With winter approaching and the holiday season upon us, many of us will be leaving our offices behind for a mental break. Whether you are heading out on a holiday trip or having a stay-cation, it’s a good time to do some reading. So, we asked our 361 team for some recommendations to add to your shopping cart.
The Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Recommended by Josh Vail, CAIA | President
A story covering the 30-year saga of the Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, who is placed under house arrest inside the Metropol Hotel in Moscow in 1922. The book gives a glimpse of life in Russia during the 20th century as well as provides an avenue to share in the experiences, relationships and emotions that define the life of the multi-layered Count Rostov.
Range by David Epstein
Recommended by Brian Harvey, CFA | Senior Equity Analyst
There is a growing belief that to be successful one must specialize at an early age. There are numerous examples, and scientific research, indicating a “range” of expertise and background knowledge leads to better decision-making both individually and within a team. An inability to vary one’s approach for specific situations can lead to tragic outcomes. Many great athletes, musicians, artists, and business leaders were late bloomers because they sampled various activities.
The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution
by Gregory Zuckerman
Recommended by Aditya Bhave | Portfolio Manager, Managed Futures
The story of Jim Simons, Renaissance Technologies, and the quant revolution. Renaissance is one of the most secretive firms in the industry and one of the most idolized so any insight into them is very hard to come by but worth learning.
Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
Recommended by Mary Pettit | Director, Content Marketing
As with all Malcolm Gladwell books, this book examines human behavior and this book in particular dives into why people are so terrible at detecting truth from lies. The stories and examples he uses are ripped right from the news headlines and offer a compelling examination of how bad we are at communicating and understanding one another. It will have you examining your own behaviors with others before you’re done.
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Recommended by Blaine Rollins, CFA | Portfolio Manager, Managing Director
This is one of the books I will be diving into before year end. The story sounds like it could be a gut wrencher in following a family’s ups and downs. And if you are driving commuter or runner, a bonus via Audible is that Tom Hanks narrates this book.
Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow
Recommended by Andrea Coleman, CAIA | Director of Sales, East Coast Region
The tale behind getting the Weinstein story was almost as shocking as the subject matter. The book illustrates the challenges that Farrow faced from Harvey and his team, his employer, and even a foreign spy/surveillance firm as he worked to get the story of what was going on at the Weinstein Company. The book reads like a spy novel, but also reminds readers of the hard work investigative journalists engage in and the courage of those victimized to come forward in the face of extreme pressure from those more powerful.
Fooled By Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Recommended by Dillon Pierce | Sales Coordinator
This book highlights how humans are prone to error in decision making (usually driven by biases), and how uncertainty and probability/luck play a much greater role in the outcomes of our decisions than we tend to acknowledge.
Lifespan: Why We Age-and Why We Don’t Have To by David A. Sinclair
Recommended by Chad Greenberg, CPA/PFS | Managing Director, 361 Infrastructure Partners, LLC
This book dispels many of the aging myths that many of us have grown up believing and takes a deep dive into the science that he and his lab have proven to be the actual cause of aging and the remarkable discoveries they’ve made to actually reverse the “disease of aging”.
Read more in 7 Books for Your Summer Reading List >