Keep On Learning

What I learned from The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason

Edmond Chan · Aug 15, 2016 · 1 Comment

I first heard of The Richest Man in Babylon from Fighting Mediocrity who made a fantastic animated video review of it. (Check it out here.) I bought it on Kindle for next to nothing: £1.99! It's a short book and reads like an allegory similar in style to The Alchemist. Synopsis In ancient Babylon, an ordinary family man is struck one day that he is not rich and in all likelihood never will be rich. He and his friends decide to ask the richest man in Babylon for his secrets to becoming rich. Takeaways and analysis The overall objective recommended is the image of 'fattening up your purse'. It's a great image to have in your mind …

What I learned from The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

Edmond Chan · May 9, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Unlike most of the books on this site, what I took from The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt isn't so much about learning, but much more about inspiration. Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt led one of the most action-packed lives in history, filled with vigour, achievement, joy, suffering and overcoming. This incredible biography of Roosevelt by Edmund Morris is heavily detailed and a work of intense scholarship but is as readable as a novel. This is actually the first of a three part series by Morris on Roosevelt. (The second being Theodore Rex and the final being Colonel Roosevelt) The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt charts the period from birth …

Why we should commit to becoming learning machines

Edmond Chan · Apr 30, 2016 · Leave a Comment

I first heard of the idea of being a learning machine from my time at Phoenix in reference to legendary billionaire investor Charlie Munger. Simply put, a learning machine never stops learning and is committed to growth. It's easy to say and I bet everyone would say that they're learning machines, but how true is this really. The sad reality is most people don't like to learn and aren't committed to lifelong learning. Most people don't even learn at school. They're taught facts to recite but they're not learning. It carries on through univrsity and once they're in a career, the learning has stopped. At 30 years old, most …