Richard Takes the Potluck Helm

...book reviews and a rant

It feels like the older I get, the less I know. So I've pretty much given up trying.

After all these decades, this led me to read books for pleasure; finally, a guilt-free activity I had never savored so freely. For many years, reading was part of my job. Board books were so thick that someone would meet directors at the curb with a cart to help them haul materials into the board room

Reading for pleasure still rewards me with little knowledge gems I would have never known. I just finished the book Dead In The Water by two Bloomberg News reporters —about a hijacking by armed bandits on a supertanker in the Gulf of Aden in 2011.

It's a true story of financial conspiracy, courtroom drama, and murder. A great summer read.

It has stuff about global shipping, the webs of legal shell corporations to isolate (and hide) ownership of thousands of big ships.

There are some history lessons thrown in. For example, Lloyd's of London isn't an insurance company, as popularly believed. It's a marketplace where brokers round up investors who sign on to insure ships and cargo (and other stuff, like Dolly Parton's signature attributes).

Dead in the Water tells how brokers would make the rounds in a large hall near where Mr. Lloyd had a coffee house centuries ago. They produced documents describing the risk they are brokering, like a supertanker originating in the Middle East with a couple of million gallons of crude bound for China. The investors look at the offering and decide how much risk they are willing to take and at what price (making a bet) the supertanker completes the voyage as planned, against the policy that pays out the ship owners if it doesn't.

When investors determine this is a risk (bet) they want to make, they sign at the bottom of the broker's proposal. Investors subscribe for a small piece of the policy, so several are needed. Each sign beneath (under) the signatures of those who have already done and become known as "underwriters."

I've heard that term hundreds of times but didn't consider its origin.

While on the summer reading topic: If you haven't read Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres, which won the Pulitzer back in 1992, put it on your list. It is beautifully written and puts you on an Iowa farm as if you were there. It deserved all the awards the author received.

Another 'sea story' book I couldn't put down was Into The Raging Sea, by Rachel Slade. It is a true story about a freighter's troubles in 2015. This ship and crew confront Hurricane Joaquin off some of my favorite sailing grounds in the Bahamas. Not only is it a gripping read, but the book's event was used as a case study at the Harvard Business School last year.

Regarding re-reads, I had fun with Moby-Dick or The Whale. It was wasted on me in high school, but I forgave myself when I realized that even author Herman Melville didn't think much of it, nor did it have acclaim until after his death. Maybe back in 1851, two guys sharing a room and a bed was a buzz-kill for readers?

Another re-read worth sharing is the Deal From Hell by my friend James O'Shea, former managing editor of the Chicago Tribune and then the Los Angeles Times editor. Jim describes a newspaper career that began at the Des Moines Register, then to the Tribune and the Times. It is a ring-side seat to the beginning and end of the newspaper industry's heyday. Publishers made a lot of money in those times. Unfortunately, that didn't usually trickle down to the folks producing the content.

All the books I mentioned are available on Amazon in the Kindle format.

Richard Rants

I am F—-ing tired of this!

(Here's some S**t Richard says.)

I am far from a prude and have been a pretty active potty mouth in my day. I also grew up in an era when getting my mouth washed out with soap was more than a threat. It was often a consequence.

But I am so sick and tired of the streaming fare on television. Every other word of the dialogue starts with 'f.' It's not just an occasional exclamation, but as a gerund, modifier, subject, verb, adverb, or object (all in the same sentence). It becomes f—ing tedious f—ing fast!

These shows presumably have writers. It says so when the credits scroll, And I assume they all had moms. All I can deduce is that their mothers spared the soap. Still, old habits die hard.

I was brought up short one day by a public relations consultant brought in to work with a Chicago business I ran. After my presentation to investors, I asked the expert for feedback (expecting her assessment to be glowing).

"Well, Mr. Gilbert, "since you asked. You're an educated man. I've seen your bio. You initially come off as well-spoken, so I would have thought that when you were asked about the company's economic challenges, you could have found a better word to describe it than "crappy."

Lesson learned!

(Note: Before sending this to you readers, I read it aloud to Julie. She said she hadn't seen much behavior to support my "lessons learned" closer.)

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Editors note: The Okoboji Writers’ Retreat will be held on September 19, 20, and 21. Learn more: OWR2022

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