The Storm Before The Storm
Mike Duncan
Summary
A look at what led to the fall of the Ancient Roman empire. Book was a bit hard to follow all the different leaders and wish he did a better job of comparing it to today's world, but still a good historical write-up
Rating: 3/5
Notes
3 classic forms of government - monarchy (one), aristocracy (few rich ppl) and democracy (rule by many). Each has it’s merits but inevitably fails till its overthrown
Romans never had a single leader but a group of consuls who were elected and held office for one year where then a new group came to power
Eventually the senate held all the power and elected all the other officials to act on their behalf
No power endures indefinitely, all empires must fall and there’s nothing mortals can do about it
Wealthy noble families exacerbated the divide between rich and poo often because the poor were conscripted for any wars and didn’t keep their land productive
Because slaves came in from other places, a few men became extremely rich while the rest of the population of Italty gree weak under the oppressive weight of poverty, taxes and military service
The lex agaria was a land reform bill to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor that was posed after a big conflict between the rich elites and the common people
The plebs (common people) in Rome wanted a secured supply of grain (food security) as they did not want land distribution
There was a slave revolt and uprising in Siciliy where most of the grain was made
It is this spirit which has commonly raised great notions, when one party desires to triumph over another by any and every means to avenge itself on the vanquished with excessive cruelty - Sallust
Some men are always prepared to let their wallers rule their politics
The roman senate was constantly thinking about migrants coming into their territory
Men have not so much admiration for these leaders who share riches with them as far as those who take part in their toils and dangers
Violence was a routine part of the cycle of Roman politics
The beginning of the downfall was the rejection of italian citizens to become Romans
At the end of his life, Marius came to embody the dark side of relentless ambition
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Make Something Wonderful
Steve Jobs
Summary
The life of Steve Jobs in his own words
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Make something wonderful and put it out there
‘You appear, have a chance to blaze in the sky, then you disappear’
When you’re a stranger in a place, you notice thing you don’t otherwise (Jobs after India trip)
Whenever you start with nothing, always shoot for the moon. You have nothing to lose.
You never achieve what you want without falling on your face a few times
Never be afraid to fail. You never achieve what you want without falling flat on your face a few times
We are never taught to listen to our intuitions, to develop and nurture them. But if you do pay attention to these subtle insights, you can make them come true
Creativity equals connecting previously unrelated experiences and insights others don’t see
Believe that some of what you follow with your heart will come back and make your life richer. And it will. And you will gain even firmer trust on your instincts and intuitions
Make your avocation your vocation. Make what you love your work.
The journey is the reward. The reward isn’t in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it’s in crossing the rainbow
To find A+ talent, if experienced, look at their track record and results
The world we know is a human creation and we can push it forward
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do (read whole ad ‘here’s to the crazy ones)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit - Aristotle
Hire people better than you are
You can’t plan to meet the people who will change your life
It’s impossible to connect the dots looking forward, but they make sense looking backwards so you have to trust the dots will somehow connect in your future
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you
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Free E-book download here
