What I read in 2025: -Financial Statement Analysis by Marin Fridson -When I stop Talking You'll Know I'm Dead by Jerry Weintraub -When Money Is King by Richard Hack -When the Heavens Went On Sale by @ashleevance -What It Takes by Steven Schwarzman -Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain -Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson -How to Make a Few Billion Dollars by Brad Jacobs -The Bond King by Mary Childs -Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis -Make No Small Plans by the @Summit Founders -The Power Law by Sebastian Mallaby -How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by @ScottAdamsSays -The Prince by Machiavelli -The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel -Private Equity Deals by Ted Seides -The Uncertainty Solution by John Jennings -The Machiavellians by James Burnham (@pmarca recommendation) -Titan by Ron Chernow -The Age of AI by Kissinger and @ericschmidt -Enzo Ferrari by Brock Yates -Build by Tony Fadell -The Iconist by Jamie Mustard -Zero to One by Peter Theil -Angel by @JasonChatbox -Ploductivity by @douglaswils -The Hapsburgs by Martyn Rady -The Technological Republic by Alex Karp -The Contrarian by Max Chafkin -The Clash of Civilizations and Remaking of the World Order by Samuel Huntington -Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian -A Time of Gifts by Patrick Fermor -The Place of the Lion by Charles Williams -Return of the King by Tolkien -Meditations by Marcus Aurelios -On Nationalism by George Orwell (Not Pictured) -"Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letters" by Warren Buffet (Not Pictured) Onto 2026

“Between The Woods and The Water” By Patrick Leigh Fermor Finished October 14, 2026 The second of his trilogy, recounting his travels from England to Constantinople in 1934. Two things I admire so much which prevail through throughout the book: 1) his ability to connect with anyone. Counts in their castles to lumberjacks in the lonely forest. This book is especially great because of his stories and connections of people. 2) Also I admire his love of learning. Wherever he goes, he learns history, reads books (whenever he can access the library), and studies origins of language Fermor is the type of writer, where you can randomly open to any page in the book and be struck by the excellence of his prose.

Once the political and cultural tide turned with Trump’s reelection, it became clear that the path to political impact shifted from public dissent to serious building, organization, and policy wins. Building requires real work, real capability, and real courage—including the moral courage to deal with the complexity of real-world responsibility and political compromise. Most of the political right embraced this opportunity, through direct involvement, constructive debate about strategy or tactics, or even just support for those in the trenches. Unfortunately, a few influencers refused to accept this and instead resorted to escalating purity spirals and heresy denunciations. While such people are parasitic, I expect their influence to wane. In an increasingly chaotic digital environment, skin in the game—through building, courage, financial sacrifice, etc—will displace rhetoric as the basis for credibility. High-agency Americans will realize which leaders are offering paths to success, and who is pushing irrelevance.

“Makers of Rome” by Plutarch Finished October 11, 2026 Really enjoyed this collection of nine lives by Plutarch, beginning with Coriolanus and ending with Mark Antony. One notices a great reverence for the gods and an obsession with rituals and signs. There was a love for Rome (even when fighting against her) The focus of many men with double: skill in oration and combat- these were the grounds upon which many men grew to power.

“The Fish That Ate the Whale” By Rich Cohen Finished October 7, 2026 Incredible story of Sam Zemurrary, the Russian immigrant who arrived in America in 1891, who worked as a fruit pedlar but eventually “swallowed” United Fruit Company, his biggest rival. This book has everything. The science of bananas (actually an herb); disposing country leaders, corporate takeovers, CIA agents, propaganda campaigns, and banana cowboys. “ he believed in the transcendent power of physical labor— that a man can free his soul only by exhausting his body. Life in an office, desk, bound, was for the feeble and weak, who cut themselves off from the actual.”

“A definition of “the world” – the predominant arrangement of life apart from the Creator’s Voice; heavy on deceit; introduced by the devil and over the millennia built upon/ made labyrinthine by billions of first-Adamites under devilish oversight.” -Colin Landry

Young second and third-generation migrants film a French firefighter after setting him on fire during the school protests in Bordeaux 🇫🇷

“Things That Matter” by Charles Krauthammer Finished September 29, 2026 Generally, enjoyed this collection of articles, with the occasional longer essays. Charles spoke on things he loved, chess, dogs, science, but also on Jewish people, foreign policy, and more politics. After all, he wrote, “In the end, they must all bow to the sovereignty of politics.” While I didn’t always agree with him, very much appreciated his great writing, keen wit, and common sense. Appreciated this quote: “The question of whether America is in decline cannot be answered yes or no. There is no yes, or no. Both answers are wrong because the assumption that somehow there exists some predetermined inevitable trajectory, the result of uncontrollable external forces, is wrong. Nothing is inevitable. Nothing is written. For America today, decline is not a condition. Decline is a choice.”

I consider Dryden a friend, but: No idea could ever come close to being as monumental as Christ’s birth, crucifixion, and resurrection. His humanity and divinity. Our salvation through Him. This is The Idea. Today’s pompous, futurist AI-cultists will, just like the last two millennia of Sadducees and pagans and renaissance men and ideologues, will claim that Christ is a particularly insightful instantiation of “The Good” or some such abstraction. However, they claim, it is “obviously” an anachronism for this or that reason. Christianity is not part of the past, nor is it the defining characteristic of the future. He exists throughout eternity, outside of time, long before and after and beyond the tribulation of artificial intelligence.

“Sailing Alone Around the Room” by Billy Collins Finished September 26, 2026 “Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House” The neighbor’s dog will not stop barking. He is barking the same high, rhythmic bark that he barks every time they leave the house. They must switch him on on their way out. The neighbors dog will not stop barking. I close all the windows in the house and put on a Beethoven Symphony full blast but I can still hear him muffled under the music barking, barking, barking, And now I can see him sitting in the orchestra, his head raised confidently as if Beethoven had included a part for barking dog. When the record finally ends, he is still barking, sitting there in the oboe section barking, his eyes fixed on the conductor who is entreating him with his baton while the other musicians listen in respectful silence to the famous barking dog solo, that endless coda that first established Beethoven as an innovative genius

Interesting. Charles Krauthammer proposed building a wall (or two) all the way back in 2006

Important point by @MESabo86. Technological fear-mongering has been a too-often used weapon to inhibit the growth of American tools (nuclear being a great example). The more I examine the effective altruism of Silicon Valley-elite, I'm reminded of the story of Judas accusing the woman of wasting oil by anointing the feet of Jesus. "He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it." (John 12:6) open.substack.com/pub/amref/…

Interesting by @aaron_renn "It’s an example of how legal structures are starting to replace trust as the basis of relationships with institutions, even churches." open.substack.com/pub/aaronr…

"What is an American" is the new "What is a woman"

'When properly ordered, principles advance these fundamental goods rather than impede them. This theme pervades both human and divine law: the preamble to the U.S. Constitution makes clear that its purpose is to protect and promote the good of the American people, and Christ made clear that God’s law exists for our good. The error comes when this purpose is forgotten and principles are treated as ends in themselves. Christ rejected efforts to make rigid adherence to the law an end in itself, and Americans should likewise reject constitutional legalism and other blind commitments to abstract principle. “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath”—and the Constitution is not a suicide pact.' Really good piece from @NateAFischer in @AmReformer. Our focus on principles and rules has resulted in a loss of power in basically every institution of power in the US. The right (and its many groups) must unite to accomplish the purpose of politics:"protecting a body politic and the conditions conducive to its good." Worth going back to @NewFounding's first podcast with Doug Wilson, in which he talks more about building a coalition on the right (ep. 14) I think also worth stating that the right should not seek power for power's sake (which seems to be a growing theme). Rather there should be a positive vision for what an America should look like. The right isn't just an anti-left! open.substack.com/pub/amref/…

"It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out." (Proverbs 25:2) This is the goal. God has filled the world with so much discover; but I (we) must dig up those secrets.

One more win for our guy, Justice Thomas open.substack.com/pub/amref/…

Find me a cooler deal: 1) I put tiny seeds into ground and occasionally water 2) I get cool vegetables

"While Science, medicine, art, poetry, architecture, chess, space, sports, number theory and all things hard and beautiful promise purity, elegance and sometimes even transcendence, they are fundamentally subordinate. In the end they must bow to the sovereignty of politics." -Charles Krauthammer, Things That Matter

"I must study politics and war that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, and naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain." -John Adams

“I had become increasingly uncomfortable with a life of theory. I began to regard it as something of an intellectual self-indulgence, increasingly divorced from reality and from duty.” Charles Krauthammer discussing his initial movement away from politics and towards medicine. (he ended up becoming a political writer)