Hello all!
Let’s change things up for the next few weeks. About a month ago, I was at my parents house and found three boxes of books in their attic that I was storing after graduating from medical school (I needed storage for my move to a NYC apartment to start residency training). Finding these boxes was like finding a buried treasure. For the last twenty years, I wondered where these books were. Now I know, and will share them with you.
1. Personal finance
The Wealthy Barber: Everyone's Commonsense Guide to Becoming Financially Independent
Summary
This is the first personal finance book I ever read (back in 1998). I recall vividly my friend Steve Levy telling me about the mutual funds that he was investing in. I asked him how he learned about investing and he said, “The Wealthy Barber.” The one line that I have never forgotten from our discussion that day was ‘Pay yourself first.’ The Wealthy Barber isn’t necessarily the best financial book ever written, but it is the one that helped me take my first step on a long financial journey.
Insight: Invest 10% of all you make for long-term growth.
Advice: Reinvest dividends.
Advice: Make your IRA contributions as early in the year as possible.
Author: David Chilton
Themes: Personal finance, Investing
My personal notes from the book
2. Biography
Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life
Summary
Certainly a controversial figure, but one that deserves studying. There is so much to despise about Che, but also so much to admire. Che was a complicated human who lived during complicated times. He was incredibly intelligent and dedicated his life to (and died for) ending poverty and social injustice, first in Latin America, and then the world. He kept a detailed diary from the time he was a teenager through his revolutionary years. His writing is insightful and beautiful. You do not have to believe in socialism to appreciate Che (ironically, the other two books in this week’s 3BT are purely capitalistic!). Much of the negative that what we know about Che is from propaganda. This book started a deep dive for me into Che’s life and helped me to appreciate what it means to live for something bigger than yourself.
Insight: But Che was different, and they knew it. He demanded more of himself, so he demanded more of them, too. Each sanction he meted out came with an explanation, a sermon about the importance of self-sacrifice, personal example, and social conscious. He wanted them to know why they were being punished, and how they could redeem themselves. And because he lived as they did, refusing extra luxuries due to his rank, taking the same risks as they did in battle, he earned their respect and devotion.
From a letter: To Doctor Hugo Pesce: who, without knowing it perhaps, provoked a great change in my attitude toward life and society, with the same adventurous spirit as always, but channeled toward goals more harmonious with the needs of America.
Final words: I know you've come to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man.
Author: Jon Lee Anderson
Themes: Biography, History
My personal notes from the book
3. Fiction
The Rise of David Levinsky
Summary
One of my favorite fiction books of all time (recommended by a good friend, Rob McCreanor, back in 2000). This is a wonderful rags-to-riches story of a Jewish immigrant, David Levinsky, who was born and reared in the lowest depths of poverty and arrived in America—in 1885—with four cents in his pocket.
Author: Abraham Cahan
Themes: Fiction, Entrepreneurship
My personal notes from the book
That’s a wrap. Thanks for reading!
Please continue to share with me the books that changed your life!
Best,
Adam
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