The One Book You’ll Want to Read This Winter

DRIGGS, IDAHO – We love to read in this family. We read together by listening to audiobooks, both in the car and at bedtime.

This year we’ve read a lot of science fiction and westerns. (I shared a list of some of our favorite kid-friendly westerns here.)

Now I’ve found a new book I’m really excited about…

Seeing America by Backroad

Greetings from our mountain hideout…

This summer, my family and I explored America by backroad. By day, we crossed the country, often on dirt roads, never going faster than 55mph and never touching an interstate.

To pass the hours on the road, we listened to audiobooks and stared out the window.

By night, we either slept in campgrounds or we accepted invitations from kind strangers we met along the way. We slept in driveways, barns, gardens, parking lots, basements, spare rooms, etc.

The strangest place we camped was probably the abandoned house. Or maybe the horse pasture. It was awesome.

Over 155 days, we visited 22 states, drove 12,127 miles (never more than 200 miles a day), saw all the national parks, met tons of good folk, and ate far too much junk food. (We ate McDonald’s, Burger King, etc. at least once a day.)

By the end of September, we found ourselves in northern Idaho, near the Canadian border. It was starting to get too cold to be sleeping in a tent, and we were tired of using gas station bathrooms.

We didn’t have anywhere else to be…

…and we’ve always wanted to learn to ski…

…so I did a quick Google search for ski resorts that get extraordinary amounts of snow.

I found Grand Targhee in Wyoming. I’d never heard of it before, but it gets 500 inches of snow a year and it had great Google reviews. “Very family friendly,” they said…

Next, I found an Airbnb there and we drove over…

(Targhee is in the Teton mountains, just south of Yellowstone National Park. It’s really in the middle of nowhere… four hours to the nearest international airport. It took us two days to drive there.)

That was two months ago.

We’re living in a tiny town called Driggs. It has a population of 1,665 and one traffic light.

We’re still living in the same Airbnb. It’s comfortable, spacious, and the kids have made friends with other homeschool kids in the neighborhood. We love it.

We spend our mornings indoors, learning, studying, and reading. Then at about 11 a.m. every day, we go skiing. After skiing, we have a family dinner and watch Heartland or play board games.

(We’re paying $2,500 a month to rent this place, fully furnished, all utilities included. We’ve already had 104 inches of snow.)

A Great New “Fi-Fi” Recommendation

I love reading about finance. And I also love reading novels. So I love a good financial thriller.

The genre has a name. It is called “fi-fi” or financial fiction. It’s a great way for kids to learn about finance…

Unfortunately, it’s a tiny genre. There’s something about finance that doesn’t translate well into fiction. I’m not sure why.

Maybe it’s too technical. Or boring. So the most intriguing finance books tend to be nonfiction thrillers. Barbarians at the Gate and The Smartest Guys in the Room are two famous examples.

Anyway, I’ve got a great new fi-fi recommendation…

The High Ground series by Doug Casey and John Hunt.

I just read the third book in the series, called Assassin, which is a story set around a crypto market for political assassinations. It’s a great read (as are the first two books in the series, Speculator and Drug Dealer).

Doug Casey is a modern philosopher. I’ve studied Doug’s non-fiction books and newsletters for years. His Conversations With Casey interviews were also very influential to me.

[Doug is back with new Conversations With Casey in his Casey Daily Dispatch e-letter. To get them delivered straight to your inbox for free – along with a complimentary report from Doug’s team, The Gold Investor’s Guide – sign up for the Dispatch with one click right here.]

Doug has a gift for teaching. I just feel smarter every time I read something he’s written.

The High Ground books are a great way to understand Doug’s ideas through the power of a great, entertaining story. It’s like learning about philosophy without realizing you’re learning about philosophy.

And because Doug’s writing in fictional form, he can explain his ideas much more openly. (The big ideas in these books are all “politically offensive.” Assassin is about killing government employees, for example. Drug Dealer is about building an illegal drug empire.)

The first two books in the High Ground series are available in audiobook. The third book should be available soon. I’ll be listening to them with my boys soon…

– Tom Dyson

P.S. The High Ground series will eventually be a seven-book series. Doug and his coauthor, John Hunt, are currently working on book four. You can buy Assassin here, and catch up on the first two novels in the series, Speculator and Drug Lord, here and here.

P.P.S. Paul Erdman is the father of fi-fi. He wrote a dozen good financial thrillers. He began his writing career in a Swiss prison after the collapse of the bank he ran. The Billion Dollar Killing and The Silver Bears are examples. They made a movie out of Silver Bears. I loved these books in my teenage years.

The Moneychangers by Arthur Hailey is another good fi-fi book.

The Shipping Man by Matthew McLeary is also a good read, especially if you want to learn about shipping.

P.P.P.S. Here we are sleeping in a barn this summer (that’s our tent trailer)…

Like what you’re reading? Send your thoughts to [email protected].

In today’s mailbag, skiing tips and history for the Dyson family…

Reader comment: An early good morning to you. When we lived in Idaho, we used to ski at Grand Teton. I have a few tips for you and the kids. 1) Just because you fall, does not mean you stop. My wife broke an 8-inch tree trunk with her head. Fortunately, she only got a mild concussion. Talk about being hard-headed! 2) If you are driving and come across a moose on the road, do not try to pass it. The moose may try to charge your car, and probably will total it and injure your family members. I had a neighbor who was a train conductor. He told me that a bull moose would charge the train about once a week. 3) If you ski when it is extremely cold, check that your goggles have not frosted over. Mine did one time, and I did not know it until I was upside down and stuck my head in a snowdrift!

Well, that is all. Stay well and do not freeze. It may take a while for your blood to thicken so you and the family get used to the extremely cold weather.

Tom’s response: Thanks for the advice!

Reader comment: Northern people have been scooting on boards for hundreds of years, but it wasn’t until the 19th century that Sondre Norheim of Telemark, Norway invented sport skiing. Then he went to flat North Dakota. But his star pupils, Mikkel and Torjus Hemmestvedt, went to Red Wing, Minnesota, where bluffs along the upper Mississippi River are good ski slopes. The Hemmestvedt brothers instructed anybody who showed interest.

Red Wing became the ski capital of America. The National Ski-Jumping Tournament was held near Red Wing in the mid-1930s, and I saw it. The photo shows me as a teenage ski jumper taking off a few years later. My parents were born in the 19th century and died in their 70s. I was born in 1925 and am not dead yet. The 60s and 70s are a continuation of middle age. I quit skiing in 2001 at the age of 76. You were born further into the 20th century and will be skiing at the age of 100.

Tom’s response: Thank you for your email and the photo!

Meanwhile, a reader who reflects back on Penny’s new glasses shares a new pediatric treatment that could help her eyesight…

Reader comment: Writing to you from Kobe, Japan. I invited you once when you traveled through Kansai, Japan, but we never met. My daughter is also homeschooled and I share many of your sentiments about homeschooling. My daughter was also diagnosed with poor eyesight – unfortunately we found out when she was 12.

There is a cool treatment called orthokeratology that corrects your astigmatism. You wear lenses during the night, while you sleep! And you don’t need glasses during the day. And if diagnosed at an early age, below 10 years of age, it can actually cure your vision completely, so that you will not need glasses after a while at all. Maybe something you may want to look into for Penny, even though she looks nice with glasses.

Tom’s response: Thank you. I will look into this.

And finally, praise for Tom’s Thanksgiving trip… more thoughts on bitcoin… and questions about living on the road…

Reader comment: Good for you! I’m glad you went to be with Kate’s parents for Thanksgiving. There is no need to live in fear. This virus has been blown way out of proportion. To the reader who commented on the number of deaths, let me give you some perspective: I live in a county in Florida which has about 310,000 residents. If all of the COVID-19-attributed deaths in the USA were from my county, there would still be several thousand residents alive and well.

How many million people live in the USA in total? Stop believing the fake news and get proper perspective.

Reader comment: Hi Tom, this is George, age 84. I’m in a retirement home in Boulder, Colorado. I enjoy your letters from the road and your timely comments. Bitcoin has value because retailers are willing to exchange their goods for payment in bitcoin. PayPal just agreed to accept it, which means that for every retailer that accepts PayPal, bitcoin is accepted. That’s all I need to know. Keep the postcards coming.

Reader comment: Hello Tom and family! Very much enjoy your travel tales as well as investing ideas! Learned to ski as a three-year-old on a “hill” my dad shoveled into existence with snow from our driveway! To this day I LOVE to ski and even to shovel snow. Perhaps I had an early form of homeschooling?! I know you will love snow, skiing, and fondly remember your time together. Good ski teachers are a must!

I’d love to follow your lead: Sell ALL (except for two suitcases of necessities) and wander through the USA (at least to start) camping, visiting, observing, writing, living fully. However, how do you pay taxes, vote, get prescriptions refilled (husband needs insulin), and get mail (just email?)? By over-analyzing, I can paralyze myself into inaction. You might have some valuable pointers to prevent such a scenario. Another book you are/will be writing? Thank you! Wishing you many wonderful adventures!

Reader comment: Dear Tom: As a former Canadian (and skier) from northern Alberta living in Texas… fully enjoy your family’s encounter with magical snow. Having lived in many areas over the world (with my geologist husband and children – 2 boys and girl) and now retired in Texas, I eagerly read your reports. I’m pushing 90 but am still active in the stock market.

Tom’s note: Thanks for all the thoughtful messages. Your notes keep us going. As always, please keep your questions and comments coming at [email protected], and I’ll do my best to answer them in our Friday mailbag editions.