The Oceans and Stars, from Zubin Al Genubi : Daily Speculations

May

14

This modern Jack Aubreyesque story of naval warfare is some of the best fiction I've read recently. Lots of action written in beautiful prose.

The Oceans and Stars, by Mark Helprin.

A Navy captain near the end of a decorated career, Stephen Rensselaer is disciplined, intelligent, and determined to always do what’s right. In defending the development of a new variant of warship, he makes an enemy of the president of the United States, who assigns him to command the doomed line’s only prototype––Athena, Patrol Coastal 15––with the intent to humiliate a man who should have been an admiral.

Big Al recommends:

Covers key psychological issues around trading, with clear action steps:

The Mental Game of Trading: A System for Solving Problems with Greed, Fear, Anger, Confidence, and Discipline, by Jared Tendler.

Khilav Majmudar is reading:

Models.Behaving.Badly.: Why Confusing Illusion with Reality Can Lead to Disaster, on Wall Street and in Life, by Emanuel Derman.

Ferdydurke

In this bitterly funny novel by the renowned Polish author Witold Gombrowicz, a writer finds himself tossed into a chaotic world of schoolboys by a diabolical professor who wishes to reduce him to childishness. Originally published in Poland in 1937, Ferdydurke became an instant literary sensation and catapulted the young author to fame. Deemed scandalous and subversive by Nazis, Stalinists, and the Polish Communist regime in turn, the novel (as well as all of Gombrowicz’s other works) was officially banned in Poland for decades. It has nonetheless remained one of the most influential works of twentieth-century European literature.


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