Picking what to read can be the hardest part of packing for vacation.koufax73/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
When packing for a vacation, deciding what to read is always the hardest part. I can spend as much time thinking about which books to bring as I actually spend reading them. Never a real believer in a “summer read,” I want something rewarding for those rare stretches of uninterrupted reading, but not so difficult that I’m reluctant to pick it up at all. The time is precious, so the pressure mounts.
I almost always end up choosing the wrong books and then buying or borrowing something else – and thoroughly enjoying it. This makes for inefficient packing and a lot of wasted worry. So, for anyone as neurotic about vacation reading as I am, we have a list for you.
Globe Advisor asked leading economists and advisors for books that advisors should be reading to understand the world and what their clients are experiencing as we head into the August long weekend and the true dog days of summer that follow.
The picks – from Royal Bank of Canada’s Frances Donald, University of Calgary’s Jack Mintz, Tom McCullough of Northwood Family Office, and others – include behavioural finance, history, public policy and fiction. Hopefully, there’s something for everyone. And if you want more options, U.S. financial planner Michael Kitces and his team at Kitces.com put together their own summer reading list in June.
As for my own vacation reading? After carefully selecting two books to bring on a short trip to London, U.K., last month, I neglected them both after a visit to Daunt Books, where I picked up (and devoured) Inspector Imanishi Investigates by Seichō Matsumoto. It’s a police procedural that opens with a body on the train tracks, but offers a window into Japanese society and cultural change in the early 1960s.
Portfolio managers will appreciate Inspector Imanishi’s rigour, patience and humility, returning to the same evidence again and again from different perspectives, nimble enough to abandon failed hypotheses and acknowledge his own biases.
What’s on your reading list for the rest of the summer, and what would you recommend for your fellow advisors? Let us know.
– Mark Burgess, Globe Advisor assistant editor
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