What are you presently reading?

The_Krakenite · Nov 26, 2023

I guess everyone is getting too busy with the x-mas rush already that no one has time to read anymore...

So a little update for now. I am halfway through Belfort's book, but put it on hold this weekend after reading into Lewis' novel. I'm now up to Act III (the last I believe), and it's been ok so far. Some educational insights into the Jane Street Capital atmosphere, etc.

I'm not sure what to believe at times, or if I misunderstand some things. Apparently, SBF did donate the majority of his earnings from Jane Street to charity? But then if that's the case, it gets confusing because he took a lot of his earnings/bonus when he left to start up his own trading firm Alameda... I may have to go back and re-read this over again to understand it better.

Maybe he really did buy into the effective altruistic bullshit? (at least for a while)

I will definitely try to get this book, if not both completely read by the end of next week.

metalztrader · Nov 30, 2023

I didn't pay much attention to SBF before he was arrested but I finished Going Infinite and just can't fucking stand this guy.
Everything about him and everything he stands for I absolutely despise. I can just picture him thinking
"well even if I get caught with how white color crime is prosecuted the expected value of the fraud is blah blah blah".
If he gets anything less than 50 years it will be a travesty.
I honestly would have preferred to not have read that book.
"My parents are Stanford lawyers so you know they aren't that into money"

The whole psychology is just unbelievable. "Well I could be a doctor and save a bunch of people but if I use my smarts to create a hedge fund, even if I commit fraud and rip off a bunch of people, if I donate that money then the expected value of the good that money will do means I have to commit fraud"

Caroline Ellison saying she has to find a guy "while she is still hot" might be the topper though. Literally one of the ugliest women I have ever seen.

The_Krakenite · Nov 30, 2023

Caroline Ellison saying she has to find a guy "while she is still hot"

LOL!

Still digging deeper into that book a little each night. I'm at the part where SBF was left alone and abandoned in the Bahamas, while he kept walking around in circles around those mansions they bought.

murray t turtle · Dec 1, 2023

%%
Hitting the high parts;
It Doesn't Take A Hero[General Storman' Norman Auto Bio]with Peter Petre.................

metalztrader · Dec 1, 2023

haha I think she is even uglier now from the last picture I seen. I should say I listened to the audio book and quite zoned out on many parts. It wasn't really even as interesting as the average podcast.

The_Krakenite said:
LOL!

Still digging deeper into that book a little each night. I'm at the part where SBF was left alone and abandoned in the Bahamas, while he kept walking around in circles around those mansions they bought.

metalztrader · Dec 1, 2023

I ripped through The Queen of Cuba this week about the Cuban spy Ana Montes. Espionage is always interesting but this was probably a pretty bad book. I still have no idea why Ana risked death to spy for Cuba.
It makes even less sense to me that she did 20 years and is now free and living in Puerto Rico. Still though, Espionage stories write themselves.

Trading wise, I just got a hard cover of Frank Knight "Risk, Uncertainty and Profit". If a year from now I can look back and have read this book then 2024 will be a good year.

Audio book wise I am working on Khun's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions".

In honor of Poor Charlie who I got the recommendation from his book list, I did finally finish off The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Hoffer. Just an astounding book. I wish I had read it 20 years ago but maybe I wouldn't have been able to put it in context 20 years ago.
So beyond Orwell, intellectual astonishment in its purest form.

metalztrader · Dec 1, 2023

I feel you Krakenite. I think Taleb says something in Anti-Fragile about not wasting time on books that have not stood the test of time. Khun is a great example and a must read.

I think I have read all of Taleb but he does basically repeat Fooled by Randomness ad nauseam.

I have still never traded an option in my life but I think I am going to read Baird Option Market Making again to have the full trading quiver finally. A fool though can probably figure out to short vol here.

Right now I am just t-bill and chill as Mr. Gundalch would say.

The_Krakenite said:
I still have not read all of Taleb's books. Though I've gone through Fooled by Randomness at least twice, lol.

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The_Krakenite · Dec 1, 2023

So, I finished Lewis' Going Infinite just now.

There were some interesting things, such as the insider hacks stealing over 1 billion BEFORE the other hacks happened during the shit-show that the public became aware of. One of the hackers had cornered the market in two low-float shit-coins, jacking MobileCoin up 54x, and then using them as collateral for BTC, then fucking off with the blue-chip cryptos while leaving the shit-coins behind to fall to zero. LOL!

As for Caroline, it was interesting to see what John Ray had to say about her when he took over as CEO for the liquidations...

She at least had been able to explain where some of the wallets storing the crypto were stashed. Other than that, she wasn't much use. "She's cold as ice," said Ray. You had to buy words by the vowel. An obvious complete fucking weirdo."

LOL!

It was also interesting to note, this was happening at the time she was in hiding, and lied about being in hiding. Only to get found when the FBI raided her parent's vacation home. Doh!

John was seeing right through her bullshit at the time, and played dumb on the phone just to play along with her.

tiddlywinks · Dec 1, 2023

Frederick Foresight · Dec 2, 2023

The_Krakenite said:
So, I finished Lewis' Going Infinite just now.

There were some interesting things, such as the insider hacks stealing over 1 billion BEFORE the other hacks happened during the shit-show that the public became aware of. One of the hackers had cornered the market in two low-float shit-coins, jacking MobileCoin up 54x, and then using them as collateral for BTC, then fucking off with the blue-chip cryptos while leaving the shit-coins behind to fall to zero. LOL!

As for Caroline, it was interesting to see what John Ray had to say about her when he took over as CEO for the liquidations...

LOL!

It was also interesting to note, this was happening at the time she was in hiding, and lied about being in hiding. Only to get found when the FBI raided her parent's vacation home. Doh!

John was seeing right through her bullshit at the time, and played dumb on the phone just to play along with her.

View attachment 328674

So what's your overall take on the book? Would you recommend it as a worthwhile read, or is it just meh?

Also:

The_Krakenite said:
blue-chip cryptos