The Well-Read Investor

This week we’re discussing Leave Me Alone and I’ll Make You Rich: How the Bourgeois Deal Enriched the World, with authors and professors Deirdre McCloskey and Art Carden.

Since we started the podcast now more than a year ago, we’ve had esteemed guests from a variety of fields, but having Diedre McCloskey on is special. In my humble opinion, she’s one of the best living economic historians, and a tremendous writer whose led a fascinating life. The book we’re discussing today is an accessible, highly literary, and often humorous entry into her perspectives—a sort of cheat sheet version of her essential work she calls the Bourgeois Trilogy, a magisterial and highly literary set of three books aiming to explain human freedom as the driving catalyst for accelerating world prosperity in the era commencing with the Enlightenment, the industrial revolution, and beyond. And the addition of Professor Art Carden to this mix is also a treat—both are witty, amazingly well read, and forceful in their views, which can be at times controversial but always inviting of other perspectives.

And on that note, if you like what you’re hearing make sure to follow us on social media. We’re on Twitter @wellreadpod and Instagram at @wellreadinvestorpod or just google the Well Read Investor to see what I’m reading, reviewing, and talking about week in and out.

We spoke with comedy writing legend Gene Perret about how comedy works, and a lifetime spent writing jokes for the likes of Bob Hope, Carrol Burnet and Phyllus Diller, to name just a few. But he spent a significant portion of his career writing books and teaching about comedy as well. He’s on today to speak about his book, The New Comedy Writing Step by Step. Which is still considered by many to be a standard textbook for comedy writing. He’s earned three Emmy Awards for his work on The Carol Burnett Show. He wrote for Bob Hope from 1969 until the performer’s retirement, serving the last 15 years as his head writer.  Gene’s television career includes producing Welcome Back, Kotter, Three’s Company, and The Tim Conway Show. The list goes on: Mama’s Family, All in the Family, Laugh-In, and many others.

If you like what you’re hearing make sure to follow us on social media. We’re on Twitter @wellreadpod and Instagram at @wellreadinvestorpod or www.wellreadinvestor.com to see what I’m reading, reviewing, and talking about week in and out.

We spoke with comedy writing legend Gene Perret about how comedy works, and a lifetime spent writing jokes for the likes of Bob Hope, Carrol Burnet and Phyllus Diller, to name just a few. But he spent a significant portion of his career writing books and teaching about comedy as well. He’s on today to speak about his book, The New Comedy Writing Step by Step. Which is still considered by many to be a standard textbook for comedy writing. He’s earned three Emmy Awards for his work on The Carol Burnett Show. He wrote for Bob Hope from 1969 until the performer’s retirement, serving the last 15 years as his head writer. Gene’s television career includes producing Welcome Back, Kotter, Three’s Company, and The Tim Conway Show. The list goes on: Mama’s Family, All in the Family, Laugh-In, and many others.

If you like what you’re hearing make sure to follow us on social media. We’re on Twitter @wellreadpod and Instagram at @wellreadinvestorpod or just google the Well Read Investor to see what I’m reading, reviewing, and talking about week in and out.

We’ve got a really fun and interesting guest this week in Tyler Maroney, a former investigative journalist who today runs his own highly successful private investigation firm. His recent book is The Modern Detective: How Corporate Intelligence is Reshaping the World, about the role private investigators play in global commerce, government accountability, and legal disputes. A Fulbright scholar, Tyler has produced films for Frontline, was a reporter for Fortune, and has written for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Our credulousness is often our downfall—I’m often amazed at what we believe about the world just from a tweet or a random story we see online. Someone like Tyler asks, “how do you know that? Can I corroborate what you claim? And who are you, this person making all these claims anyhow?”

We need more of that than ever today, and that’s why Tyler is on the show.

And the last bit of housekeeping, if you enjoy the show follow us on social media for book reviews and so much more via twitter @wellreadpod and Instagram at @wellreadinvestorpod or just google the Well-Read Investor to see what I’m reading, reviewing, and talking about week in and out.

Without further ado, here’s Tyler Maroney. Enjoy!

We’ve got a really fun and interesting guest this week in Tyler Maroney, a former investigative journalist who today runs his own highly successful private investigation firm. His recent book is The Modern Detective: How Corporate Intelligence is Reshaping the World, about the role private investigators play in global commerce, government accountability, and legal disputes. A Fulbright scholar, Tyler has produced films for Frontline, was a reporter for Fortune, and has written for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Our credulousness is often our downfall—I’m often amazed at what we believe about the world just from a tweet or a random story we see online. Someone like Tyler asks, “how do you know that? Can I corroborate what you claim? And who are you, this person making all these claims anyhow?”

We need more of that than ever today, and that’s why Tyler is on the show.

And the last bit of housekeeping, if you enjoy the show follow us on social media for book reviews and so much more via twitter @wellreadpod and Instagram at @wellreadinvestorpod or just google the Well Read Investor to see what I’m reading, reviewing, and talking about week in and out.

We have a truly special guest for you today in Randall Wallace. He’s the Oscar nominated author of the screenplay for the film Braveheart, but you’ll also know him from huge blockbuster films like We were Soldiers, Pearl Harbor, and Secretariat, to name a few. We’re talking today about his book “Living the Braveheart Life: Finding the Courage to Follow Your Heart”. This is about building the kind of character that I hope for everyone I work with, that I hope for my children and family, and what I personally aspire to.

As always, if you enjoy the show follow us on social media for book reviews and so much more, via twitter @wellreadpod and Instagram at @wellreadinvestorpod or just google the Well-Read Investor to see what I’m reading, reviewing, and talking about each and every week.

Enjoy!

We have a truly special guest for you today in Randall Wallace. He’s the Oscar nominated author of the screenplay for the film Braveheart, but you’ll also know him from huge blockbuster films like We Were Soldiers, Pearl Harbor, and Secretariat, to name a few. We’re talking today about his book, “Living the Braveheart Life: Finding the Courage to Follow Your Heart”. This is about building the kind of character that I hope for everyone I work with, that I hope for my children and family, and what I personally aspire to. Enjoy!

Today Mike speaks with Professor Aswath Damodaran about his book, Narrative and Numbers: The Value of Stories in Business. Aswath is a professor of finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University and his career-spanning work on valuation, portfolio management and corporate finance cut across numerous books and popular lectures online, and his research has appeared in many prestigious academic journals including the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis and the Journal of Financial Economics.

This conversation couldn’t be more timely given all the hoopla around Gamestop and the like. Stories are driving the prices of those high flying stocks—narratives about what’s happening and why are at the core of all this mess. In fact, that’s always in some sense true with investing, but this is a very stark example.

Follow us on social media for book reviews and so much more. We cut away the fluff and tell you whether a book is worth pursuing to further your investing knowledge with irreverent insights and practical analysis. Follow us on twitter @wellreadpod and Instagram at @wellreadinvestorpod for or just google the Well-Read Investor to see what I’m reading, reviewing, and talking about week in and out.

Today Mike speaks with Professor Aswath Damodaran about his book, Narrative and Numbers: The Value of Stories in Business. Aswath is a professor of finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University and his career-spanning work on valuation, portfolio management and corporate finance cut across numerous books and popular lectures online, and his research has appeared in many prestigious academic journals including the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis and the Journal of Financial Economics.

This conversation couldn’t be more timely given all the hoopla around Gamestop and the like. Stories are driving the prices of those high flying stocks—narratives about what’s happening and why are at the core of all this mess. In fact, that’s always in some sense true with investing, but this is a very stark example.

Follow us on social media for book reviews and so much more. We cut away the fluff and tell you whether a book is worth pursuing to further your investing knowledge with irreverent insights and practical analysis. Follow us on twitter @wellreadpod and Instagram at @wellreadinvestorpod for or just google the Well Read Investor to see what I’m reading, reviewing, and talking about week in and out.

Today our guest is Professor William Goetzmann, here to talk about his book Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilization Possible. Will is the Edwin J. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Management Studies and Faculty Director of the International Center for Finance at the Yale School of Management. 

I think of him as sort of an economic archeologist and polymath whose past work includes stock market predictability, alternative investing, factor investing, behavioral finance and the art market to name a few. Professor Goetzmann has written and co-authored a number of books, two of my personal favorites in addition to our conversation today are The Origins of Value: The Financial Innovations that Created Modern Capital Markets and The Great Mirror of Folly: Finance, Culture and the Crash of 1720 –both of which he contributed to and edited. You can follow him on twitter @Wgoetzmann.

Lastly, if you’re enjoying our show, we think you’ll dig our book reviews. We’ve got book recommendations with insights and summaries designed specifically for investors to take you beyond the podcast and enhance your reading all year round. Follow us on twitter @wellreadpod and Instagram at @wellreadinvestorpod for all the latest or just google the Well-Read Investor and you’ll find our home site for all Well Read content.

Now, here’s our conversation with Professor Will Goetzmann. Enjoy!