Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist

Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist by Jason Mendelson and Brad Feld

This book explores the details of venture capital financing. It goes through the process of completing a term sheet, getting financing, and then experiencing the exit. The authors point out areas that they see as important and others that don't really matter. The stress is on what entrepreneurs will need. However, plenty of background on VCs and their challenges are faced. The negotiations should end up with partners rather than adversaries because the VCs and entrepreneurs will be in it for the long haul. To tie it all up, the book includes discussion on negotiation. The book did get a bit technical, but that felt necesary for some of the topic.

The Half-life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date

The Half-life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date by Samuel Arbesman

Most people stick with the things they learned when they were young. However, facts decay and become irrelevant after time. Each type of "fact" has a different half-life. Scientific facts change as we learn more. A doctor that only stuck with what they learned in medical school would likely be treating people in very outdated ways. (People were once treated with "bleeding". Cigarettes were once considered  healthy.) Continuing education is needed to stay current. It is impossible to know everything. Why waste brain space with outdated facts? It takes effort to keep our general knowledge up to date with current facts.

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt

Parents have become extremely protective of children's physical activities, but allowed them free reign on the internet. Girls tend to be driven to social media. Boys to videos and video games. Kids don't have as many experiences, nor take as many risks in the real world. However, they suffer more in the virtual world. The solutions include limiting kids access to internet and screens. Smart phones should not be had until later ages (like high school.) Social media should also be postponed. 13 is too young of an age. And younger children often fake the age. Kids should be given more opportunities to interact and take risks in the "real world". Can we really spin back the digital invasion that has negatively impacted the lives of children?

Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle

A book like Start-Up Nation takes great risks in drawing broad conclusions from a narrow span of time. Israel has had a few decades of great growth and entrepreneurial activity. However, there were a previous few decades of slow growth. Was this growth spurt a revision to the mean or something lasting? 

The military is an important part of Israeli life. Everyone must spend time in the military unless they have a specific exemption (such as religious orthodoxy.) The armed services serve as a special training ground. People get opportunities to be creative and lead. The country faces existential threats with a low-resourced military. This gives the youth many opportunities to master skills of doing more with less independently. They also develop relationships in the service that carry forward to their reserve activities. 

Other countries, such as Korea and Singapore have mandatory military service, yet they do not have the same entrepreneurial activity. The author speculates it is cultural. The Asian countries tend to be very subservient to authority, while Israelis will actively question rulers. Even Israeli political leaders are often referred to by common nicknames.

Israel went through a fairly unique formation process. It was a "restoration" of a state that had not existed for a few Millennia. The people had been greatly persecuted (with the holocaust happening immediately before Israeli independence. The neighbors are also extremely hostile towards Israel. It is not easy to survive. Yet, the new country has survived and thrived. The Jewish population has regularly been active participants in culture and the economy. There has often been criticism due to Jewish overrepresentation. Could it be Israel's success is just do to its Jewishness?

Could it also be that there is just a fluke? Many of Israel's startups are security based. This could be directly related to the importance of security in society. There are also others that seem to be tied directly to Israeli needs (such as irrigation). Despite these many startups, there are few companies that would be pointed out as essential companies or tech behemoths. The book mentions the electric car start up "Better Place". It had buzz, but never made it anywhere. Meanwhile, there are oodles of Teslas around today. Why hasn't Israel been able to create a dominating startup?

Mindreader: The New Science of Deciphering What People Really Think, What They Really Want, and Who They Really Are

How do you tell what somebody is really thinking? There are subtle clues in body language and mannerisms. Even in the days of Zoom meetings, there are additional clues that can help you to understand the truth and accurate feelings.

People in general are terrible at lying. They may pretend to be happy by smiling, but this often looks different from the full-face smile of true happiness. There are many other clues we can catch to identify lies. Many of them we pick up naturally. However, we may use intellectual means to deny that they exist. 

There are some ways we can "catch" people in their lies. A straight-on accusation often brings up defensive measures. However, asking for help with others, may be a trick to work. Those not guilty, will not see an issue, while those guilty may get defensive. There are other mechanisms that can be used, though there are nuances for narcissists or other sociopaths.

Infinite Jest

Infinite Jest is a long novel that takes place in a time somewhat similar to our own. Years no longer are known by numbers, but instead by their sponsors. Most of the book takes place in the Year of the Depend Undergarment. Things are somewhat different. It is part alternate history and part futuristic work (that is now in the past.) 

A good chunk of the book takes place at a youth tennis academy in Arizona. The people there play war games on tennis courts, takes various mind alternating substances and explore many aspects of their life.

A significant section of the book also takes place in Boston. We also hear a long discussion about Alcoholics Anonymous in Boston.

Parts of the book feel based on his experiences. Some parts are quite good. Other parts are offensive. The book is in the "future" but very rooted in the 1990s when it was written. Some parts of culture were carried to their absurdist limits (corporate naming rights for everything), while other parts seem to still be stuck in the 90s. It feels like something that would be fun writing, just not so fun reading.

Fooled By Randomness

Fooled By Randomness explores the importance of random events in life and society. On the outset, the author states that he wanted this book to be fun to write, and tried to avoid too many citations. He does cite some literature, but more often he helps provide alternate explanations for results. For example, many studies have tried to tease out what makes successful businessmen. Intelligence is not seen as super important. However, the propensity to take risks does stand out. However, if you looked at bankrupt businessmen, you may see similar results, likely with an even higher "risk taker" rating. The highly successful may appear to be average because they are. They just happened to get lucky. The finance world tends to revere the young, successful traders. However, finding the next "big shot" is essentially a crap-shoot. One person may take risks and get lucky. However, many others will not have the same luck. An older trader is probably your best bet, because they have managed to survive for a long time without imploding.
It is very hard for us to separate out the "random luck" from "skill". Today CEOs get paid enormous salaries to lead companies. However, do they really bring anything to the table? It is difficult to precisely quantify the value that they add. It could be that they just happen to be charismatic and happened to be heading a well-run company. Lower level individual contributors tend to produce results that are much more easily quantified. But as you move up the management chain, randomness plays a larger and larger roll. Even companies as a whole benefit enormously from randomness. Microsoft became a mega software company because IBM used DOS and IBM's architecture became the dominant in the industry. A lot of dice rolls went their way and resulted in a mega company. How much of Bill Gates' fortune is due to luck and how much due to skill? His net worth may be a million times that of some contemporary programmers with equivalent talents. (This also brings in to place network and building effects. Due to "randomness", early success may lead to greater future opportunities that can help develop different skills in the future.)
Even when we know the role of randomness, we are still likely to "fall for it." This can sometimes result in self-defeating behavior, as the mental benefit from a gain less than the harm from a similar loss. It takes skill to avoid "distractions" of randomness and live our lives in the best way possible.