Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.
A few days ago, I happened to discover that Ray Dalio, the famed money manager from Bridgewater, had come out with a new three-volume set called Big Debt Crises. I realize this isn’t the kind of thing that would grab most people’s attention, but honestly, it’s fascinating. It is packed with hundreds of historical charts and dozens of examples from other centuries and other countries where economic mayhem took hold. Since I believe the entire globe is heading toward something catastrophic……….forewarned is forearmed. I would urge you to consider getting this book. It’s one click away.
Recently I read an interview with a fellow who said the most influential book he had read was Coming Apart by Charles Murray. I immediately bought the book and am halfway through it. I wanted to write you a review of the book, then I discovered that I had already done so six years ago! So I think my brain must be “coming apart”, but I’m going to be a lazy sumbitch and just reprint the review here, because I think it’s important:
I just finished reading the best-selling Coming Apart by Charles Murray. I confess to not having heard of the book until I saw it in the store, but the cover of a champagne glass and a crumpled beer can instantly suggested to me that I was going to enjoy this new examination of the United States and its sociological disintegration of the past half-century.
I am pleased to announce my newest book, available presently only for Kindle readers: Joy of Charting. Unlike my printed books, which are typically like sixty dollars, this one is all of $2.99 (which is the lowest possible price Amazon even allows). For any of you the slightest bit interested in charting or SlopeCharts, please give it a read, since it costs less than a cup of coffee and hopefully will do you a lot more good in the long-term.
For your folks without a Kindle, a print book will be coming early next year, and I’ll certainly let you know about it here.
Many years ago – – 2008, in fact, when Slope was a mere three years old – – I showed a chart with the cover of the book Richistan on it. It was a book that was published almost to the millisecond of the housing bubble top.
During the summer of 2018, I was nauseated to see the launch of the wildly popular movie Crazy Rich Asians, which had the same money-as-pornography zeitgeist to it. I’ll just let this chart speak for itself:
I have two pieces of interesting news I’d like to share, both of them relating to books.
First of all, I have dramatically chopped the price of my most recent book, Silicon Valley Babble On. I have reduced the price of the color version from $79.95 to $59.95 (25%) and I’ve chopped down the black and white version from $39.95 to $19.95 (50%).
I’ve basically cut my royalty to the absolute bone in order to sell more books, because I want people to read it. I think it’s good stuff, and I’d rather have more readers than a little more cash in the bank. Here is the link to the color version, and here is the link to the black and white version.
The other item I wanted to mention is that I’m working on a book about SlopeCharts. I’ll have a very rough cut of it soon, and I want people who are willing to READ it, MARK any errors or suggestions, and then mail it back to me.
I initially was going to ask people to pay a few bucks to help with the cost, but you’re doing me the favor, so I won’t ask for a penny. If you can make a commitment to doing this, and you are a user or at least a person interested in SlopeCharts, please email me with your mailing address. Thank you! (more…)
So this bald putz Jack Welch has always held himself out at some kind of management genius. Given the disaster that GE has become, it’s fascinating to see when his books were bestsellers and what happened afterward. “Straight From the Gut” – – give me a break, chrome-dome.
