A Book with Legs

Interested in what is on the Smead Capital Management book list? In this episode, Cole and Bill list the books they have recently read, what they’re currently reading, and the books they have on deck. Have a book you would like to recommend for the podcast? Email suggestions to podcast@smeadcap.com.

In this episode, Cole and Bill are joined by Lauren Templeton co-author of the book, Investing the Templeton Way: The Market-Beating Strategies of Value Investing's Legendary Bargain Hunter. Lauren discusses the life of her great uncle and famed investor Sir John Templeton, how he capitalized on buying at the point of maximum pessimism, and his route to becoming known as one of the greatest stock pickers in history.

Are surgeons psychopaths? In this episode, Cole Smead is joined by Thomas Morris, author of the book The Matter of the Heart: A History of the Heart in Eleven Operations. Thomas’ book explains how eleven milestone procedures set the stage for ‘The Golden Age of Heart Surgery’, ultimately leading to an extraordinary period of innovation, ingenuity, and a deep understanding of the heart.

All learning is pattern recognition. In this episode, Cole and Bill are joined by Robert G. Hagstrom, author of the book Investing: The Last Liberal Art. Robert explains how achieving worldly wisdom can allow investors the opportunity to recognize patterns in wide-ranging fields of study to gain market insight through a broader lens.

Carry trades have existed since the beginning of time. Rarely have we run into periods like today that have caused so many investors to be seemingly smart.In this episode, Cole Smead sits down with Kevin Coldiron, co-author of the book The Rise of Carry: The Dangerous Consequences of Volatility Suppression and the New Financial Order of Decaying Growth and Recurring Crisis to discuss what carry trades are, the constancy of them and how today's carry regime shapes the complex world of finance. 

Financial success and frontier exploration, but at what cost? In this episode, Cole is joined by Peter Stark, author of the book Astoria, to discuss America’s first millionaire, John Jacob Astor, and his public-private partnership strategy with Thomas Jefferson to open the North American west coast to global trade.

As the world becomes more energy efficient, demand will always remain high. In this episode, Cole and Bill Smead speak with Mark Mills, co-author of the book The Bottomless Well: The Twilight of Fuel, The Virtue of Waste and Why We Will Never Run Out Of Energy. Mark explains why demand for energy will never drop and how supply is limitless.

The stock market crash of 1929 will forever be considered one of the darkest hours of the U.S. economy. Decades later, many economists are still searching for the exact reasons as to why it happened.In this episode, Cole and Bill Smead sit down with Amity Shlaes, the author of the book The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression. Amity’s book takes a deep dive into possible causes of the Great Depression and the people who were responsible for the market’s collapse.

News wasn’t always readily available at the click of a button. Ted Turner forever changed that in 1980 when he brought the Cable News Network to life. In this episode, hosts Cole and Bill Smead are joined by Lisa Napoli, author of the book Up All Night: Ted Turner, CNN and the Birth of 24-Hour News. Lisa shares incredible insight into the life of Ted Turner and how the media mogul rolled the dice with the launch of CNN. She also discusses the evolution of cable news, its transition from “pure-play journalism” to “theatrics”, and what the 24-hour news cycle might look like in the future.

For a long time, the world has considered China as an example of economic success, but those days may be over. In this episode, Cole Smead is joined by Dinny McMahon, author of the book China’s Great Wall of Debt. Dinny takes a deep dive into China’s financial system and gives us a sense of how the country’s complex and “dysfunctional” economy works from the ground up. Dinny also explains why China’s economic growth has slowed down, how the accrual of debt has played a role, and why the “Chinese Miracle” has come to an end.