(#7) The Book on Leadership, by John MacArthur

(#6) Cheaper by the Dozen, by Frank B. Gilbreth, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

Started: 2/26/2015
Finished: 3/7/2015


Because Sarah was in the play, Cheaper by the Dozen, put on by the Southside Theater Guild, I had to read the original book written by two of the twelve original dozen kids.  As fun as the play was for our family, I am selfishly glad it's over.  I like having most of my evenings with my family again.

I picked up the book from GA Pines to see how true the play was to the original biography.  Come to find out, many of the scenes in the play were verbatim the way they were written in the book.  The book goes further in depth into what it was like to grow up in this household.

An easy read that I recommend for anyone.

(#5) 9 Things You Simpy Must Do, by Henry Cloud

Started:  2/4/2015
Finished:  2/22/2015

Thanks to a good friend who gave me a book the last time I saw him.  It was a good read.  I'd like to consider myself a deja-vu person, what this book describes as someone that doesn't let life get them down over and over - that rolls with all the punches - someone that reaches their goals - and doesn't let the set-backs in life cause them to get derailed.

The nine things you must do are as follows:

1.  Dig it up.  Pay attention to what bugs you.  Don't ignore the little signals that things aren't quite right inside.  Don't let negative feelings just sit there.  Grasp your dreams and reach for them.

2.  Pull the tooth.  Don't hang out on the bad stuff.  Deal with the negative. "Clutter, dead weight, things we keep around that don't help us but take up space or drain resources."  "The overriding principle is that unresolved negative things are a drain and take away from that which has life.  They have no place in your heart."

3.  Play the movie.  "Any one thing you do is only a scene in a larger movie.  To understand that action, you have to play it out all the way to the end of the movie."

4.  Do something.  "What can I do to make this situation better?"  "I have never seen successful people stall out because of some feared, anticipated, or hypothetical outcome.

5.  Act like an ant.  "They achieved their goals by taking tiny steps over time."  "Wanting it all keeps you from having any."

6.  Hate well.  "Character is in part formed by what we hate, because we move to be different from whatever that is."  "Successful people move against the problem, and show love and respect to the person at the same time."  Subjective vs. objective hate.  Direct your anger towards the issue, not towards people and things.  "Transform [hate] to the kind of hate that solves problems, protects things that you value, and stands against the things that you do not want in your life."

7.  Don't play fair.  "Give back better than you are given."  "Successful people do not blast others with anger."

8.  Be humble.  "Successful people show kindness, understanding, and help to others who fail."

9.  Upset the right people.  "Deja vu people do not make decisions based on the fear of other people's reactions."  "Do not rescue an angry man."

(#4) The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, by Jeff Hobbs

Started 1/22/2015
Finished:  2/2/2015


I read about this book on Amazon's Top 100 list.  It received great reviews, so I checked it out through GA Pines.

This was the biography of a brilliant young man (not too much younger than myself) that grew in in East Orange, NJ.  His father was in prison most of his life, while his mother raised him.  Robert was a brilliant student who ended up getting a full-ride to Yale ultimately to return to a difficult life in Orange after his graduation.

What a troubled life this man had.  Heavily into drug use and drug dealing.  In the end, he was gunned down in a brutal murder.  What a sad sad existence...

Difficult to read, hard to put down...  I have mixed feelings about this book.

(#3) Renting Lacy, by Linda Smith

Started:  1/22/2015
Finished:  1/xx/2015

(#2) The Intelligent Investor, Revised Edition, by Benjamin Graham

Started:  1/10/2015
Finished:  1/22/2015

Hailed as one of the best books ever written on investing, this 1970's book had been updated in the early 2000's with commentary by Jason Zweig.  Definitely a deep book that was a slow read.  I got more practical information from the commentary than I did the main text.

"The intelligent investor realizes that stocks become more risky, not less, as their prices rise - and less risky, not more as their prices fall.  The intelligent investor dreads a bull market, since it makes stocks more costly to buy...you should welcome a bear market, since it puts stocks back on sale."

"If your investment horizon is long - at least 25 or 30 years - there is only one sensible approach:  Buy every month, automatically, and whenever else you can spare some money.  The single best choice for this lifelong holding is a total stock-market index fund."

"The longer and further stocks fall, and the more steadily you keep buying as they drop, the more money you will make in the end - if you remain steadfast until the end.  Instead of fearing a bear market, you should embrace it."

(#1) You Have More Than You Think, By David and Tom Gardner

Started:  12/29/204
Finished:  1/10/2015

This is an older book, but a good introduction to stock investments.

An investment strategy that they recommend:
1.  Get the list of the Dow 30 companies.
2.  Obtain the dividend yield and the price per share for each stock.
3.  Sort the list by dividend yield highest to lowest.
4.  Exclude from consideration all but the ten highest yielders. Exclude the highest yield stock if it has the lowest share price.
5.  Sort the remaining nine or ten stocks by share price, lowest to highest.
6.  Buy as many of the first four stocks as you can afford, in equal dollar amounts.
7.  Eighteen months and a day later, go through steps 1 to 5 again.  Generate your list of the new Foolish Four and make any transfers necessary.
8.  Retire and/or write a financial book.

 A few other takeaways:

1.  A single dollar a day.
2.  Health risk of credit borrowing.
3.  Invest dollars not needed for 5 years.
4.  Common stocks over mutual funds.
5.  Use Sharebuilder for DRP's.
6.  Invest in "Great Companies" and the "Foolish Four" and "What You Are" stocks.
7.  No single stock greater than 15% of your portfolio.