It’s that time of year when one has some spare time. Time enough to read a book or two. I have purchased a 14-book set of the original James Bond books by Ian Fleming and am already half way through them – they are a quick read!
I probably read some of them 50 years ago but they are well written with good evocations of the time and locations they are set in. I have also purchased a recently published biography of Ian Fleming by Nicholas Shakespeare – subtitled “the complete man”. It received good reviews so even at 860 pages I am hopeful that it will keep me awake.
I have not read many books on investment lately that I could recommend, although there are some published on the life of Charlie Munger who recently died that might be of interest. It’s unclear which are particularly worthy of consideration so if readers have any suggestions, please let me know.
The early James Bond films are reasonably faithful to the books although there is more sadomasochism in the books. The books are good for filling time at my hospital appointments where I am averaging several per week lately. I am supposed to be on kidney dialysis but it’s not working as planned.
My thoughts go to Tory MP Craig Mackinlay who has had “extreme surgery” after sepsis. He says “Treatment by the NHS has been exemplary and I’m extremely lucky to be alive”. My feelings too a few years back when I suffered from sepsis. The Sepsis Trust is a good location for any Xmas donations.
My stock market portfolio has been perking up but I suspect this is just another of the usual Santa rallies so I am not rushing back into the market. The economic and political outlook is still depressing so I’ll just follow the trend so long as it continues.
Small cap stocks may look good value but there is still a lot of dross on AIM. Too many companies where hope springs eternal but they tell a good story.
It remains to wish my readers a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
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Roger Lawson (Twitter https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )
My favourite Mungerism (Mungerology?) is the transcript of a speech he gave at Harvard in 1995 about various forms of bias, with anecdotes relevant to investing.
https://buffettmungerwisdom.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/mungerspeech_june_95.pdf
Sorry to hear about your treatment problems. Hope things improve.