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.
At 440 pages, Babble On is an entertaining and illuminating book which is as enjoyable to read from start to finish as it is to open to a random page and peruse whatever essay you stumble upon. The contents of the book are arranged as follows:
Chapter 1: Silicon Valley
Chapter 2: Politics
Chapter 3: Anecdotes
Chapter 4: Companies
Chapter 5: Markets
Chapter 6: Heh
Chapter 7: Psychology
Chapter 8: Media
Chapter 9: Trading
Chapter 10: Life Lessons
In the first portion of the book alone, some of the questions considered include:
- Is intellect the new weapon of choice?
- What company raised a billion bucks and got nothing for it except a federal indictment?
- What do the words "color' and "clinkle" have to do with one another?
- How many successful companies have launched from The Startup Castle?
- Why do Palo Alto high school students jump in front of trains so frequently?
- Where do Silicon Valley parents send their kids instead of normal summer camps?
- How did Marissa Mayer score a quarter billion bucks while bungling Yahoo?
- What co-founders pocketed $6 million in investor cash and got away with it?
- Was Tim's friend Kurt murdered in a Satanic ritual?
- How did Tim get into the financial data business by way of a convicted speed dealer?
- What predictions did Tim make in 1983 about computing today, and how did they do?
- Why would anyone pay cash for the privilege of sitting in a downtown coffee shop?
- Why is Las Vegas my least favorite place in the universe?
- What is China's Social Credit Score all about, and what will it mean to me later?
- Why did Palo Alto suddenly decide to rename its schools?
- What is going to be the most meaningful technological shift in the next twenty years?
- Will the concept of Universal Basic Income save or ruin us?
Countless other topics are surveilled, from the banal to the ethereal. It's a special book, and it could mean more to you than you might guess. Babble On is priced at $19.95, and you can click here to order! There is also a fancy full-color version which costs a lot more to produce (and therefore costs more, at $59.95) which you can purchase by clicking here. There is also a Kindle version, quite cheap at $9.99, but personally I think the format of a real book is much more appropriate.
