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I have been running in the winter in Boston for a long time. It is not the coldest place but it can get very cold. The main point is to dress in layers and try to protect your hands, feet, and ears. Check out this video for my winter running tips.

Crash Proof discusses the current US economy and predicts what will happen in the coming years. I find the author emphasized on the flaws and concluded on the extremes with naïve logic.

The book discussed the follow topics: our trade deficit, the stock market, the housing bubble, consumer debt and proposed solutions. One thing great about the book is that the author used very easy to understand analogies to explain our current situation. The author talked about many things in his book, I am just highlighting a few that I felt important.

Author discussed the current trade deficit and concluded that soon everyone will abundant dollar as the default currency because it is to all other countries’ interest in the long run. Hence more dollars will coming back to the US and cause hyper inflation. I believe the dollar will certainly further decline in value but it is not clear that this process will be very sudden. In fact I believe the process will be slow for everyone’s interest.

Next the author talked about the stock market. He pointed out a lot of short comings of our stock market. For example, mutual fund managers are evaluated on quarterly performance rather than long term performance and major banks underwrite IPOs that they also help sell. I believe just because the stock market has some flaws, it does not mean that it is beyond hope and will crash the next day. Sophisticated investors are should be aware of those flaws and take them into consideration before they invest.

The book is about how a shy guy became the master of pickup artists. You can read many other reviews online but I have a different view.

On the surface, it is about is about how to pick up women. If you are looking for pickup lines or short cuts of manipulating women, you can find some in the book, like C vs. U or the Cube. However, if you dig deeper into the book you will see it is a book of how to manage emotions in social interactions. The author’s stories showed me why certain pickup line work or not work. The stories explain mysteries such as why women like bad boys, why man like bitches, and why nice guy always come last.

Here is the biggest takeaway: Most of people think the game as skills of manipulating the opposite sex. However those who win the game are those who can manipulate themselves the best. It is only yourself you can change. I am sure we all heard about this before but Neil, the author, vividly painted detailed events of how he managed to change himself, mentally, emotionally, and physically. Finally became a person he wanted to be.

In short, everyone could become a better and more complete person tomorrow. Everyone could have something that he or she wants tomorrow. But unless we take action today and make changes that we will stay who we are and have what we have today. Unlike the usual motivational books, Neil demonstrated another way you can make the change.

Some other takeaways from the book:

One of my best friends Alvin, a great value investor, recommended this book to me five years ago and I bought it then. I always wanted to read the book but never got into it. I finally decided that it's about time and finished the book. [I guess amazing things do happen when you put your mind to it. :-)].

I have to say, although the book is neither inspirational nor informative on how to buy stocks, it is one of the best books I have read. The book is about detailed stories on the life of Warren Buffett. Before reading the book, I only know Buffett as the best investor but now I understood Buffett as a person. In some sense Buffett is no different than everyone else except he knew precisely what he wanted or liked in life at very early age and never stopped working towards it. It’s like he knew it so clear that he did not need motivation and did not need advice from others. He just goes and does it. He loved business, numbers and people. Stock markets was one of the place he could get all three. He loved numbers and obsessed on reading annual reports. I finally understood how he became the best investor and once the richest in the world (possibly the richest in the future.)

The Sicence of Getting Rich is one of the oldest books that talked about mindsets of getting rich.

My understanding is that there are two kinds of riches, having a lot of money or having a fulfilled life. The Science of Getting Rich is about the latter. It is about having a mindset to create abundance of everything and unlimited opportunities. The former type of rich is based on competition, the kind and it doesn't last.