“The Innovators Issue” “No one reads Playboy for the articles,” as they used to say. Likewise, I’m pretty sure no one reads the very glossy Wall Street Journal Magazine (pictured above) for its celebrity profiles. Want proof? The Table of Contents of the current issue finally(!) appears on page 33, preceded by — yup! —...Read More
Better Title: ‘Michael Lewis, Recycled’ It’s hard to find fault with Michael Lewis, one of the best business writers extant (or ever, for that matter). And the prose and insights in his latest effort, Boomerang, certainly don’t disappoint. So, what’s the problem? All but one of the five essays that comprise the book (the one on Iceland, titled “Wall...Read More
“THESE Guys are Good for $250k Apiece?? C’mon” * Like a lot of people who come to Vatopaidi, I suppose, I was less than perfectly sure what I was after. I wanted to see if it felt like a front for a commercial empire (it doesn’t) and if the monks seemed insincere (hardly). But I...Read More
(Pretty) Picture BookBefore I bought the current issue of Vanity Fair (to read Michael Lewis’ new article), I never understood why the cover included not just the featured articles, but their page numbers: because the cover is also the table of contents. Or more accurately, it’s one of two tables of contents; the second one...Read More
Recessions Happen, Crashes Have CausesHere are my thoughts/reactions after reading “The Bank Job: Goldman’s Elite on the Crisis and Bonus Rage,” by Bethany McLean in the January, 2010 issue of Vanity Fair (it’s online now). That is, once I gargled to get the bad taste out of my mouth. One. If your agenda is to...Read More
How the Upper .25% Live I quickly browse a lot of real estate-related material, but when I came across “Hamptons” and “$375,000” in the same sentence, I slowed down. If you don’t know, the Hamptons in Long Island is (summer) home to Wall Street’s — and Manhattan’s — rich and famous, and home prices there...Read More
