Why do my friends describe me as cheerful and carefree? After giving it some thought, it is because of the books I read growing up. Some of my favoubooks that I read when I was young is written by Jing Yong (金庸). He is a famous writer from Hong Kong who single-handedly created a genre called Wu Xia (武侠) that captivated a whole generation of readers like me. One of my favourite novel of his is “The Smiling, Proud Wanderer” (笑傲江湖). The main character Ling Hu Chong (令狐聪) is someone who is carefree, humorous, kind and have a strong sense of justice. Another favourite novel of mine is “The Return of the Condor Heroes” (神雕侠侣), the main character there is Yang Guo (杨过), he is someone who is rebellious, doesn’t conform to society norms, cunning but kind. Since I like these two characters so much, I suspect that subconsciously, I tried to become more like them hence I am who I am today.
When I was in London studying for my Engineering degree, many of my seniors from my university rushed into the finance industry due to its extremely lucrative pay. I wanted to join the finance industry too but I knew nothing about finance, I then read books related to economics, finance, business and investment. It feels like I studied multiple degrees in university, in fact, if I am being honest, my engineering knowledge is the worst out of all the topics. During the global financial crisis due to subprime mortgage, I saw first-hand of the economic destruction it caused. I started to read books related to the financial crisis and I started to see how unjust and unfair the world is. A group of people in the finance industry caused such a widespread destruction in the economy and affected so many people’s life and none of them were held responsible, none of them went to jail. Instead, these people were paid handsomely for what they did. The irony is, if someone robs a bank and steal 100,000 dollars, he will get many years in prison. The more I read, the more I don’t want to work in the finance industry. But the knowledge I gained helps me in my investment and business.
I enjoy reading biography. This is the best way to re-live the life of successful people. I read biographies about Andrew Carnegie, John Rockefeller, Sam Walton, Benjamin Franklin and many more. I believe life is too short to figure out everything by myself, instead of struggling alone, it is easier for me to stand on the shoulders of giants so that I can find my way easier. I found my mentors through books, I found Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. Together, they are the founder of Berkshire Hathaway which is one of the most successful company in the world. What strikes me about Warren and Charlie is how much they emphasize on honesty and integrity when it comes to business. This is very different from what I saw on TV series where business is all about backstabbing and coming out with cunning plans to topple each other. Their approach to business with honesty and integrity is such a breath of fresh air as compared to what I saw and what I read from finance industry prior to the financial crisis. Honesty and integrity is what I aspire myself to be.
Charlie Munger also has some outstanding quotes when it comes to reading:
In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time – none, zero. You’d be amazed at how much Warren reads—and at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.
I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up and boy does that help, particularly when you have a long run ahead of you.
Reading has taught me not to idolize people too early in their life. I am quite picky in choosing biography to read. I tend to avoid biography of people who are relatively young, because they have a long life ahead of them and who knows what will happen. A particular example is a woman called Elizabeth Holmes, she founded Theranos and at one point she was the youngest self-made female billionaire with a net worth of 4.5 billion USD in 2015. Now? She has zero net worth and she is fighting lawsuits & criminal charges. Bad Blood is a wonderful book to read.
To quote George R. R. Martin, the author of the Game of Thrones series:
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only once.
