Thread by @brianportnoy

I just wrapped up @michaelbatnick's Big Mistakes and I want to offer a few observations. First, it's a damn good book - a great romp through market history through the lens of how the mighty fall at times. Each chapter can be stand-alone but together they weave a great tale 1/

Sometimes the deepest virtue of something is in its conception. It's a master stroke to focus on big mistakes instead of big wins. Even to this day, the money biz remains overly focused on heroes and not enough on learning and adapting 2/

This is a short book in the best possible sense. It gets to the point and doesn't waste anyone's time. It treats the reader with respect. That's rare. 3/

Re insights - here are several Mike hammered home for me:
(1) The unpredictable winds of market direction -- up or down -- tell much of the story of most investors, incl some of the supposed greats. Think context and luck first, skill second when thinking about them 4/

(2) Cheap can and often does get cheaper -- value investing sounds pristine and coherent, but it's a messy, bruising exercise 5/

(3) Circle of competence is hugely important - stick to what you know and do, and if you veer away, that's okay but be very careful 6/

(4) Overconfidence - maybe the biggest theme in the book - even the best of the best get over their skis and it is their ruin. And *levered* overconfidence is a disaster 7/

(5) Wild speculation is dumb - this is maybe more me than Mike but I walked away thinking that in 2018 it's foolish for someone to try to become Jesse Livermore 2.0 or really most of these masters 8/

(6) It's behavior all the way down. End of day, the game is not beating the market but overcoming your worst impulses 9/

In sum, @michaelbatnick compellingly reinforces that investing is really, really hard. This ain't checkers, it's chess. And how you respond to *inevitable* mistakes is more of a driver of success than heroic analysis and trading 10/fin