Manward’s Summer Reading List

Andy Snyder|May 31, 2023

Well, would you look at that…

We’ve somehow passed the official start of the summer vacation season. As you read this, we may or may not be sitting beachfront with a good book by our side. (For security purposes, our actual location is rarely known… even by us.)

That means it’s time to do something we do every year at this time.

It’s time to share our summer reading list.

Summer goes by too fast, and some of these books are pretty long, so let’s just get into them…

The first should be required reading for the entire nation. Seriously. We should close schools, banks, factories and offices for three days, mail a copy of Michael Easter’s The Comfort Crisis to every citizen (we argue the border crossers don’t need a copy… yet) and then have a nationwide test on the book.

The results would be far better than any free-money stimulus plan.

We wish we had found Easter earlier in our career. He’s very old-school Manward. His book studies the effects of discomfort and shows why all the comfort-focused technology in our lives actually harms us – physically, emotionally and culturally.The book speaks directly to our personal belief system – specifically, something we honed in our time in Alaska. Up there, modern comfort is a three-hour boat ride away (if the weather allows it). Staying alive trumped ensuring that every room was at a perfect 72 degrees.

Few of us are forced to ponder our survival these days. That’s good for the statistics, we suppose… but it’s very bad for our minds and bodies.

Read Easter’s book. He’ll prove it to you.

Manward Material

Next up is a book from an author you may not be familiar with now… but likely will be soon. Robert Ross is a supersmart investor and trader and an all-around good guy.

When we came across his book A Beginner’s Guide to High-Risk, High-Reward Investing, we knew he was Manward material.He thinks differently. And his idea of putting a bit of money into high-stakes ground-floor assets like cryptos and SPACs ties in perfectly to our Modern Asset Portfolio and the theory behind it.

There are a lot of ways to tell this sort of story. But Ross does his homework. He fills the book (and all of his work) with facts, details and real-life examples.

Like the first book… it’s quintessential Manward.

We hope to bring his thoughts to you soon. Just as we read Joel’s work years ago and knew we needed his words in this column… we need to get you reading Ross’ thoughts right away.

Finally, we’ve got a reread on our list. It has nothing to do with finance or investing… but everything to do with our other passion project (don’t be jealous, dear reader).

Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart may sound like a book for just our fellow flower farmers. It’s not.

It’s aimed at anybody who is curious about how the world really works. The author simply chooses flowers as her medium to portray the shenanigans that happen in the shadows of the world’s economy…

From the incredible pollution it takes to put a dozen roses on your table… to the massive amounts of money at stake… and the dependence of the flower market on disadvantaged labor.

The book will open your eyes to the happenings of the international flower trade… and reveal how that trade mirrors so many other things in our modern (comfortable) lives.

Even if you can’t tell a dahlia from a dandelion, it’s a worthy read.

That’s our list. We want to see your list too. Tell us what you’re reading with an email to mailbag@manwardpress.com. We’ll share a few of your titles with your fellow readers.