Slope of Hope Blog Posts

This is the heart and soul of the web site. Here we have literally tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. You can also click on any category icon to see posts tagged with that particular category.

You’ll Laugh. You’ll Cry.

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I was delighted to see the reviews tumble in to Amazon about my new book (I just peeked again after I took this screenshot, and there are ten reviews now, nine of which are five stars).

I’m not sure what my problem is, but I can’t push myself to actually read the reviews, even if they are positive. But you can, so click here to see what folks are saying. I hope you’ll consider getting my book (especially the color one, which is super gorgeous). If you like Slope, you’ll love Babble On.

RELEASED: Silicon Valley Babble On

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I am delighted to announce the availability of  a book that was a dozen years in the making: Silicon Valley Babble On. It is my 25th, and in all likelihood, the last book I’m ever going to write. I will try to describe it briefly……….and I want to ask early on, since this is a brand new book, I would be VERY grateful for any positive reviews you could leave on Amazon for others to read!

Before the financial crisis began, a community of traders was created which used charts, economic cycles, and political discourse to shape their investment decisions. This unique gathering place was named the Slope of Hope, coined after the maxim “markets climb a wall of worry and slide down a slope of hope”.

Over the course of a dozen years, Tim Knight wrote over 20,000 posts on Slope, and he has gathered up what he considers the best and most illuminating of these in Silicon Valley Babble On. Topics covered include startups and culture in the valley, the effects of the bubble and its aftermath, his own experiences building and selling high-tech businesses, lessons from the fast-paced world of equity trading, and life lessons drawn from personal experience. (more…)

To Err Is Human

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I finally finished my final run-through of the last book I ever plan to write. Even though I had a bunch of Slopers do copyediting, and they found hundreds of errors – – I still managed to find another fifty that all of them missed! And, I’m quite sure, there are still errors lingering, but I think it’s just about as good as I can get it for now. I’m sick of this damned thing! Anyway………it’s coming soon.

Just About Ready

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Thanks to the generous help and support of some fellow Slopers, who spent many hours reviewing and copyediting my latest creation, I am optimistic that Silicon Valley Babble On will be available before this month is over. I wanted to give you a sneak peek at the cover and let you know it is on its way. I consider it my best work, and I eagerly look forwarding to letting you know when this book is released.

Dedication

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I’ve been working almost my entire life. I have done so because I have almost always been able to labor at something I love.

This web site has been my life for over thirteen years. Far longer than that, however, have been the books I have written. I wrote my first nationally-published book at the age of 16, and I am going to be releasing my 25th book in a few weeks. I consider it my finest work, and a large number of Slopers have kindly volunteered their time to proofread it (note to that group: hang in there, it’s coming).

Each of these books has been dedicated to someone important to me. I have been considering the appropriate person to whom to dedicate what I consider my latest, greatest book. Who has loomed large in my life? Who has always been there for me? And then, on Friday the 13th of all days, it hit me.

And it’s this guy:

(more…)

The Tome

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As I mentioned earlier, I am putting together the biggest book I’ve ever written before. In fact……..it’s TOO big. My publisher refuses to take anything over 480 pages, and at 540 pages, well, I’ve got some cutting to do. I look forward to letting everyone know when it’s ready.

However, there is something I’d like to get a small handful of you to do for me, which is to proofread the book. I want to make this as unappealing as possible, since I only want to send out a few, but here’s what I need: some folks that are willing to:

  • read the entire book from cover to cover;
  • use a colored ball point pen (like red or something easy to spot) to mark any errors;
  • go through the entire book in no more than a week’s time
  • mail the marked-up book back to me.

If you’ve got time on your hands and want to do this, please drop me an email with your shipping address. Like I said, I only need a few people, so if I get too many, I will send you a polite refusal. Thank you!

A Strange Trip Backward

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I started Slope in March 2005, and about six years later, I decided to throw together a book of what I thought were some of its best posts. I called it the Slope of Hope Bathroom Reader, and it was a thin little volume which, oddly enough, has my highest average rate of any books I’ve ever written.

About a month ago, I got the idea to perhaps update the book. After all, seven more years had gone by, and many thousands of posts had been written since then. Surely there must be a better book that could be drawn from all that content.

It didn’t take me long to realize how right this was. I have been going through all of the “Best Of” posts, and selecting the best-of-the-best, and although I am not through with my examination of the site’s history, I already have enough content for a book at least three times bigger and MUCH higher quality. (more…)

Bad Blood Book

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At the risk of getting all Holden Caulfield-y on you, I really hate phony. Anything fake or phony drives me to distraction. Dyed hair. Insincere compliments. Ulterior motives. Plastic surgery. Anyone or anything constructing a facade just rubs me the wrong way.

And that is the principal reason I have written so many posts about Theranos (this is my eleventh one) even though it was never a public company and there’s nothing to chart about it. Some have even wondered out loud if I’m obsessed with Elizabeth Holmes. Far from it. First off, take my word for it, she isn’t my type, and secondly, I don’t get all tingly about baritone-voiced business criminals. Never been a turn-on. Honest. (more…)