Brandon B.

Very good tools, but boring presentation

Revisado: 03-03-24

I will probably buy the print version of this book because it does contain a lot of good tools to help individuals and teams make better decisions- BUT, I found it difficult to pay attention to because the presentation is rather dry. It would’ve been a lot better if it taught these tools using exciting tales from the front lines, so to speak.

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Captivating

Revisado: 09-19-23

However you feel about Elon Musk, this is an utterly captivating story. It’s more than just about Musk. It puts everything I’ve read in the headlines into context.

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Life changing

Revisado: 02-02-23

I am a physician and while we got training in biochemistry and physiology in medical school, we did not get much in terms of nutrition science, so this was informative for me. It’s completely changed how I assess food and it’s changed the way I eat. I’m noticing sugar and fructose (and their aliases) in all sorts of foods I thought were harmless or even healthy. One of the most important books I’ve ever read. I’ve already bought additional copies for friends and family.

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Awesome

Revisado: 01-08-23

I really enjoyed this book. Well written, informative and thought provoking. Narration was excellent. Great if you’re into something a bit more challenging that typical popular science type books.

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Best investing book

Revisado: 02-05-22

I’ve been reading or listening to a lot of investing books lately. Many of them are well written with interesting stories and entertaining but with little in the way of actionable information. These other books always feel like they’re holding something back. Not with the Dhandho Investor. This book is not only terrifically well written and engaging but also has all the actionable information you would need to actually start investing the Dhandho way after finishing the book. It is the best investing book I’ve read so far. And the narration for the audible version is excellent. Highly recommend.

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Superb

Revisado: 06-11-20

One of the most fascinating stories I’ve ever read. Gripping the whole time and I also learned a lot of history about the Cold War era.

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Wonderfully informative

Revisado: 12-09-19

I had read one of Sean Carroll’s previous books and found it too “watered down” for me. So I hesitantly purchased this book thinking I might be in for the same disappointment. But this book is not watered down. Unless you’re already a physicist, some amount of this will go over your head. But that’s ok. Personally I’d much rather read something mind stretching even if I don’t quite grasp it all than something that is clearly so watered down as to be completely lacking in nutrition, so to speak. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the narration is great.

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Best book I’ve read in a long time

Revisado: 07-10-18

Firstly, in Audible form this was one of the best produced audio recordings I’ve heard and I listen to a lot of audio books. Really well done.

As to the book itself, it reads like a thriller novel. From the pure entertainment value, It’s absolutely captivating. But more importantly it’s inspiring yet disheartening. It makes you angry at the world but also hopeful. One of the best books I’ve ever read and I can’t recommend it more highly.

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Good topic, good stories, but low information density

Revisado: 05-22-18

It was an entertaining book and performed well, but I don’t think OKRs warrant a book length treatment. The point is well made fairly early on.

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Finally, someone says what needs to be said about education

Revisado: 05-17-18

I’ll be upfront about my bias before getting into the review. I already was a disgruntled college graduate and soon-to-be graduate school graduate. I majored in Neuroscience at UCLA and looking back years later, I remember maybe about 5% of what I learned. Moreover, the idea that I had to pay thousands of dollars so some administrators could tell me what classes had to take and then grade me on some exams that were just memorization strikes me as one of the most perverse transactions in the free market.

The online courses rectify much of this. I can pay for education that I want or need and I can demonstrate my understanding or skill acquisition on my terms. It’s a fair transaction.

Unfortunately, hardly any company will take a Coursera “degree” or the like seriously because of the signaling Model that this wonderful book articulates so well. The idea is that while I may be able to find alternative sources of education that may provide a far superior skill learning experience, it doesn’t matter to the labor market. The labor market cares more about the trifecta of your intelligence, work-ethic, and conformity than it does mastery of skills. College is great at certifying this trifecta and that’s largely why college degrees pay; it merely signals the quality of the job candidate.

This book not only describes this signaling Model but proposes some ostensibly draconian maneuvers to counter act the status quo: namely stop government funding of education. We always here cries that education is becoming too expensive and out of reach for poor students, but Caplan wants to drive up the costs even more. The hope is that a high cost college degree will only attract those who will actually benefit from it (without signaling) and hence credentials will become less important for securing a job that otherwise doesn’t need one. This isn’t as crazy as it sounds, although I don’t think it’s the most important contribution of the book. Anyone can get a world class education online these days for free. What’s all the fuss about high cost of college then? Because we all deep inside know it’s not just about “education,” it’s about the diploma you get at the end certifying you went through a bunch of hoops and are a high quality job candidate.

While the proposal of defunding education is almost surely dead on arrival given the political system, a broader awareness and acceptance of signaling in education would hopefully make people think twice about majoring in Scandinavian Studies or perhaps even going to college. Indeed, one of the most important takeaways is that if college is acting as a signal of quality to potential employers, there may be other less costly (in both time and money) ways to signal the same thing. But it remains to be seen how well other signaling packages might scale to the whole country.

In any case, the book was eye opening and a breath of fresh air. I surely hope we see some true education reform in the direction of less credentialism and focus on a fair transaction between the student and educator.

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