I’m off today working the California primary polls. I’ll leave you a recommendation to one of my favorite blogs of late, The Big Picture. If you want to understand what’s going on in the stock market, Barry is the one to read. He’s been superb in his overview of the rise and fall of the stock market this year and well worth a read. And I love his commnetary today on the importance of reading and educating yourself as to what’s going on in the world. These days, that is ever so important, for all of us.
The really funny thing was that prior to reading this anti-Big Picture commentary, I just had read not one but two separate comments about the importance of an overview — of being a great generalist, doing lots of reading, and learning all sorts of things beyond your own expertise. You know, “Big Picture” stuff.
The first was from Warren Buffett’s partner, Charlie Munger:
On the importance of reading: “In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time — none, zero… You’d be amazed at how much Warren reads — at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.” -Charlie Munger’s Worldly Wisdom
The second commentary was from Barton Biggs:
“Reading is definitely my thing, too and I think you have to read not just business stuff but also history, novels, and even some poetry. Investing is about glimpsing, however dimly, the ebb and flow of human events. It’s very much about breasting the tides of emotion, too, which is where the novels and poetry come in. Besides, sometimes you have to refresh your mind and soul by consuming some crafted, eloquent writing.” -Hedgehogging
My own experience comports with that. Becoming well read, educating yourself on a variety of subject matters, being able to place the course of society, the economy, politics, and investing into a larger context can only help.
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