WaPo: “Ultimately, when we talk of a great thriller, we say we were unable to stop turning the pages. We describe a pleasurable addiction, a story so compelling that we couldn’t stop reading. Though, is compulsiveness tied to pacing alone? I think a book cannot engage at that level without having a good (plausible) plot and great characters. When you have characters that you are invested in and an intriguing plot, then a reader will be happily drawn in.”
WSJ: “In the fourth year of the [US presidential election] cycle, the Midwest always comes roaring back. This year’s presidential race could be decided in large measure in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, whose western regions can be considered as part of the industrial Midwest. While many other parts of the country have sorted into neat red and blue columns, the big upper Midwestern states continue to sit on the dividing line between the two parties. This is no accident. The region is far more diverse—economically, racially and culturally—than popular stereotypes suggest. Indeed, the upper Midwest reflects the face of America better than any other region of the country. As a consequence, the region also accurately reflects the nation’s nearly even divide between the two parties. And it is populous enough to be decisive in the Electoral College, making it political ground zero.”
NYTimes: “The most memorable travel often involves encountering something unfamiliar, so consider escaping the herds parading through Paris. Indonesia, Ghana, India, Nepal, Vietnam, Morocco and Bolivia are generally safe, far cheaper than Europe and offer indelible experiences. I’ll never forget venturing deep into the Potosí silver mines in Bolivia, exploring a grim slave castle in Ghana that dispatched prisoners to slavery in America, learning how to use a blowgun while staying with families in their longhouse in Indonesia’s Borneo rainforest. The world awaits us! Some of the places that you find most culturally distant may be right here in the United States. A teenager from an affluent family in the New York or Boston areas would step into a different world by taking a ranch job in Wyoming. And this is the kind of travel that is not only affordable but actually pays for the experience.”
Morgan Housel: “Japan has 140 businesses that are at least 500 years old. A few claim to have been operating continuously for more than 1,000 years. It’s astounding to think what these businesses have endured – dozens of wars, emperors, catastrophic earthquakes, tsunamis, depressions, on and on, endlessly. And yet they keep selling, generation after generation. These ultra-durable businesses are called “shinise,” and studies of them show they tend to share a common characteristic: they hold tons of cash, and no debt. That’s part of how they endure centuries of constant calamities. I love the quote from author Kent Nerburn that, “Debt defines your future, and when your future is defined, hope begins to die.” Not only does hope begin to die, but the number of outcomes you can endure does, too.”
