Wisdom for another summer

It always feels like summer on Saipan, which makes the “summer reading season” seem like a hollow phrase. But still, it doesn’t get more summer than July. Summertime is traditionally vacation time, and vacation time is a chance to catch up on some reading. It’s been a topic of discussion among my peers as we’ve compared notes on what’s worth reading these days. None of us have found any new fare worth mentioning. So I’ve reached for a few old favorites.

I’m therefore going to note three books that I’ve mentioned in past years. These are, 1) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig; 2) Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb; and 3) Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, also by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

Various editions of these books are in print, so I’ll skip page counts or pricing data. All three are easily available in paperback and they’re all very inexpensive.

If you enjoy slumming around my beach chair with me and my motley pals, then I think you’d find these books of interest.

All of these books enable us to think about things in ways that allow us to make better decisions.

As for Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, it’s the grand old man of the bunch, having hit the stands in 1974. From what I’ve seen, this book has been the most visible force in introducing some Eastern wisdom to a general American audience.

The book uses the tale of a cross-country motorcycle ride to introduce some useful philosophical ideas. Hey, there’s nothing more American than a road trip, so you know you’re on solid ground right there. There’s really no use in saying too much more about it, since the idea of a motorcycle-based inquiry into some Zen ideas either interests you or it doesn’t interest you.

But I will note that the book is a long-standing favorite with my pals who are professional pilots. And, in fact, when I worked as a flight instructor, I recommended it to my students because it presents an outlook that enhances clear thinking, proper preparation, and respect for the natural forces that are in play.

When it comes to natural forces, one of the biggest of all, and one of the least understood, is randomness. Which, of course, brings me to the second title on my list, Fooled by Randomness.

The title pretty much says it all; it’s about the nature of randomness, and how people misread it.

A great deal of this context is financial, concerning stocks, markets, and so on. Still, the book is simple, clear, and written for a general readership. And even if you have a rigorous background in probability and statistics, this book is still useful, since it articulates the types of mistakes that you see all the time, which gives you a better insight into how people remain so clueless about this realm. Anyone who doesn’t think the world is laden with surprises, chance, and risks hasn’t read a newspaper lately.

Risk is a pretty heavy topic, and we’re getting into more substantial fare here, which leads us to an extremely substantial book, Antifragile.

If you’re someone who thinks in terms of risks, probabilities, outcomes, and strategy, then this is a compelling book. Well, it’s more than compelling, it’s one of the great books of recent decades.

I’m going to do a cut-and-paste job from the Amazon description: “Just as human bones get stronger when subjected to stress and tension…many things in life benefit from stress, disorder, volatility, and turmoil. What Taleb has identified and calls ‘antifragile’ is that category of things that not only gain from chaos but need it in order to survive and flourish.”

That’s true enough. But it’s merely one slice of a far bigger pie. There’s a lot worth heeding in this book.

On a broader note, I am constantly paring down, not building up, my library. Furthermore, I rarely read just for the sake of reading. So I am not disappointed that my friends and I couldn’t find any “must reads” for the summer. To the contrary, it reinforces my appreciation of some old favorites. I hope that some of you will appreciate them, too.