[PhantomGremlin]

I can't find record of this anywhere.

I'm talking about Don Lancaster of TTL Cookbook fame, and yes of Guru's Lair.[1]

The quote, or perhaps the more PG version "don't mess with the eagle", appears in his later book The Incredible Secret Money Machine. That one is more of a philosophy of life book, it's much different than his technical books.

IIRC (it's been many decades since I read it) Don expounds on that theme, it's not just a random quote. E.g. a govt bureaucrat can make your life hell just for the lulz[2]. That's why it's dumb to do stupid things in a high profile manner.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Lancaster [2] ok, lulz wasn't a word in 1978, but work with me here. :-)

[vonklaus]

while i don't agree with your characterization of Ulbrict, Don Lancaster seems like an interesting thinker. Checked out his website earlier and I am now planning on checking out The Incredible Secret Money Machine. Do you have any recommendations for books/essays of his that are not technical manuals? Is this book worth a read/relevant as it was penned in the 70s/80s?

+1 Thanks.

[PhantomGremlin]

Sorry. It's been so long that I don't remember how relevant that book would be today. If pushed, I'd say don't go out of your way to find it. If I still have my copy it's in the garage, in a box that didn't get unpacked from a move a long time ago. But FWIW there are a few positive reviews of it on Amazon.

I am currently re-reading Taleb's Antifragile book[1] and I think it's better the second time thru. But it probably wouldn't be as interesting w/o Fooled By Randomness and The Black Swan for background.

In Antifragile Taleb admires entrepreneurs and risk takers with skin in the game. He abhors bankers and politicians who benefit from the upside and pass the downside on to the taxpayers. But the book isn't for everyone. E.g. there's no chapter of "7 steps to building future wealth". It's more of a philosophy of life book.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifragile

[vonklaus]

I've read Black Swan and heard Antifragile was quite good as well think I'll pick that up instead. Liking these recommendations a lot. Here are a few that are "similar" since I asked you for some recommendations.

I really enjoyed The 48 Laws of Power and a few other titles by Greene. Some of Malcolm Gladwell's books are interesting although they are a tad popsci. Recently finished Zero to One which was good, but if you listen to Thiel often there wasn't much new material. Lords of Finance is a NYTBS that is really well done and reminiscent of Taleb so you might like that.

Thanks.