James Clear on writing a bestselling book

Write something timeless, write something universal, write something that fascinates you.  And do all of that with the intention of creating something genuinely remarkable, or that creates value for people.

~ James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, podcast interview, The Tim Ferris Show, 1:23:35 mark, January 4, 2023

David Lereah on the title of his real estate book published in 2006

Obviously I would change the title. There are places in the book where I actually say the boom is not healthy. But people don't read the book, and they just look at the title and they criticize it.

~ David Lereah, former chief economist of the National Association of Realtors and author of "Why the Real Estate Boom Will Not Bust -- And How You Can Profit From It," published in paperback in February 2006, "Why Real Estate Won't Go Bust, And Other Book-Title Bloopers," The Wall Street Journal, September 10, 2008, by Louise Radnofsky

(Mr. Lereah's book was served up in hardcover in February 2005 with the title "Are You Missing The Real Estate Boom? Why Home Values and Other Real Estate Investments Will Climb Through the End of the Decade -- And How to Profit From Them." That edition sold 12,000 copies. It was downhill from then. The paperback sold 2,300 copies in 2006 and 250 in 2007, according to Nielsen BookScan. So far this year, it's notched just 20 sales, Nielsen says.)

BW: Book critical of Japan's electronics industry "jumping off shelves" (2007)

Fumiaki Sato's latest book sounds like a bit of a snooze: It's titled A Scenario for the Realignment of Japan's Electronics Industry. But the Deutsche Bank analyst's 323-page tome has been jumping off shelves since its release last August. It's now in its fourth printing as electronics companies buy it for their employees, and Sony Corp. has even asked for an English version. Sato's message is dire. "Japan's electronics makers aren't competitive enough to survive for long," he says.

~ BW, "Do or Die; A book calling for the remaking of Japan's electronics industry is a surprise hot seller," May 7, 2007, by Kenji Hall

Lowell Ponte on global cooling (1976)

We simply cannot afford to gamble... by ignoring it. We cannot risk inaction. Those scientists who say we are merely entering a period of climatic instability are acting irresponsibly. The indications that our climate can soon change for the worse are too strong to be reasonably ignored.

~ Lowell Ponte, The Cooling (1976), p. 237

James Glassman and Kevin Hassett: Stocks are cheap (1999)

This book will give you a completely different perspective on stocks. It will tell you what they are really worth - and give you the confidence to buy, hold, and profit from your investments. It will convince you of the single most important fact about stocks at the dawn of the twenty-first century: They are cheap.

~ James K. Glassman and Kevin A. Hassett, Dow 36,000: The New Strategy For Profiting From the Coming Rise in the Stock Market (1999)

Kevin Duffy on gurus as contrary indicators

Gurus seem to appear at major turning points. Let’s not forget Harry Dent (who is wildly bullish and still employed). In fact, nearly all of the gurus who were bullish in 2000 still command an audience (Jim Cramer and Larry Kudlow even got a raise) and remain unapologetically bullish. Jim Glassman and Kevin Hassett (Dow 36,000) still have jobs; I believe both are still bullish (“we were right, just early”). Technology pied pipers like Alberto Vilar (Amerindo), George Gilder, and Garrett van Wagoner still draw large crowds to conferences.

So the guru indicator is clearly bearish. Btw, remember Ravi Batra, popular author of The Great Depression of 1990? Talk about a buy signal! It was #1 New York Times bestseller 26 weeks running at the time. In 1999 he published a book called The Crash of the Millennium: Surviving the Coming Inflationary Depression. Anyone remember? I didn’t think so. Not a bad call, though no one cared to buy his book. Prechter is super-bearish and largely dismissed as a crackpot. Perfect. Can we script the coming bear market any better?

~ Kevin Duffy, Bearing Asset Management, December 7, 2004

Justin Fox on past prophets of doom

We have heard such pronouncements of impending doom before, of course. Howard Ruff's How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years was a top seller in 1979. Ravi Batra's The Great Depression of 1990 hit No. 1 in 1987. Ruff's book did in fact ring in several very bad years, and there was a recession in 1990. But doom was averted, the economy came roaring back both times, and the lesson learned was that betting against the continued prosperity of the U.S. was a losing strategy.

~ Justin Fox, "The Armageddon Gang," Time, April 9, 2007