Editor’s note:  Lewis has made our library again. Wall Street misbehavior, specifically in this instance high frequency trading is his topic and as with his best books Mr. Lewis is able to make a complicated real life story both interesting and simpler. (Warning to my fellow creatives: The numerical detail necessary to establish the scam’s techniques were at times a workout for my non-numerical brain.) Like Billy Beane in “Moneyball,” Lewis builds a hero to tell this tale, this time Brad Katsuyama. Like Beane, Katsuyama fights the system by creating new rules. Our hero creates a chance to end to a real life scam being perpetrated in recent years in our financial markets. Shortly after the book’s publication, our government began looking into changes needed in the system. Will new scams come up? Of course, but thankfully there will always be a guy like Lewis with the brains, balls and creativity to bring them to light.

Editor’s note: Time for another funny (to me) song. This one is Bruno Mars’ satirical take on the endless number of songs about unrequited love. He claims he’d take a grenade, put his hand on a blade and do anything for this woman but in the end (note: this is favorite lyric):

Editor’s note: Like “Fast Food Nation,” I found this work to be like any other that looks for a sole source of a complex problem. That is, blaming sub-prime lending on the pawnshop and fringe lending industry is rather like blaming obesity on McDonald’s. Way over the top for me. But like “Fast Food Nation,” we need to be reminded of societal problems in an interesting way. Rivlin most certainly accomplishes that with this very readable book. Our foundation has invested heavily in eradicating payday lending in Ohio by providing an alternative via www.employeeloansolutions.com so we believe in Rivlin’s point. Our current investment is helping pilot an employer-based alternative to store-front lenders (which Ohio voters thought we had outlawed by state-wide referendum a few years ago) by offering safe, affordable and responsible loans to this same audience that comprises (by Rivlin’s estimates) a $100 billion industry in the USA.

Editor’s note: As so many of the Brothers songs, the words to this song moved me to making it the last quote in my book, Empty Abundance. See favorite lyrics to read the “almost” final words from the book.

Editor’s note: Part of the research for my own book is to buy any book that promises to discuss life’s “meaning.” Learning other perspectives and avoiding repetition is my goal. The first chapter alone, where Lamott asks and provides her answers to life’s eternal question make the book worth reading. The book’s overall premise is that our lives are the quilt stitched together from our experiences, including such catastrophes as her designer curtains being ripped to shreds by her dog, then stitched back together by her friend. Humor and depth is a hard combination to achieve and this woman has it. It is a short and easy (if not, light) read and I recommend to all searchers.

Editor’s Note:  Another gift from my lovely daughter, this song is easy to listen to and also makes a good point.  It’s especially poignant for she and I who are often “lost in our minds.”

Editor’s Note:  I’ve been a Godin fan since “Permission Marketing” which was published many years ago as I was ramping a permission marketing business. Another favorite is “Purple Cow” but anything Seth writes, including his blog is usually very good. In “The Dip,” Seth takes on the idea that it can be smart to power through tough times as you master something, but smart people also choose when to quit on certain things. Cool idea, a little off center and yet lots of common sense which is back to why I admire Seth.

“All empty souls tend to extreme opinion. It is only in those who have built up a rich world of memories and habits of thought that extreme opinions affront the sense of probability.”

Editor’s Note: My talented and beloved son, Kevin, was home for one of my open mic nights and while deciding some songs to do together, he suggested this Dylan classic. I frankly had not heard it or thought of it in 30+ years. When Kevin then said, “I want us to sing this for Rose Alice, his one-year-old daughter,” my heart soared!

Editor’s comment: Warning to my conservative friends: This book can be interpreted as an attack on American capitalism! I realized that only a few pages in, and almost threw the book away. But I remembered one time when my daughter made me go to a Michael Moore movie by saying, “Dad, even if you’re appalled by it, you should open your mind to it.” So onward I pushed and though it’s been a tough read, there are enough nuggets in it to consider. I'm learning that I’m probably a fiscal conservative but a social liberal but in any event, I’m appalled by the growing polarization of wealth in America. Somewhere in between socialism that I fear and the untethered free enterprise that’s not working is the most interesting to me.