messy_0816One thing that I have learned in blogging now for 11 years is that the act of creation is difficult. Maintaining a blog, writing a book or producing a podcast. All of things are difficult to do well. That is why it gives me great pleasure to highlight excellent work when it occurs.

For example, earlier this week I was able to do a Q&A with Tim Harford about his new book Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives. I am a big fan of Harford and his books like Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure and his Q&A does not disappoint.

I usually reserve my podcast recommendations for my weekly post but today I want to highlight a recent episode with Patrick O’Shaugnessy, author of Millennial Money: How Young Investors Can Build a Fortune and the proprietor of the Investor’s Field Guide blog and Ted Seides author of How to Start a Hedge fund: Lessons for Managers and Investors.

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Anyone who has reading Abnormal Returns or the popular press knows that the hedge fund industry is undergoing a period of stress. Raoul Pal, former hedge fund guy, told Business Insider:

“It’s a pretty miserable industry,” said Raoul Pal, who comanaged the GLG Global Macro Fund in London for GLG Partners and retired at 36 in 2004. “People are fed up.”

O’Shaughnessy’s episode with Seides is a master class on how the hedge fund industry got here and where the industry is going. It is a must listen.

I didn’t think we needed another one-hour long, interview podcast with financial industry types but Patrick has proven me wrong. All of his episodes to-date have been been. On a personal note I am envious of investment bloggers like Patrick, Ben Carlson, Morgan Housel and Michael Batnick who have made a splash (and commitment) to investment blogging at such an early stage of their careers. Here’s hoping they continue to do great work.

You can listen to the episode in its entirety below: