During their recent episode, Taylor, Carlisle, and Jim O’Shaughnessy discussed Jim’s new book, ‘Two Thoughts‘. Here’s an excerpt from the episode:
Tobias: Jim, your new book, which I have a copy of, thanks to you. Thank you very much. I left it wrapped under the tree and then I opened it on Christmas morning, had a look through then.
Jake: Ah. Gift from Jim.
Tobias: It was really nice. Beautiful-looking book called Two Thoughts. And I love the idea, but what’s the–? Maybe you can explain to folks what the process is there.
Jim: Sure. So, I collected quotes all my life because I think they’re really good. Maxims are good and interesting because really what they are, are compressions. By that, I mean maxims exist because time and time again, they’ve been tested, tested, tested, so they get compressed down to this sometimes pithy, sometimes profound idea or quote. And so, since I was a kid, I collected quotes that I liked. And one day, I just was sitting around and thought I should put something up on Twitter. I’d just been reading the list of quotes that I’d kept from Bucky Fuller. And I’m like, I’ll put up two of Bucky Fuller’s quotes and just see what happens. And not much happened. [laughs]
And so, I thought, “You know what? I’m just going to keep doing this.” And so, I started putting up “Two thoughts from,” And I just literally went to my notebooks and found the quotes that I had collected over the years. And then, a really interesting thing happened. People started DM’ing me, or if they knew me, texting me and saying, “Hey, I really love this two thoughts thing you’re doing. Have you ever thought of doing a newsletter around it?” I’m like, “No.” So, I talked to the team and they’re like, “Yeah, we should.” And then, another member of the team is like, “I don’t know, we should do a book of these because it’ll just be a lot of fun. People will really enjoy it.”
And the beautiful part about the book, which I have somewhere around here, here it is, is you don’t have to read it through. I think maybe– Again, listen to the market. What we’re learning is that what people really like doing with the book is just picking it up, sometimes people do it at the beginning of their day and kind of opening it randomly and looking at the quotes and then pondering them and then setting it back down. So, what it really does, I think, I hope at least, is that it just serves as kind of that spark for your kind of first thing in the morning, giving you something that you might not have been thinking about at all or ever thought about. And then, reading the quote and thinking, “Huh, I’d never really considered that,” and then going your own way with it.
Tobias: What two thoughts in particular? Why two thoughts?
Jim: If I give you the honest answer, you’re going to go, “Come on.”
[laughter]Jim: The honest answer was that just seemed like a good title to me at the time. That’s the honest to God true answer. It was not A/B tested. It wasn’t algorithmically derived like you might suspect I would do. It was literally me. And maybe it was because I had highlighted in my own notebook, I had highlighted two of Bucky’s quotes, the two that I used. And I’m just like, “I’m going to put those two up.” And if you think about it, I could bullshit you and say it’s all about what Jake was talking about earlier-
Tobias: Paradoxes.
Jim: -it’s all about- yeah, paradoxes. And this is so different than this, but I would be lying. The truth is, I had two highlighted, and I’m like, “Okay, two thoughts from our R. Buckminster Fuller.” And also–
Jake: It’s quite hard to say three intelligent things in a lifetime, Toby.
You can find out more about the VALUE: After Hours Podcast here – VALUE: After Hours Podcast. You can also listen to the podcast on your favorite podcast platforms here:
For all the latest news and podcasts, join our free newsletter here.
Don’t forget to check out our FREE Large Cap 1000 – Stock Screener, here at The Acquirer’s Multiple: