The shelf
The Library
Everything I am currently reading or listening to. Not reviews, just what is on the shelf, why it earned a place there, and where to find it.
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing
Bogle founded Vanguard and invented the index fund for ordinary investors, and this short book is his whole argument in one place. Trying to beat the market is a loser’s game: every trade has a winner and a loser, costs are certain, and after fees and taxes the majority of active managers lose to the index they are paid to beat. The rational move is to own the entire market through a low-cost index fund, keep costs near zero, and let compounding do the work for decades. He backs it with data on fund returns, survivorship, and the gap between what funds earn and what their investors actually keep. Repetitive by design, like a sermon, but the maths is hard to argue with, and Warren Buffett has endorsed the idea publicly. The rare finance book whose advice fits on an index card and still fills a book worth reading.
Meditations (Τα εις εαυτόν)
The private notebook of the most powerful man of his time. Marcus Aurelius ruled Rome from AD 161 to 180 and wrote these notes to himself on campaign, never meaning for anyone to read them. The twelve books circle a few fixed themes: the only thing in your power is your own judgement, everything you fear losing was never yours, and complaint is pointless either way. It repeats on purpose, because he needed the reminders. Book I is an inventory of debts, what he learned from family and teachers, and the rest are aphorisms and reprimands addressed to himself. Read it a few entries at a time, not cover to cover. The English here is George Long’s public domain translation, and the Greek is the original text Marcus actually wrote, for those who can manage it. I wrote about why this book earns its place in my article on Stoicism.
Principles: Life and Work
Dalio’s operating system for life and work, distilled from four decades of running Bridgewater, the largest hedge fund in the world. The core idea is that you can treat almost everything as a machine: observe reality as it is, not as you wish it were, write down the principles that govern your decisions, and refine them every time reality proves you wrong. He builds the case for radical truth and radical transparency, for idea meritocracies where the best argument wins regardless of rank, and for treating pain plus reflection as the formula for progress. Half memoir, half manual, and unusually honest about his own failures, including nearly going broke in 1982. The value is less in adopting his principles and more in the discipline of writing down your own.