“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually, then suddenly.” – Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises __________________________________________________________________ Sections of American Made by Farah Stockman bring to mind the so-called full employment scene from the 1993 movie Dave where the body-double president waxes poetic about having a good job. As Kevin Kline’s character puts it, it’s…
Author: Chris Bond
The Great Real Estate Swindle
I don’t know much about Reeves Wiedeman other than he’s a contributing editor at New York magazine and has the perfect name for a New York butler. But having inhaled his Wall Street Journal bestseller Billion Dollar Loser, it’s clear ol’ Reeves doesn’t suffer fools gladly and there is no shortage of dullards throughout the book. The only way his…
Oink Oink Oink Oink Oink
Borrowing one of the funnier lines from Hamilton, everything is legal in New Jersey. As a one-time resident of New York’s armpit – for 37 mid-90’s months (but who’s counting?) I dwelled not far off Turnpike Exit 16W – I feel it’s my right to goof on the land of livin’ off one’s hair. You see, roundabout 150 years ago…
The Romantic Drift as Path to Success
A “rounder” can be an unsavory character – a hobo, bum, wastrel – but also a romantic drifter. So writes Bill Nowlin in Vinyl Ventures, his self-described idiosyncratic memoir capturing his half-century at Rounder Records, from its founding through acquisition and beyond. The term also describes those who make the rounds preacher-like and over the book’s nearly 300 pages we…
No One’s an Island
Since finishing You’re Invited a couple weeks ago, I’ve been seeing its core concepts on display everywhere. Give of yourself generously. Be remarkable and novel. Curate interest with others. Writes Jon Levy, “The fundamental element that defines the quality of our lives is the people we surround ourselves with, and the conversations we have with them.” A behavioral scientist, Levy…