2021 — A look back at my reading

This was my reading journey for 2021.

Book read in 2021 (link)

I read a wide variety of things in 2021. Below, I list down what I read along with some of my key takeaways and lessons learned. I intend to reflect on this at some future date.

Reading goals/target

Daily reading time for the year

Average about 6 hours of reading a day for about 40 hours per week. Target at least 150 hours per month.

Here were my reading goals for the year

• Read at least 40 books
• Read the annual reports I get every year (25)
• Read the local newspaper every day (DailyFT)
• Read the local business magazines (Echelon, LMD, Business Today)
• Read international and global newspaper articles on a daily basis (NYT, WSJ, FT)
• Finish a few good blog posts every few months

Results

Daily reading time for the year

Averaged about 2 to 3 hours of reading a day and about 12 to 20 hours per week. Averaged about 80 to 100 hours per month.

Likely finished about 1000 hours of reading for the year.

Books read (41)

• The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt
• The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success by William N. Thorndike Jr.
• Common Sense: The Investor’s Guide to Equality, Opportunity, and Growth by Joel Greenblatt
• The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal by Jared Diamond
• The Darwin Selection: On the Origin of Species/The Voyage of the Beagle
  by Charles Darwin
• The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman by Richard P. Feynman
• Security Analysis (6th edition) by Benjamin Graham
• The Tatas: How a Family Built a Business and a Nation by Girish Kuber
• The Making of Hero: Four Brothers, Two Wheels and a Revolution that Shaped India by Sunil K. Munjal
• Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
• Fool’s Gold: How the Bold Dream of a Small Tribe at J.P. Morgan Was Corrupted by Wall Street Greed and Unleashed a Catastrophe by Gillian Tett
• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
• The Success Equation by Michael J. Mauboussin
• A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing by Burton G. Malkiel
• Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson
• The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution by Gregory Zuckerman
• The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 by Paul Krugman
• Tap Dancing to Work: Warren Buffett on Practically Everything, 1966–2012 by Carol J. Loomis
• Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos by Jeff Bezos
• You Can Be a Stock Market Genius: Uncover the Secret Hiding Places of Stock Market Profits by Joel Greenblatt
• Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life by William P. Green
• The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India’s New Gilded Age by James Crabtree
• The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor by Howard Marks
• Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Investors and Managers by Lawrence A. Cunningham
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
• Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States, and the World by Lee Kuan Yew
• Frenemies: The Epic Disruption of the Advertising Industry (and Why This Matters) by Ken Auletta
• Warren Buffett’s Ground Rules: Words of Wisdom from the Partnership Letters of the World’s Greatest Investor by Jeremy Miller
• The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest Manufacturer by Jeffrey K. Liker
• Blood and Oil: Mohammed bin Salman’s Ruthless Quest for Global Power by Bradley Hope
• Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade by Robert B. Cialdini
• Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond
• Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
• Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones (Paperback) by James Clear
• The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History (Paperback) by John M. Barry
• The 3G Way: An introduction to the management style of the trio who’s taken over some of the most important icons of American capitalism. (Kindle Edition)by Francisco S. Homem De Mello
• Arguing with Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future by Paul Krugman
• DREAM BIG: How Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Beto Sicupira Acquired Anheuser-Busch, Burger King and Heinz and Revolutionized Brazilian Capitalism (Kindle Edition) by Cristiane Correa
• It’s Not Luck: Marketing, Production, and the Theory of Constraints (Audio CD)by Eliyahu M. Goldratt

Newspapers & magazines read

• DailyFT (Sri Lanka): January 2021 — November 2021
• LMD (Sri Lanka): January 2021 — November 2021, Brands annual, LMD 100
• Echelon (Sri Lanka): January 2021 — November 2021

Annual reports & investment memos read (28/50)

• Sri Lankan Annual Reports: 26 out of a target of 50
• 1 International Annual Report
• Howard Marks Memos (2021)
• Nick Sleep Investment memos (Nomad Investment Partnership Letters to Partners 2001–2014)

Some mental models learned

• Darwin’s thesis on the origin of species and natural selection
• The Bezos principles of customer-centricity, Amazon principles, and flywheel loop system of low prices
• Scale economies shared by Nick Sleep
• 3G’s emphasis on performance and people
• Value of relationships in business by the Munjal founder (Hero Honda)
• The Toyota Way principles
• The vicious circle of Financial Crises by Paul Krugman

Some mental models destroyed

• Entrepreneurial short-term thinking to make quick decisions can turn out to be useful in a startup or new business
• Salaries are not an expense but an asset that helps keep good people
• Capitalism is hard so bet on established businesses

Be sure to check out the entire list and my book reviews on my Goodreads here. If you enjoyed what you read here, be sure to check out my essays on investing at Quyn Capital.

You can find me on LinkedIn or contact me at https://www.chrisquyn.com/contact/