Ask Me Anything - spoonitnow

Any rolemodels?

What book(s) are you reading?

Top 3 books you've read?

Originally Posted by a500lbgorilla

Any rolemodels?

Hey man, thanks for the questions.

On the topic of role models, there are a few in particular that stand out, and they're probably kind of atypical, but here goes.

Role Model #1?: Agathocles of Syracuse

Maybe this isn't so much of a role model in the general sense as it was a role model in one very specific way. I guess ignoring 99.99% of what someone did doesn't make them much of a role model, but here we go.

Knowing how Agathocles came into power and how he was able to stay in power of Syracuse after basically just murdering the entire elite made a big impression on me in my early teens in a weird way because it showed me that you could do something that almost everyone else fails at as long as you plan it correctly. He was able to remain in control of Syracuse for a long time even though he came into power by force under really shady circumstances, and this is something that very few rulers were able to do. I'll provide a brief explanation since I know that sounds kind of brutal, though it wasn't the brutality that mattered to me so much as the concept and the lesson.

[TL;DR alert] In The Prince, Machiavelli developed this idea of the "new prince." A new prince is essentially someone who accumulates power through his own deeds instead of having it given to him along the lines of a family lineage. He wrote on a few of the different ways that a new prince can acquire power. One of those was by what he called by "criminal virtue," and that basically means taking power through what would be considered obviously immoral actions (murder, genocide, kidnapping, systematic rape, etc.) He advised that the new prince who acquires power in this way must plan things out so that he can do all of this dirt at one time so that he doesn't have to continue doing dirt for the rest of his reign. The point of this approach is that it allows your reputation to recover and gives you the maximum chances of staying in power in the long term. Agathocles is widely considered the best example of this approach because he's one of the only tyrants in history who was able to come to power through these types of means and stay there for a reasonable amount of time. (Cliff notes: He gathered all of the ruling class and had soldiers kill them all at once to leave himself the only person in control of Syracuse.)

Role Model #2: Stringer Bell

I don't know if this is really a role model in the traditional sense, but he was easily the single character that I most identified with in any television show, book or movie ever. In my experience, the favorite character of most people for The Wire is either Bunk or Omar. For me it was Stringer. He had this overwhelming drive to rise to a higher class and get away from the bullshit that he grew up in. That resonated with me in a major way because, if we're being fair, I probably should have grown up to be a notch above pure trailer trash. For some reason, I have this huge drive to do more, and it's something that really stuck with me because I'd never really connected with anyone who had the same kind of drive. It was a little weird for me that it was a fictional character.

Role Model #3: Tigran Petrosian

Petrosian was the world champion for chess during most of the 1960s. His style was exceptionally prophylactic, and he made a point to be very in tune with how he was feeling each day so that he was able to play openings that led to more types of positions that he would be emotionally and psychologically comfortable with based on that.

He affected me both in terms of chess, but also in terms of how I deal with people. He was likely to be the best defensive player of all time, and his focus was on preventing his opponents from having good plans instead of building up the advantage for an attack himself. While this led to a high number of draws against strong competition, it also made him the likely the single hardest player to score a win against in history.

Originally Posted by a500lbgorilla

What book(s) are you reading?

I reread Robert Greene's The 48 Laws of Power about twice a year, and I'm in the middle of that now. From one point of view, it could be seen as a handbook to impersonating an sociopath. From another point of view, it could be seen as the first effective treatment of realism when dealing with people.

I'm also reading from David Sklansky's latest book DUCY? which is partially about gambling, but not so much that it's boring. It's some really interesting stuff and covers everything from parallel parking to boosting revenues at casinos and allowing people to pay to park in handicap spots without a placard.

Originally Posted by a500lbgorilla

Top 3 books you've read?

The 48 Laws of Power (Greene is my favorite writer, and the 50th Law [his book on fear] is one of the most underrated books of our time)
The Brain That Changes Itself
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Pirsig is my intellectual hero)

I just got "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" for Christmas, and I'm 99% sure I was sizing up "The Brain That Changes Itself" as a possible read before as well. You just made the decision for me, and I guess I'll give "The 48 Laws of Power" a whirl while I'm at it.

I can't really post without asking any questions so: do you speak a second/third language? If not, have you ever considered learning a foreign language?

I've enjoyed reading your responses, gg.

Originally Posted by seven-deuce

I just got "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" for Christmas, and I'm 99% sure I was sizing up "The Brain That Changes Itself" as a possible read before as well. You just made the decision for me, and I guess I'll give "The 48 Laws of Power" a whirl while I'm at it.

I can't really post without asking any questions so: do you speak a second/third language? If not, have you ever considered learning a foreign language?

I've enjoyed reading your responses, gg.

I'm glad to have been helpful.

I took three semesters of French in high school and four semesters of Spanish in college. Unfortunately, I was still in the mode of doing the minimum I could to get by and make good grades, so I have very little functional knowledge of either.

I would be very interested in learning Spanish just because it would be so useful here in the United States. Even if I never go back to finish my undergrad, I may take classes and things for that just to learn it.