How Great Decisions Get Made by Don Maruska

I've had this post saved for about a month. Let me explain. As part of becoming an actuary, one has to take a series of exams. There are a lot of hoops to jump through, but I have always said there are roughly 10 exams, which you take one at a time every six months. You teach yourself the material from textbooks and other exam prep sources. The last exam is an online course that focuses on the soft skill of decision making. How Great Decisions Get Made is one of the readings from that course. I chose to blog about it because a) it was not a terrible book and b) it allowed me an avenue to talk about becoming an actuary.

The book is exactly what the title says: a how-to on how to make a great decision, following 10 simple steps. The 10 steps are fairly straightforward and reasonable, yet rarely followed. Generally I hate books like this, but the author states upfront this is a book on "showing and not telling". He uses many examples to demonstrate his points.

The biggest takeaway for me was how to address a problem or issue. Many times, we ask what's wrong or how can we fix it? We focus on the problem and trying to solve it. Instead, the better way to look at a problem or issue is to ask what's possible and who cares? A very simple yet interesting way to look at problems.

My rating for How Great Decisions Get Made: 2 starts out of 5. Get it here!

P.S. So I didn't really explain why I waited to post this...well, this week I FOUND OUT I PASSED THE COURSE! I am now one final conference away from officially being a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries.

Movie Review: The Big Short

I have not done a movie review in a while. I watched The Big Short last weekend on Netflix (side note: Netflix is great and I highly recommend it). The Big Short is about the 2007-2008 housing crisis based on the book by Michael Lewis. I read the book and reviewed it back in 2011. (Wow that was a long time ago.) I really liked the book as it did a good job explaining, in simple yet detailed terms, how and why the crisis happened. Plus I really like Michael Lewis' writing style.

I was surprised when they announced The Big Short would be made into a movie. My first thought was there is no way the average person is going to understand this stuff. The movie addresses that by pausing and having celebrities like Selena Gomez explain a complicated concept in simple terms. Honestly, one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in a movie. It felt like something made for a high school class. The movie follows three people and how they bet against the housing crisis. It does a good job building suspense. I also thought it did a good job, albeit maybe too over the top, of demonstrating how ridiculously easy it was to get a home loan.

I recall the movie getting decent reviews. I have no idea how. I cannot imagine a movie buff liking this. I cannot imagine someone interested in business or the financial crisis liking this. I think the success of the movie is based on Michael Lewis' past successes as well as one of the few attempts to bring an explanation of the housing crisis to the mainstream public.

I don't usually do ratings for movie reviews. In this case, I would simply say read the book or find something else to watch.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

This book has been on my list forever. Like years. A few older acquaintances have said Lord of the Flies was their favorite book they read in high school. Whenever people make the "favorite book" claim, I have to give it a shot.

I was skeptical going in because I'm not really a fan of classic books. I'm a pretty good reader, but older authors' writing styles and English slow me down. Generally I don't think the story lines are all that interesting either. (Sorry for being harsh if you like the classics.)

Anyways, I got about 60 pages in and gave up. It's not for me. The story is about a group of boys who awake on an island after a plane crash. There are no surviving adults, so they are left to rule themselves. The young boys try to organize to build shelter and hunt for food, but they are just young boys. That's where I fell off. Basically, this was The Hunger Games before The Hunger Games.

My rating for Lord of the Flies: 0.5 out of 5 stars. Don't get it.

P.S. I probably should have shared this sooner, but I became a member of Barnes and Noble back in July. They ask every time I go and I always said no. But I finally made the plunge (and it didn't hurt that it was a very cute, nerdy librarian type girl with glasses who asked). It costs $25 annually. With it, you get 10% off all books, 20% of hard covers, plus a plethora of annoying e-mail coupons. On that first purchase I saved $5, but sadly I haven't been back to Barnes and Noble since. I'll keep a running tally on the blog so we can see if a membership is worth it or not for me.