00:00Fun involves going to the bookstore and buying books.
00:02I think Tom is in that category.
00:04So we want to get to our book picks.
00:05And because Tom's not here, I'm going to introduce his pick.
00:08He's out in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
00:09So he picked something that was appropriate for that.
00:12It is, get this, Back of Country Bear Basics,
00:15The Definitive Guide to Avoiding Unpleasant Encounters.
00:18No word from him on whether he encountered any grizzly and black bears,
00:22but nevertheless, that's Tom's book that he's reading this week.
00:26My pick for this week is Prairie Fires by Caroline Frazier.
00:29It's a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
00:32I don't know if you guys know her,
00:33the author of The Little House on the Prairie books.
00:35Anyone, anyone?
00:36A little bit.
00:37Grub watching.
00:38A little bit, okay.
00:39I was a big fan of the books.
00:40I watched the TV show portrayed by Michael Landon, produced by him.
00:43And so, of course, I watched the reboot on Netflix,
00:46where an Aussie actor portrays Pa.
00:48Basically, this book tells the bigger story
00:50of what was happening in the country
00:51as Laura and her family were traveling from Wisconsin by wagon
00:55to Kansas, to Minnesota, and to the Dakotas.
00:58And it turns out, in real life,
01:00when you look at the history behind it, which the author does,
01:03the Ingalls' life on the prairie was painfully hard.
01:05It was a constant struggle.
01:06The family was impoverished.
01:07They were perpetually in debt, perpetually hungry,
01:10and not at all like the books and the TV shows depicted.
01:13So there's very little good vibes going on there on the prairie.
01:17What was your book?
01:18I promised I would bring a summer-themed book.
01:22Okay.
01:22And this is going to be a little bit hard to make the connection,
01:24but I will explain.
01:25It's fixed.
01:26Why personal finance is broken and how to fix it.
01:29This is what you're reading in the summer, Sarah.
01:30It's really, you know, I always feel kind of internal guilt
01:34because I take a lot of vacations in the summer,
01:36and I always use points and miles to pay for them.
01:39I haven't paid for a vacation in four years
01:41just because of my own spending.
01:43I've got to see your spreadsheet on this.
01:45But it also kind of weighs on me
01:47because I know that a lot of the points and miles
01:49that I'm rewarded with are, you know,
01:51financed through the credit card companies
01:53from, you know, people who are in debt.
01:55And it's just one of these ways that I think
01:57a lot of disproportionately lower-income households
01:59sometimes don't reap the benefits of our personal finances.
02:02Yeah, it's a good way to understand
02:04how that whole ecosystem works.
02:06So, Jha, you also have a book that you brought with you?
02:07Yes, I brought The Trolls of Wall Street.
02:10It's actually by our own editor, Nathaniel Popper.
02:14Shout out.
02:14It's because I spend so much time nowadays on Reddit,
02:17just sliding into people's DMs,
02:19and some of the most colorful stories for my stories
02:22came from Reddit.
02:23And this book is actually about the subreddit community
02:26WallStreetBets, which kind of made a splash in 2021
02:31during the GameStop trading frenzy.
02:34And it's been really interesting seeing kind of like
02:36the history and culture of it
02:38and the personalities and characters.
02:40in this community.
02:41And also, right now, as this community has evolved,
02:45how they are really savvy in trading now,
02:47they're using AI technology to inform their own trading.
02:51Their relationship with WallStreet has also changed as well.
02:55No one's calling them the dumb money anymore.
02:56No.
02:56I think it's pretty safe to say.
02:58Sujia, thank you so much, Sujia Song and Sarah Foster
03:01from the Bloomberg Money team,
03:02joining us with their book selections for the week as well.
03:05For the latest reviews and recommendations from Bloomberg,
03:08be sure to subscribe to the On Books newsletter.
03:11You can subscribe at Bloomberg.com slash newsletters.
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