July ‘24 recap

Articles I read, podcasts I listened to, and some other stuff I enjoyed in July.

Articles:

1. Plaid: Finance’s Next Great Network | The Generalist

   • Deep dive (warning, it’s a long read) into Plaid, the most important open finance company in the world.

2. How to make money selling money | Matt Brown

   • Clear overview of how fintechs make (and lose) money.

3. How consumers pay in Latin America | Tony Cueva Bravo

   • Quick country by country breakdown of how different countries in Latam make payments

Podcasts:

I downloaded a bunch of episodes of the Knowledge Project by Shane Parish to listen to while traveling this month, and really liked these 4:

1. Brad Jacobs: Building a Business Empire | The Knowledge Project

   • The founder of XPO logistics (and several other billion dollar companies) on how he builds companies

2. Morgan Housel: Get Rich, Stay Rich | The Knowledge Project

   • I read most of what Morgan Housel writes on his blog, and enjoyed him talking about his new book. One quote that stuck with me is

     • “Even in bestselling books, the average reader only makes it 25% of the way through”

3. Maya Shankar: The Science of Identity | The Knowledge Project

   • As most people get older their sense of identity locks in. Maya says that identity is a story we tell ourselves, and that we should all try to expand it.

4. Blake Eastman: See People, Read People | The Knowledge Project

   • Reading people is hard. Blake talks about a bunch of practical tactics you can use to become a better communicator, read people better, and make others feel like the most important person in the room.

Other:

1. Decir, Hacer | Octavio Paz

   • I came across this poem from Mexican poet Octavio Paz originally written in 1964 about language and action. Paz won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1990, when he was 76 years old.

2. La Soledad de America Latina | Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Nobel Prize in Literature Speech (1982)

   1. After coming across Paz’ Nobel Prize in Literature I looked at other notable spanish language writers who had won the award. Since 1945, only 8 have won the award: Gabriela Mistral, (1945, Chile), Juan Ramon Jimenez (1956, Spain), Miguel Angel Asturias (1967, Guatemala), Pablo Nerudo (1971, Chile) Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1982, Colombia), Camilo Jose Cela, (Spain, 1990), Octavio Paz (Mexico, 1990), Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru, 2010)

   2. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ speech after winning the award in 1982 goes into the history, culture, and identity of Latin America. In addition to the audio, here’s the script to his speech.