So the latest book that has piqued my interest is Fooled by Randomness by Nicholas Nassim Taleb. I think it's a solid book with logic and wits intertwined.
However, the thing that has really caught my interest is his recommendation that instead of reading news daily (eg WSJ) its better to read a weekly publication like The Economist. According to him newspapers have way too much noise and finding good information is like searching a needle in a haystack. Not only that, newspapers also provide information that is distracting.
So, to all the people in the industry, I'd like to know your views on this point. Do you prefer reading a weekly publication or do you think reading the news every day can help you to realize the fluff and find useful information.
Also, if you do prefer weekly publication or certain blogs, could you mention what do you follow to get good signals about the conditions in the market.
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goldie is fooled by ladyboys
Yeah, the newspaper is quite much at times. I prefer bigger picture / weekly or monthly.
So what else do you follow other than The Economist?
My mates father was talking about something similar to this a few months ago. He said now in todays age we all want instant stimulation from stuff on our smart devices news sport social media etc and it wires our brain into always being distracted. The point he made was that he said myself and his son have the ability to do thinking and problem solving greatly and that we cut down on distractions in order to do that thinking and come up with a new product or business to sell. That wasn't a jerk off story that was something I actually completely agree with you.
I prefer the synopsis method. My company provides a daily morning market distribution email that encapsulates pretty much all major topics in the world of finance currently, calendar events for the week, JOLTS, GDP numbers, international events, etc. It usually takes ~ 10 minutes to digest and then it's time to move on.
Also get WSJ and Kiplingers at home, but there are never enough hours in the day. Currently working on 2 different books as well.
I do avoid major news outlets in toto. Don't watch TV news and try to stay off of non-technical websites. Too much angst and confrontation to deal with simply to gather info.
Any technical blogs you'd recommend that you follow?
I really liked that book. I read it after seeing how often Howard Marks references it in his memos.
It's an interesting concept... try to avoid reading daily news since most of it is just noise, ascribing causation where there is none, etc... but most investment professionals have to read the news if not just to stay on top of investor sentiment. There is a lesson to take from what he says but to actually exercise it would be impractical.
I was thinking the same. I mean, yes if you've reached the level he's at you can get away by reading just The Economist.
And even though his arguments make complete sense it is difficult to follow it through. Because otherwise it is almost impossible to keep track of the markets.
Fooled by Randomness (Originally Posted: 07/09/2008)
Has anybody read Fooled by Randomness by Nasim Taleb. Just wondering what people think of his philosophy in the industry. His ideas seem to be pretty popular in the academia these days. Are market returns really driven that much by luck? In that case is trading really a "career" worth pursuing?
I like Black Swan as well...I think the stats speak for themselves...regarding how many portfolio managers are unable to consistently beat the major indicies.
Taleb's track record aside, he raises some interesting points and helped shape my views of markets and market participants.
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