Arman's Antics (#111)
Latest from the curious contrarian
Howdy amigo,
Coming to you live from Austin, Texas.
Here’s your weekly monthly dose of Arman’s Antics — four things I’ve been exploring and pondering that made me think, laugh, cry (or a nasty combination of the three).
Let’s give it up for the 131 new subscribers receiving this for the first time (1,182 total). I don’t know why you’ve come. But I’m glad you’re here. Yes, even you bots.
Two new essays I wrote
I used to hate coffee, reading, and Germans but now I love them. I used to love video games, amusement parks, and Mcdonalds but now I hate them.
It’s tempting to think we’ll go on loving what we’ve always loved and hating what we’ve always hated.
But don’t be surprised if you find yourself:
Loving what you used to hate
Have you ever caught your present-self loving something your past-self swore they hated with the intensity of a thousand suns?
Next, one of my many flaws is reading more than any sane human should. This has led to suffering through a lot of books.
So I feel a duty to share a few that you can add to your DO NOT READ list (you’re welcome):
The 5 most overrated books I read in 2024
Criticism for a book, is a truthful, unfaked badge of attention, signaling that it is not boring; and boring is the only very bad thing for a book. So if you really want people to read a book, tell them it is “overrated”, with a sense of outrage.
Book I’m reading again
Same as ever by Morgan Housel.
I used to beat myself up for never being able to accurately predict the future.
Worrying about what the stock market will do next year? Or, more generally, what will be different ten years from now?
Nonsense.
This book helped me realize that none of us can reliably predict the future about anything that matters.
Better to focus on what will be the same ten years from now? Or, even better, what will never change?
Certain themes about human behavior have repeated themselves for so long that if someone from 10,000 years ago hopped in a time machine and was plopped in the present they’d look around and say, “Ah, same as ever.”
If you’re curious about what never changes in an ever-changing world, you’re in luck.
Here’s the description:
Every investment plan under the sun is, at best, an informed speculation of what may happen in the future, based on a systematic extrapolation from the known past.
Same as Ever reverses the process, inviting us to identify the many things that never, ever change.
With his usual elan, Morgan Housel presents a master class on optimizing risk, seizing opportunity, and living your best life. Through a sequence of engaging stories and pithy examples, he shows how we can use our newfound grasp of the unchanging to see around corners, not by squinting harder through the uncertain landscape of the future, but by looking backwards, being more broad-sighted, and focusing instead on what is permanently true.
By doing so, we may better anticipate the big stuff, and achieve the greatest success, not merely financial comforts, but most importantly, a life well lived.
Documentarian I’m doing a deep dive on
Why didn’t anyone tell me that I’d receive a beautiful education on American history by simply watching Ken Burns?
I could’ve skipped so many more history classes than I actually did.
If there’s ever been a better documentarian in the history of film, I’d be shocked.
Over the past four decades, he’s made 37 documentaries about some of the most American topics ever: baseball, jazz, the civil war, and most recently his first non-American subject, Leonardo da Vinci.
Speaking of the civil war doc, more people watched that when it came out in 1990 than the super bowl that year. Wild.
All the “experts” told him nobody would sit down and dedicate 20+ hours of their lives sitting in front of a screen to learn about a topic they’d already learned about.
Boy were they wrong.
So I’ve decided to unlearn everything I thought I knew about American history, and instead, will be watching each Ken Burns documentary in order of release date.
I already watched a few and can feel myself shedding my ignorance.
I’m giddy for what’s to come.
Here’s the trailer for his latest on Da Vinci:
Random thought
I’ve noticed an interesting pattern with a lot of the online creators I admire — they create boatloads of internet content but rarely consume it.
That’s it for the 111th edition of Arman’s Antics.
I hope you didn’t make it this far, but if you did, please keep it to yourself.
And now back to your regularly scheduled nonstop scrolling!
Cheers,
Arman
I really enjoy reading your posts, you completely match the title of this publication. Curious and Contrarian. I aspired to be both, but often get tunnel vision. How do you remain so open-minded when it comes to a lot of the things that you talk about?
You are doing great at figuring stuff out. I may have to pick up your Morgan Housel book. Another, in a similar vein is Derek Siver's "Useful Not True" book. It reiterates the idea that most of what we know is not true. It says what I've often thought in a clear and simple way.
Stay curious, and hope you and the family have a fantastic 2025!