (in fact, Woz was the one who did the heavy-lifting early on). Walt stopped animating at his own company and was an idea guy, overseeing the process of each cartoon.

Steve was screwed over (to a certain extent) by Bill Gates. Walt was screwed over by some of his early distributors as well as a few artists who left him.

Apply and Walt Disney Studios both had times where they had to restart, seemingly from scratch.

Both started out incredibly young at their business and were bosses to people twenty plus years their senior.

Walt dropped out of High School (if I recall correctly). Steve dropped out of College.

I'm sure there are a lot of other similarities. I honestly think the subject is worth of an entire topic. Perhaps when I finish the book I can give a better analysis.

Very interesting. Thanks for such an informative post. I've heard conflicting reports regarding Disney's character - some sources have him as a very immoral (but driven) man. I'll have to read up on the subject.

Post: #118

Pimp, by Iceberg Slim.

Post: #119

The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, first published in 1949 and periodically updated until 1971. Brought up-to-date with commentary by Jason Zweig in 2003. WestCoast recommended it to me in a PM a while back and I finally got around to reading it.

The book lays the fundamentals for being an "Intelligent Investor" and includes guidance for being both a "defensive investor" and an "enterprising" one. On the defensive end, he lays out in simple terms how to invest in stocks, bonds, and funds that should net you a 5-6% return over the long haul. This may not seem like much, especially considering how well some of the guys in the Stock Market 2014 thread are doing, but the tradeoff for this "modest" (key element of successful investing--don't lose) return should be minimal fuss and worry. Its basic formula consists of buying solid stocks and bonds with a good "margin of safety" ie. make sure they have a proven track record of making money, solid financials, positive outlook for future growth, and the key, that you don't ever overpay for them. Then you sit back confidently and let the market do its thing, both "good" and "bad", while maintaining your cool.

I've skimmed some of the sections dealing with security analysis and will have to go over them again in more detail, but as a neophyte with regard to this stuff, I already feel much more knowledgeable and grounded about the basic principles of investing and am looking forward to starting my own portfolio soon. I think there is tremendous value (pun intended) in reading this book. Don't take it from me, take it from Warren Buffet, who as a student of Graham's has made his billions following the principals of (enterprising) value investing.

Post: #120

(01-30-2014 11:14 AM)artur jedi Wrote:  Almost done with Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout. Lots of trivial truths, tons of stuff I don't find convergent with my existing knowledge.. Nevertheless has some good points.

You should check out the following book. It covers similar ideas - but it is very well written. One of the ten best books I have read. Every page had a novel insight or new idea which was fresh and interesting. Can't recommend it enough.

http://www.amazon.com/Different-Escaping...erent+moon

Post: #121

Daniel Quinn - The Story Of B

My Big TOE - the Complete Trilogy - Thomas Campbell

Post: #122

Thanks, CardGuy, going to check it out.

(02-01-2014 03:12 PM)cardguy Wrote:  

(01-30-2014 11:14 AM)artur jedi Wrote:  Almost done with Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout. Lots of trivial truths, tons of stuff I don't find convergent with my existing knowledge.. Nevertheless has some good points.

You should check out the following book. It covers similar ideas - but it is very well written. One of the ten best books I have read. Every page had a novel insight or new idea which was fresh and interesting. Can't recommend it enough.

http://www.amazon.com/Different-Escaping...erent+moon

Post: #123

Quick update (unfortunately too late to edit previous post), this position (Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd) is available for free via amazon audible (audiobook) if you are new customer to audible. Already in my library

Post: #124

The four hour workweek.

Post: #125

I am currently reading the education of millionaires and it is really inspiring to read all those stories of people who failed a lot and had very unconventional routes to success.