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I first saw this book in a bookshop in India. Didnt buy it then as i found the price a bit too high for my pocket.  Also i hadnt read any reviews of the book and i didnt want to spend so much money on a book that i didnt know much about.

Recently i managed to lay my hands on the book and it turned out to be a breezy read.  Mohnish Pabrai of Pabrai Funds who is the author of this book writes about the Dhandho way of doing business.  To do this he quotes examples of the Patels own the majority  of motels in the US, about Richard Branson’s way of doing business and also Laxmi Mittal who owns the Arcelor-Mittal group of steel companies.

According to Pabrai before buying into a company or before buying the stocks of a company, the investor needs to do the following checks

1. Is it a business I understand very well—squarely within my circle of competence?
2 . Do I know the intrinsic value of the business today and, with a high degree of confidence, how it is likely to change over the next few years?
3 . Is the business priced at a large discount to its intrinsic value today and in two to three years? Over 50 percent?
4 . Would I be willing to invest a large part of my net worth into this business?
5 . Is the downside minimal?
6 . Does the business have a moat?
7 . Is it run by able and honest managers?

The mantra always is “few bets, big bets, infrequent bets”—all placed when the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor.

The Dhandho Investor – The Low Risk Value Method to High Returns
Author – Mohnish Pabrai
Pages – 209
Publisher – John Wiley & Sons

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The book goes into the details of how much it has cost the United States to go to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The book also explores if the war was necessary; could it have been avoided; could the money invested in the war have been better invested in some other productive activity etc.

Also the author tries to explore if the main reason of the US going to war in Iraq was to get cheaper oil? And if it was the reason, then the US failed miserably.  Also its agenda of foisting its belief of democracy on the middle east has come apart.

Neither is the world any safer.  We are much more under attack from the jehadi groups. Looking at the attempts at hijacking planes, and attempted bombings of the countries, its only safe to say that there hasn’t been a worse foreign policy than what was pursued under the Presidency of George Bush.

Readers may be surprised to learn just how difficult it was for Nobel Prize-winning economist Stiglitz and Kennedy School of Government professor Bilmes to dig up the actual and projected costs of the Iraq War for this thorough piece of accounting. Using “emergency” funds to pay for most of the war, the authors show that the White House has kept even Congress and the Comptroller General from getting a clear idea on the war’s true costs. Other expenses are simply overlooked, one of the largest of which is the $600 billion going toward current and future health care for veterans. These numbers reveal stark truths: improvements in battlefield medicine have prevented many deaths, but seven soldiers are injured for every one that dies (in WWII, this ratio was 1.6 to one). Figuring in macroeconomic costs and interest-the war has been funded with much borrowed money-the cost rises to $4.5 trillion; add Afghanistan, and the bill tops $7 trillion. This shocking expose, capped with 18 proposals for reform, is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how the war was financed, as well as what it means for troops on the ground and the nation’s future.

The book written by none other than Nobel prize winner for Economics, Joseph Stiglitz goes deep into how the US govt repeatedly fudged accounts, gave out wrong assumptions and projections of money to be spent on the war.  The Defense department according to Stiglitz is one of the most opaque organization in the US govt with no proper audit in place or specification of the money being spent.

According to the most conservative calculations by Stiglitz, the US govt has spent more than 3 trillion dollars on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  This when then book came out last year or the year before.  Billions more have flown down the drain.  Some more estimates peg the money spent at almost 4-5 trillion dollars.  All these money could have been invested in the US economy itself and the world wouldn’t have had this economic recession.

The book gets a bit bogged down into the numbers, but is a shocking read at the policy mishaps under the Republican regime.

The Three Trillion Dollar War
Authors – Joseph E Stiglitz & Linda Blimes
Pages – 336
Publisher – WW Norton & Company

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Picked this book at the library just for the heck of it and it really turned out to be a racy read.  Andy Hayman, Asst Commisioner at the Scotland Yard was in overall command of the counter terrorism offensive at the time of the bombings in the bus and train tunnels in London.

He writes about the way the police along with the MI5, MI6, and various other investigative agencies put the pieces together in the biggest manhunt ever undertaken in the UK to catch the culprits involved in the mayhem.

Andy also goes about his frustration with the inefficient policing and investigative system; the self centered politician who wants his 2 minutes of fame; the ego clashes within the police department which are neatly exploited by the terrorists etc.

Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman, CBE, QPM, was in overall command of the UK’s national counter-terrorism offensive, at the centre of every major terrorist investigation – overt and covert – of the past five years. He handled the Metropolitan Police’s response to 7/7 and dealt with the politically explosive murder of the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko.

Based at New Scotland Yard, in charge of thousands of Special Branch and counter-terrorism officers in the UK and across the globe, deciding strategy, working directly with the Prime Minister with a budget of GBP500 million, Hayman is able to give unprecedented insight into key top-level crisis meetings he attended with intelligence chiefs and political leaders worldwide. In an inspirational and at times heart-breaking account, he describes how he led a dedicated team of men and women, committed to protecting the UK from dangerous enemies. Hayman lived through the pain and soul-searching when terrorists did succeed – and the pride when intelligence officers prevented attacks.

Andy Hayman leaves no holds barred in his analysis of the way law enforcers tackle terrorism. He outlines his radical blueprint for the future to protect the public, in the run-up to the 2012 Olympic Games and beyond. If you thought you knew the stories behind the news, you’ll realise you didn’t until you read this book.

The Terrorist Hunters
Authors – Andy Hayman & Margaret Gilmore
Pages – 352
Publisher – Bantam Press

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