So in recent years I've become a bit of a history fanatic. Weekday meals? 30 minutes of Youtube documentaries for lunch. 1 hour for dinner. Reading list? At least half are history books. Odd few minutes here and there? I'll be exhausting the question library on another history quiz app. We'll come back to this [...]
This is actually one of the best books I've ever read. Despite being published in 1946, this timeless classic grows increasingly relevant. In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl presents a somewhat twisted perspective on suffering. This excerpt sums it up best: "If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be [...]
Fifty years ago on this day, one of the most momentous events of the 20th century unfolded. But unlike the well-known events often taught in schools such as the fall of Berlin Wall, Deng Xiaoping's opening China, the NASA moon landing, the pill, Hiroshima, the Great Depression, the Bolshevik revolution, Ferdinand assassination, Wright brothers flight [...]
I've always been fascinated by the history of money. Not only as it's a key driver of human behaviour and geopolitics. But as major force that shapes the trajectory of human endeavor. Put simply, it's an integral part to understanding how the world works. "If you want to understand how the world works, follow the [...]
So I went through this unusual mental health 'complication' in recent weeks. And I wouldn't be surprised if there's many out there sharing a similar experience. I wrote this post mostly as a guide for my own use. Maybe it worked as I think I'm back on track now. If you're going through something similar, [...]
As we head into mid 2021, commodity prices shows no signs of slowing down. Some say this is a warning sign of oncoming inflation. Intuitively, this could be interpreted as an indicator inflation. But commodity prices and consumer price inflation (CPI) are actually a lot less correlated than what most people may think. The two [...]
It was mid 2014. We were sipping cold beers on a rooftop bar on a humid Saigon evening. Let's call my friend Ryan. We were talking geopolitics. Or rather, he was raving on while I was just asking questions. Ryan: "Yeah, basically Russia called the West's bluff. They annexed Crimea to get access to another [...]
If you liked Nassim Taleb's books - Antifragile, Black Swan etc - then you'll love Mandelbrot's Misbehaviour of Markets. Benoit Mandelbrot is one of the greatest mathematicians of our time. Most renowned for his work on fractals (including the famous Mandelbrot set), he applies a complexity science lens to financial markets. As with most transdisciplinary [...]
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended on It, Chris Voss, 2016 (Amazon US; Amazon Australia) Snapshot A former FBI hostage negotiator shares his field-tested negotiation tips. Definitely one of my top-10 all-time favourite books. Unlike many other self-help books that drag on and fluff around the key points, this one gets [...]
Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Global Politics, Tim Marshall, 2015 (Amazon US;Amazon Australia) Snapshot Explores the geographical dimension in geopolitics, putting key historical events into context. While geopolitics can quickly become complex, there are certainly recurring themes: access to water transport routes, natural resources etc. Familiarity [...]
