If you’re looking for something to read by the water (whether at a cottage or the public pool because of gas prices), the Investment team book club has some suggestions for you. The two books contain commentary letters that are perfect bite-sized reads in between refills of iced tea or your favourite cold beverage. Although they’re a trip back in time that covers the first 15 years of the millennium, the lessons are timeless.
Capital Returns: Investing Through the Capital Cycle: A Money Manager’s Reports 2002-15 by Edward Chancellor
A lot happened in the financial markets from 2002 and 2015, and the commentaries from London-based Marathon Asset Management bring readers discuss how its portfolio managers navigated the financial cycles that marked the first 15 years of the new millennium. They cover several popular investment trends such as the early 2000s Tech Bubble and the 2008-2009 Financial Crisis, and the lessons learned form them. The 60 letters discuss some of the similarities between the fads despite the difference in asset classes. More importantly, they show that those who managed to find good businesses that didn’t require paying too much for them did better when others were putting their capital into what was popular. Investing for the long term is a marathon and not a sprint (or a popularity contest).
![]()
Nick and Zak's Adventures in Capitalism: Words of Wisdom from the Nomad Partnership Letters by The Rational Cloner
The second book of commentary letters comes from two former analysts at Marathon and Detusche Bank. Nick Sleep and Qais Zakaria’s meeting resulted in the launch of Nomad Investment Partners. Impressive returns over a long period of time (2001 to 2013) don’t come by chance, and these letters to their investors are broken into two parts – insights on about 40 investment topics, followed by 18 case studies on various companies. It’s conversational in tone and doesn’t just explain what they’re investment results were, but why they were able to achieve them.
![]()
Summer bonus – Podcasts (and a book)
For those who might be taking some summer road trips (or want an escape at home), here are some of the podcasts that the Investment team has been listening to help those kilometers fly by.
The Tim Ferriss Show – Ed Thorp
Ed Thorp is the ultimate puzzle solver. Thorp, a math and science prodigy, applied his penchant for numbers in beating the casinos at blackjack and roulette early in his career. He later went on to run an incredibly successful hedge fund for nearly 30 years, boasting consistent profits and market beating returns. While clearly being very talented, Thorp also recognized talent: He’s been a Berkshire investor since the early 1980s, was one of the first Citadel LPs and even sounded the alarms on Bernie Madoff in the early 1990s! I highly recommend this podcast where Ed Thorp shares stories about his life in this highly entertaining interview with Tim Ferriss.
A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market by Ed O. Thorp
If this podcast piques your interest in Ed Thorp, check out his memoir, released in 2017, for even more details.
![]()
A diverse and prolific set of listens:
Acquired – Taylor Swift
Great for music fans, or fans of Taylor Swift
Lex Fridman Podcast – Grimes
Or Grimes fans. More my speed and of course I’m in the minority thinking she has more talent than Taylor (because who can’t write 10 jingles). She does talk a bit too much about AI and other topics, but it’s still fun to get to know the person behind the artist.
Decouple podcast – The Energy Poverty Returns on Energy Malinvested
Could be the most important podcast to listen to if countries really take different paths on energy production.
The Joe Rogan Experience – Tristan Harris & Daniel Schmachtenberger
Don’t ignore these two guests if you have young kids on social media.
The Tim Ferriss Show – Chris Dixon and Naval Ravikant
Even though most crypto today will turn out to be failures or a fraud, it doesn’t mean you should ignore the message behind the message from Chris Dixon. It’s always awesome to hear the odd piece of advice from Naval as well.
The Meb Faber Show – Peter Zeihan
Just search for any recent podcast where Peter Zeihan is the guest. This one was pretty good.
Smarter Markets – Demystifying the Carbon Markets
This is from February, but if you want to learn a bit more about the carbon market, cap & trade, etc., this will help.
Mining Stock Daily – Justin Huhn with a Uranium Sector Update
Great insight into U.S.’s small representation in the Uranium market, how they got there and what they’ll likely do from here.
Forward Guidance – Liquidity Has Fallen Off A Cliff
Only for the macro inclined but ignore at your own peril. An no questions if you don’t understand.
What Bitcoin Did podcast – Is There a Moral Case for Fossil Fuels with Alex Epstein
Please note – As an Amazon Associate, EdgePoint earns from qualifying purchases.