Q4 2023 Reading Review

Boomtown: The 2018 book by Sam Anderson is simply fantastic. Thanks to David Alchus for the recommendation. The book weaves the arc of how the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team came to be, how they make it to the NBA finals as one of the youngest teams ever in league history and how they slowly disintegrate after the James Harden trade. That alone would be plenty of book - but Anderson weaves the beat writing of the NBA story together with the origin story of Oklahoma City itself. He goes into detail about the land run that established the town, the boomers that try to take control and the eventual expansion and destruction of the city as it lurched forward into present time. He also weaves the stories of local celebrity Wayne Coyne (singer of The Flaming Lips), local weather legend Gary England and of course the horrific?events surrounding Timothy McVeigh and the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P Murrah federal building. The story makes for an expansive and deeply human look at the city from its origin to present day. A wild and fast paced read -- a really unique book and an all around winner. It makes me want to go to OKC - one of the few American cities I have yet to see.?

American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America's Jack the Ripper - When you think about Eliot Ness you probably think about two things - the fact he was the guy who brought down infamous gangster Al Capone and that Kevin Costner played him in the classic 1987 movie The Untouchables, along with Sean Connery and Robert DeNiro as Capone. This book tells the story of Ness and what happens after the Chicago mob had been disposed of and after prohibition took its swan song in 1929. Unbeknownst to me - Ness ends up heading to Cleveland to clean up a notoriously corrupt police force. During this period that spans most of the 1930's he also tangles with more mobsters and systematically breaks up gambling houses, prostitution and racketeering rings. Meanwhile in the shantytown riverside slums a serial killer is dismembering victims and leaving legs, arms, torso's and disembodied heads to be found all over the city. The story is how the now famous gangland cop is forced to reckon with a modern day Jack the Ripper on the streets of an American city. It's a great, fast paced, absolute winner of a story. Needless to say, I had no idea what happened to Ness after the Chicago mob (I assume most people are in that camp) and that he ends up in Cleveland forced to confront one of the most grizzly serial killers in American history is a fascinating piece of historical crime/drama. People ask me why I don't read much fiction -- it's because?as you continue to poke around the dark corners of history - you keep finding stories like this -- up there with the likes of Devil in the White City. ?

Wink: The incredible true story of one of America's forgotten athletes Jimmy Winkfield. Wink, as he was called by friends and the public, became the first and only ever black jockey to win back to back Kentucky Derby’s in both 1901 and 1902. He nearly pulled off the three-peat in 1903 coming 2nd. Despite his meteoric rise to fame and success Winkfield was effectively run out of American by both racism and an influential and powerful trainer. This takes Wink on a journey across the globe where he ends up becoming a champion jockey in Russia up until the outbreak of WW1. He helps nearly 260 valuable thoroughbreds escape Odessa by walking them 1100 miles to Poland during the war. After the war he moves to Paris and has great success in the rising French circuit. He eventually retires outside of Paris and begins training as his full time profession. As WW2 breaks out he loses his entire training stock, farm and house to the invading Nazis. He escapes back to America with $9 in his pocket. Winkfield eventually migrates back to France post war - returns to his training and lives out his remaining days as a national treasure cherished by the French racing community. An amazing book on an American athlete that would have been lost to the dust bin of time - a tip of the hat?to author Ed Hotaling for preserving his story.?

Kick The Latch: While it’s technically fiction it’s based on interviews with a woman who worked inside the horse racing industry her entire adult life. The book is written in a “‘matter of fact” story telling manner that delves into the hard life of training and surviving on the lower circuits of American racing. The love of horses is often mixed with a hatred of the people that orbit the world. The book delves into personal, sexual and emotional abuse as Sonia - the main character - navigates her way through the world or racing - mostly alone. A short but powerful read - it takes you into the barn and on the back stretch in a way no other book ever has.?

King of Heists: The first you think when you read this is - this has gotta be a movie no? I looked it up and apparently the script has been written and at one time it had Jeremy Renner attached to it but for whatever reason the project hasn't received the green light. This is the story of George Leslie who arrives in NYC during the gilded age and proceeds to execute the greatest series of bank robberies the United States has ever seen. It's a wild story, an even wilder set of characters and some of the most interesting insights on what it was like to live in New York during the late 1870s and 1880s. A great/fun piece of historical nonfiction that reads like a fantasy.?

Lord of Misrule: Another book on the down and out track life and the ugly side of horse racing. It's fiction and while it predates Kick the Latch and won the National Book Award gold seal I just didn't love the characters or the writing. Hard to get into from the jump and never really connected with me. I wanted to like it but it's a pass.?

Quiet Street:?Written by a former Buckley Boys School graduate on what it means to grow up in and around privilege?in America. The New Yorker quote says it better than I could on this one:?"Rich (pun half-intended) with anecdotal details from a life spent between the Upper East Side, the Hamptons, and all the other playgrounds of the wealthy,?McDonell?has done what for many in his orbit would have found unthinkable: He says the quiet part loud."

Street Pricing: A great book for anyone trying to understand how to approach one of the most challenging parts of software - how to price. This is very much designed for a lower end ACV and?SMB driven pricing vs enterprise. That said, if you are in and around a business that has this type of model this book is a must read before you would embark on a pricing exercise. Marcos Rivera now runs the firm Pricing I/O and helps customers embark on these intricate discussions and has years of experience doing this within the Vista Equity portfolio before spinning out on his own.?

No Bullshit Strategy: A simple and fast analysis on why and how so many companies fail to execute a well defined strategy. Smith talks about strategy through the lens of value. What does your company deliver in a unique way and in a way that’s only possible through your set of products? That mix of value and uniqueness and differentiation is the hallmark to what should drive strategy. The notion of a third space (Starbucks) was an example of great strategy. A place between home and work. A third space that goes beyond selling coffee. In this framework strategy is defined by anything that improves the third space. In many instances choices are made that have nothing to do with coffee. The product is driven by the broader strategy of this third space concept. A good one if you’re looking to freshen your thinking. No eye charts here either.?

Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk - The story of Billy Walters — a dirt poor pool hustling Kentucky kid who is now known as the biggest gambler in Las Vegas history. You may have heard of Walters as he was caught up in an insider trading case they sent him to jail for a 5 year bid. He was also heavily involved with Phil Mickelson and his gambling issues over the years. The story goes beyond all of the gambling wins and losses and spends a good amount of time discussing his drinking issues and his poor family management skills. Walters - if anything isn’t afraid to lose - and any life that delivers huge wins has many huge losses along the way. I always think there’s learning in gambling - self control, humility, portfolio management, understanding that edges are thin even for the best players. Walters is the poster child of a life on the edge.?

Founder vs. investor: A really great read from Liz Zalman and Jerry Neumann. There’s a lot of fairly unvarnished views from both sides of the table here and a lot of passion around topics like fund raising, term sheets, board management and liquidity opportunities. Neumann comes off more balanced but Liz probably calls the bad/ugly behavior of VCs out in a way few have done in print. She pulls no punches and it’s a very interesting point, counter point style of writing. Worth the read.?

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime and a Dangerous Obsession?- A man without a job. A man who lives with his mother. A man who lives in an attic bedroom. A man who collects welfare from the government. This is also the man who stole more art faster than any single human to walk the earth using only a Swiss Army knife. A man who did it all in open daylight. Over 300 pieces in roughly 10 years - disappeared. A man who amassed nearly $2B of stolen work. A man who never sold a penny of it. A man who kept it in his bedroom - surrounded by it, living in his own version of a priceless treasure chest. The question is then -- Why? One of the most unique stories that I’d never heard of - this one really takes you down a winding road. Big winner.?

That's it -- I hope you found a few that looked worth buying. Have a great holiday season - stay safe, hug someone you love. Take care out there -

Dzik.