The Dao of Capital: Austrian Investing in a Distorted World

Acknowledgments

For the journey of this book and bringing it to a conclusion, I wish to thank the following:

My wife, Amy, for her love and companionship; my children, Edward and Silja, for the immeasurable joy they bring (with such exuberance I had to do much of my writing in the middle of the night); my brother, Eric, a wonderful writer and the funniest guy I know, for his encouragement; Dad, in memory (vitae summa brevis), and Mom, for their steadfast support and belief along my roundabout road; Gramma Spitznagel, in memory, my first and best investor.

Everett Klipp, in memory, for taking a prying 16-year-old under his wing and giving him shi.

Ron Paul, for keeping Austrian economics alive and spreading the word to the next generation (his own grand shi strategy)—may he be known through the ages.

Team Dao of Capital: Robert Murphy, for his friendship and keeping an “Austrian” eye on things; Tim Foley, for his exquisite illustrations; Patricia Crisafulli, for shepherding the process; Roger Ames, my resident, patient Sinologist; Aljos Farjon, my conifer expert; Qichen Guo, Jwing-Ming Yang, and Yilun Yang, my teachers; Chitpuneet Mann and Harry Tam, for their invaluable research (even accommodating my sometimes crazy hours); Brandon Yarckin, for all his help; Jim Frolik and Jeff O’Connell, for their good counsel. (My thanks to all for their expertise; any errors or unorthodoxy in interpretation are mine alone.)

Nassim Taleb, who always reminds me of the importance of skepticism, ...