The books that I finished reading in November 2022
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November 2022 Books: photo by Cliff Hutson
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Cliff's Notes
This was an interesting month. Two books about money and finance. Two books about race. And, one about both a serial predator and a serial murderer.
"Money"
I first read this book back in the mid-1990s and thought that, while it had some good points, its basic premise - that work is tantamount to slavery and all of us should retire as soon as possible - was flawed. It also posited an investment plan that I knew was unsustainable. I decided to read this edition, said to be "fully revised and updated for 2018", to see what, if anything, had changed. I was not very impressed.
While it does offer some useful exercises on how to get a handle on one's income and expenses, and the benefits of altering that relationship, it now exalts the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement. I still see this as a flaw. Robin's goal for people to live at the peak of fulfillment, always have plenty, and never be burdened with excess is admirable. But, some of her methods, such as "Money Talks" meetings border on cultism.
"Awkward"
This is a collection of short stories by the author of more than fifty critically acclaimed books. Most people probably know him for his Easy Rawlins mysteries. There are no crimes to be solved in these stories, but they offer a captivating collection of different characters who kept me turning the pages.
"Desert"
Last
month I wrote that an author of a long running series had let it run on too long. The same can not be said of Michael Connelly and his Harry Bosch novels, of which this is book twenty-four. (It is also the fifth of the
Renée Ballard series.) Bosch and Ballard work together to solve two cases in a very neat work of taut storytelling.
"Smartest Guys"
I decided to read this book after viewing the documentary film "
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" for my movie discussion group, thinking that it would provide additional detail or background. Indeed it did. Accounting practices such as "mark-to-market" and "securitization" are ably explained. This updated edition also provides further insight on the debacle and why it still matters. ["Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."--
George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905.]
It was interesting to have read this in conjunction with "Your Money or Your Life" which examines how much is enough. It boggles my mind that one couple would need an 8,120-square-foot house in Houston, as did Jeff Skilling and his partner must have felt they required.
However, Skilling and I seemed to be have been likeminded on another issue. He claimed that it was critically important to give people the resources and freedom to let creativity flourish. When asked to describe my job I said that, "I create an environment in which talent can flourish." Yet, it should be pointed out that I was never charged with a crime, convicted, and sentenced to prison.
"Racist Stories"
Only eleven pages in it became clear that I am not in the target demographic for this book. Why? Because more than once some random person in a store has told me that a purchase I was contemplating was "too expensive", knowing nothing about my circumstances other than an assumption about my ethnicity. Though everyone is on their own journey, much the same could be said about the other stories in the book, Therefore, it was not "eye-opening" to me.
However, if you are not a person of color this book might provide some insight in to how life can be for those of us who are. My main reservation is that the authors strive to be "cute". While this may be an effort to assuage the oppressiveness, for me it distracts from the seriousness of the subject.
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