Monthly Reads: January 2023

I read a lot of stuff. Some of it is good, and some of it isn’t.

This post is my efforts to distill it down to the best of the best.

It’ll include articles, tweets, podcasts, Youtube videos, books, stuff scrawled on the inside of public toilet stalls (for a good time call HEY WAIT THAT’S MY NUMBER) or subway ads. If you’d like to submit something (not your own work, please) hit me up on Twitter [at]uproarcapital

Here’s the inaugural edition, the best of what I read in January.

Barnes & Noble’s Turnaround

First up is a great piece about the Barnes & Noble’s turnaround, something all the more remarkable considering a) Amazon exists and b) Amazon invested in physical bookstores at the same time as this turnaround was happening.

My favorite part: “If you want to sell music, you must love those songs. If you want to succeed in journalism, you must love those newspapers. If you want to succeed in movies, you must love the cinema.”

The Buffett Screen

My goodness, I wish I at 39 was half as sharp as Buffett is at 92. This is so beautifully simplistic I think I’m going to shed a tear.

Stay tuned for a future Substack where I run this screen to come up with some interesting Canadian stock ideas.

How to get rich

Y’all probably know my answer to this question, but I’m fascinated with the other side. How to they pick these stocks? What’s the thought process? How can I incorporate that into the way I invest?

One of the people in this debate blocked me years ago, so I guess I’ll have to side with DGI on this one.

Dream Unlimited

I bought a little Dream Unlimited (TSX:DRM) late last year at $25 per share. It’s one of those sum-of-the-parts deals, where you’re buying a $1 worth of assets for about 50 cents. They can work out if you have an operator who wants to extract that dollar.

I think Dream CEO Michael Cooper is that guy.

Rather than me writing up the stock, go read Taylor’s analysis. He does a nice job breaking down all the parts.

The art of spending money

I’m likely not giving y’all any new info here by saying Morgan Housell is likely the best financial writer alive today. If not, he’s damn close. The Art and Science of Spending Money answers the age-old question — why do smart people spend their hard-earned money on nonsense?

Jimmy Pattison speaks!

I enjoyed this podcast with Jimmy Pattison, the 94-year-old head of the Jim Pattison Group. I should really do a profile of the company, which is one of the largest privately-held companies in Canada. Pattison’s journey is fascinating stuff.

My favorite book of the month

I liked Polaroid, the history of the iconic camera maker. Polaroid was about more than just cameras, of course. It was a leading tech company in its day, led by a hard-pushing CEO who expected ground-breaking ideas from his people. The parallels to Apple during the Steve Jobs era are fascinating.

Canadian Farmland

Jerry, who is my buddy’s dad, owns a little farmland in Alberta. Despite getting to the age where he might be looking to sell, he’s stubbornly holding on. He’s going to give it to his kids one day.

Considering how Canadian farmland hasn’t had a negative year since 1992, I can’t say I really blame him. What a record.

Rapidfire Book reviews (plus a year in review)

Ian Bezek is one of my favourites because he consistently posts quality, entertaining, and actionable stuff on all sorts of different topics, with a focus on Latin America. I own both Mexican airport operators (NYSE:PAC and NYSE:OMAB) because of him.

Highly recommend y’all take a look at his newsletter. One post in particular I enjoyed was his look back at 2022, which included a bunch of book reviews at the end.

Bonus Ian

This look at Rotoplas is from September, but it’s an excellent read of a burgeoning leader in water equipment.

Want to make more money?

It’s simple, stupid. Just switch employers.

The problem, as always, isn’t the folks who switch. It’s employers who don’t pay for experience.

Look at it this way. Say I go work somewhere for $50k per year. I get a solid 5% raise each year, meaning I end up at $55,125 after two years. But how much more am I worth in two years? How much extra knowledge do I have? It’s a hell of a lot more than 10%.

Ah, it’s okay, say these places. Become a manager and we’ll add another $10k per year onto that. Then you either a) end up with an army of middle managers with no underlings or b) put technical employees on a path they don’t want to go on. Let me say from experience; managing people is a PITA. If you have the option, don’t bother.

Mark Leonard speaks!

Constellation Software Founder/CEO Mark Leonard emerged from hiding back in December to be the keynote speaker of a National Bank conference. Jay Vasantharajah attended and wrote a nice thread about the experience.

Mark Leonard’s favourite book

One detail Leonard shared was his personal business hero is Roy Thompson, the man who after failing twice built the Thompson media empire. He wrote a book, which is available on Amazon for the low low price of…

$361.

I own a copy. Kinda thinking of selling it, tbh.

Anyway, it’s a good read if you can get your hands on it.

That’s it, kids

Hopefully you enjoyed this inaugural edition of my link roundup. If you see anything you think I’d like for next month, either leave a comment, reply to this email, or hit me up on Twitter [at] uproarcapital.