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Seykota new book "Govopoly"

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 4:19 am
by TrendsCatcher
What's everyone's opinion on Ed Seykota's new book "Govopoly"?

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 8:13 am
by rhc
Firstly, the aesthetics;
A reasonably heavy book due to the very good quality gloss paper used.
Each page features a pleasing-to-the-eye colour picture that acts (most times) as a metaphor for the content on that page complete with Ed’s trademark dry style of humour evident here & there. (which I enjoy)
It’s a somewhat pricey book but as I say heavy glossy paper ‘n all so you gonna be paying.

Secondly, the content;
The message in a nutshell is basically that as an economy matures and the government grows, free competition is stifled & crony capitalism increases. This results in/from increased public debt, rising prices & loss of freedom with no incentive for entrepreneurs to do what they do best (i.e. innovate, invent, create)
Eventually the whole thing collapses due to the government becoming so large that it consumes almost all of the productive resources in an economy. (Think of the predator-prey model)
In the book he uses the metaphor of duckweed growing exponentially & taking over a pond of water and eventually killing all life in that pond. You don’t notice the weed initially (when you could’ve done something about it) and by the time you do notice it’s too late to do anything about it. Such are the properties of exponential growth.

All of this is all illustrated via the ‘systems dynamics’ point of view which is a method of trying to make sense of complex systems & the main variables that interact with each other within that system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_dynamics
I have a lot of time for the system dynamics way of thinking. It appeals to me since much of it is counterintuitive and it often amazes me how a small tweak to one variable can have a profound impact to the system as a whole (Think of your own trading systems)
This is probably why I enjoyed the book as much as i did

Thirdly, my thoughts.
I thought it was a very enjoyable & simple read and by simple I don’t mean ‘dumbed-down’
Seykota seems to have followed the Einstein motto of “make things as simple as possible but not simplerâ€

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 8:13 pm
by sluggo
I will wait a few months and buy it used, to support the used-book ecosystem by voting with my dollars. If it deprives the publisher and author of a payday, I don't mind. They aren't buying from me either.

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 2:41 am
by rhc
I’m a big fan of saving money where I can & your idea is a good one, however it should be noted that Seykota’s first book “The Trading Tribeâ€

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 9:19 am
by stamo
It's amusing to see "The Trading Tribe" available on Amazon used for $225 to $1900+ while Ed sells it new for $125.

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 4:02 pm
by rhc
An arbitrage opportunity perhaps?

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 9:21 pm
by Jake Carriker
I have a copy signed by the author. Maybe I could start a bidding war on Amazon or Ebay ;) Don't know what I would do if it sold. Probably have to see Ed's website about a replacement. I wonder if he would still sign that one for free? If so, I have a new trading system...

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 6:56 am
by Hugofrance
You might suffer high skid. Might be a rather illiguid market place.

Re: Seykota new book "Govopoly"

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2015 9:45 am
by sinkpretend
good book and great podcast

Re:

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2016 8:47 am
by RedApple
stamo wrote:It's amusing to see test link available on Amazon used for $225 to $1900+ while Ed sells it new for $125.
Lol, I was just thinking about buying this book and was going to buy it on Amazon before I found this thread. What are these sellers thinking. :roll:n