Grigory Lukin.com

Another month, another e-book. I think I’m getting better at this whole productivity thing!

My latest e-book is “Roommate Survival Guide: 33 ways to stay sane and have fun.” The idea had been bouncing around inside my head for a long, long time – ever since I published my best-selling book “Go to college without going broke.” Unfortunately, I’m pretty lazy… I finally got the motivation to put my thoughts on paper after I made a pretty big purchase a couple of weeks ago. There’s no such thing as too much passive income, and the new dent in my budget provided more than enough inspiration to start writing.

What’s so special about this book? Well, as far as I can tell, it’s unlike any other book or article on roommates out there. From what I’ve seen, most of them are filled with generic advice and written by people with minimal (or non-existent) roommate experience. I, on the other hand, have had over 80 roommates over the past nine years. (I move a lot.) Most of the 33 chapters in my book contain some sort of example from my personal experience, followed by a few practical tips.

Like most of my other books (with the exception of “Madmen’s Manifestos”), Roommate Survival Guide is fairly short but highly informative. I could have easily imitated the “For Dummies” series and filled my book with dozens of cartoons, anecdotes and pointless trivia, but I respect my readers too much to waste their time. It’s got condensed information, useful tips, some of my trademark goofy humor, a few useful links – and that’s pretty much it.

As always, I’m giving away my new book for free for a few days. You can download it over yonder all day today and possibly tomorrow. If you like it, please feel free to leave a 5-star review and tell your friends. If you don’t like it – hey, at least you got it for free. I always appreciate any and all feedback from my readers, so by all means feel free to leave a comment, tweet or email me.

Thanks, and I hope you enjoy my newest creation!

There weren’t any groundbreaking announcements, but some things were pretty interesting:

• the weather was ridiculously cold. It was raining, too, which is probably why they opened the doors 30 minutes early at 6:30am;
• not a whole lot of protesters this week – at least none that made it inside the building;
• The “Breaking Bad” skit at the beginning of the meeting was comedy gold: Warren Buffett vs Walter White in a battle over brittle distribution. The greatest part was Munger’s “Brittle, bitch!” at the end.
• BYD, the Chinese electric car company that Charlie Munger praised from the rooftops for years, was never mentioned during the Q&A, nor showcased in the exhibit hall. Oh, the shame!
• After Buffett’s little speech on the need for better gender equality, Munger refused to comment. Given his previous conservative commentary on gender relations, it probably wouldn’t have been very PC – silence was probably the better course of action;
• Doug Kass, who is apparently a famous short-seller, was one of the panelists who got to ask Buffett and Munger questions. The first few were fine, but around 2pm he turned his question into a 3-minute monologue about the benefits of short-selling and a lame challenge to Buffett with a complete list of conditions. He blabbered on for at least 3 minutes, wasted everyone’s time and got succinctly shut down by Munger’s “To answer your question – no.” Here is hoping he won’t get invited again;
  
• The funniest moment of the Q&A session: a 25-year-old guy from Los Angeles who asked how he could convince people to give him money for his brand new partnership, even though he had no track record of any kind. Laughter ensued;
• The bookstore in the exhibit hall featured pretty much every book ever written about Buffett, except for his official, authorized biography – The Snowball by Alice Schroeder. Only the old biography, Roger Lowenstein’s Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist, was featured. I guess Buffett is still mad at Schroeder;
• The Buffett worship is turning into creepy idolatry: shareholders could buy boxer shorts with Buffett’s face on them ($5) or a gold coin with Buffett’s face ($850);
• When asked about IBM’s moat and competitive advantage, Buffett launched into tirade about different valuation methods, etc. He never did answer the question, which only reinforces my belief that IBM wasn’t a traditional Buffett investment. Seems like it was just a convenient, fairly conservative large company that simply happened to match some (but not all) of his usual criteria…

I’m typing this as I sit in the Denver airport, waiting for my flight to Omaha to start boarding. It’s my sixth trip – or pilgrimage, even – to see Warren Buffett at his annual shareholder convention held in his hometown.

I know this airport well by now, seeing as I’ve traveled through it for five years. For me, this convention is a mix of Christmas, Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July, a chance to visit that quaint little town as part of the legion of capitalists who dubbed this annual event “The Woodstock for Capitalists.” It’s a chance to try a genuine Omahan steak, to meet like-minded (i.e., intelligent, curious and money-oriented) people from all over the world and, of course, to listen to the 82-year billionaire investor and his 89-year-old business partner Charlie Munger (also a billionaire) share their wisdom, criticize the bovine excrement that passes for wisdom on Wall Street and answer questions from investors and the media.

All recording devices are prohibited at the event, which creates an aura of exclusivity, even if it must be shared with 45,000 other attendees. The atmosphere, the excitement, the significance of financial revelations and occasional investment tips (mostly on what not to invest in) – all of this keeps coming back year after year…

The first time I heard about Buffett was during his visit to my alma mater, University of Nevada, Reno. Since I was a lazy and arrogant college senior, I disregarded the event, thinking that it was just another fat-cat billionaire reveling in his success in front of a bunch of young, impressionable students. After the event was over, I decided to look him up on Wikipedia… The facepalm that followed was pretty damn epic, as we kids say these days.

I read more about the legendary investor, learned about his Omaha convention, got a ticket on eBay, hopped on a Greyhound bus and spent 37 (yes, thirty-seven) hours riding it until I finally made it to Nebraska. I spent a total of 24 hours in Omaha during that first trip because I had to hurry back for my final exams. I spent most of the ride back typing on my laptop, chugging RedBulls and completing my assignments. I barely made it back in time, but it was so very, very worth it. 

And now the boarding call has sounded, and it’s time for me to go… I may post some updates after the event is done – or I could just hog the precious knowledge to myself as I fly back to Vegas, recharged and motivated after my annual get-together with the world’s most famous investor.

*this is a spoiler-free review*

Warning: the book has a rape scene, which may not make it suitable for assault survivors.

“Across the Universe” by Beth Revis is one of the best sci-fi books I’ve read lately. The premise is simple: a giant spaceship is sent to a potentially habitable planet in Alpha Centauri. The voyage should take 300 years, which is why all the essential personnel is cryogenically frozen, while the crew of 3,000 people (and their descendants) keep the ship running.

The main character is a 16-year-old girl Amy. She is one of the frozen passengers on Godspeed, since both her parents are essential to the colonization effort. (Her mother is a geneticist and her father is a high-ranking military official.) Amy is also the first frozen passenger to be thawed out due to an act of sabotage. She wakes up 50 years before she’s supposed to and she can’t get frozen again. She is stranded on the spaceship and forced to live with its people, discovering one creepy, disturbing secret after another. Who sabotaged her cryogenic chamber? Why is everybody acting strange? Who is killing other frozen passengers? And can she trust the boy destined to become the ship’s future leader?

This book is a rare mix of hard science fiction and young adult fiction. The first chapter is profoundly disturbing as the author describes (in excruciating detail and through Amy’s eyes) how Amy’s parents get frozen alive. It’s followed by a fair bit of exposition as we meet Elder, the spaceship’s future leader. Once we’re introduced to all the main characters, the novel really takes off and culminates in several plot twists. I could see some of them coming from a mile away, but the ending still shocked me.

I didn’t expect this book to explore political and philosophical questions (what’s the best way to govern thousands of people with no future?), so it came as a pleasant surprise. The only other sci-fi book that I can think of that made politics an essential part of the plot was Frank Herbert’s Dune.

I normally don’t comment on book design when I write my reviews, but I’m glad I got my hands on the hardcover edition. The cover design is gorgeous, the tagline (“What does it take to survive aboard a spaceship fueled by lies?”) is eloquent, and the inside of the dust jacket features the spaceship’s blueprints! I usually donate the books I’ve read to Goodwill in order to conserve the valuable shelf space, but I think I’ll hold on to my hardcover because of the design eye candy.

“Across the Universe” is the first book in the trilogy, and the sequels (“A Million Suns” and “Shades of Earth”) are already out. If this book is any indication, the followup novels should be just as good.

To whom it may concern:

I shall not be renewing the lease on unit XXX in the Sunset Terrace Apartments complex. I shall return my key on Sunday, March 31.

My reasons for doing so are many and varied. Here is a brief list of things I find woefully inadequate with this apartment complex:

• Lack of security: in November, somebody broke into my car and stole my stereo. The car was parked beneath bright light. The incident occurred between 6-8pm on a Friday evening. Nobody saw anything, nothing was recovered and there have been no improvements in security since then.
• Pigeon infestation: as far as I can tell, there are no efforts being made to reduce the number of pigeons who live in this apartment complex. A pair of those flying rats started nesting on my balcony.
• Terrible maintenance: I have submitted four requests to have the pigeons removed from my balcony. They are still there.
• Incorrect office hours: your website, your voicemail and the sign on your door claim the apartment office is open until 6pm. I don’t get home from work until 5:45pm and I needed to pick up a package held at the office. Every time I got there, it was closed. After sending emails and leaving voicemail messages for a week without so much as a brief response, I finally went to the office on my day off, only to find out it closes at 5pm, not 6pm as advertised.
• Apathetic staff: is it really that difficult to return a phone call or reply to an email?..
• Strong chemical smell that lasted for months after my apartment’s fumigation.
• Water outages due to unannounced repairs in the middle of the day.

Over the course of my life, I’ve lived in black widow-infested crumbling houses, derelict dormitories and radioactive Siberian towns, but none of them were run as poorly, in such an unapologetically indolent way, as the Sunset Terrace Apartments. I would wish you luck with your failing enterprise, but I doubt anything short of divine intervention would help you at this point.

                                                                                                        Worst regards,

        Grigory Lukin, apartment XXX

My new book, “Madmen’s Manifestos: Chris Donner, Charles Manson, Timothy McVeigh and others,” is a bit different from my previous work. It contains manifestos, public testimony and suicide notes of 20 different serial killers, ranging from household names like Adolf Hitler or Timothy McVeigh to people you’ve never heard about.

It all began with Chris Dorner’s online manifesto. When that rogue ex-LAPD cop with elite training went on a rampage, I’m sure I wasn’t the only person who thought it was a bit stranger than fiction. When I heard that Dorner posted a manifesto online, I decided to read it because I was curious to learn what pushed him over the edge and how he justified his actions to himself.

Once I read that, I became even more curious. Of course, I knew that occasionally serial killers and other disturbed people release manifestos, but this was the first time I actually read one. I did some googling and learned that, for some bizarre reason, nobody has ever published a collection of manifestos those madmen left behind.

I know a niche when I see one… I spent the next few weeks researching killers, getting acquainted with copyright law (there were a couple of manifestos I couldn’t include in the book for that very reason) and sifting through public records to piece together courtroom testimonies and notes that were written in foreign languages, etc.

I hadn’t anticipated the psychological toll this book would take on me. I had to go through each of those manifestos and format them. While I didn’t read each of them closely, I ended up speed-reading through all of them, and there’s only so much exposure to a madman’s mind an average person can take. I also had the bright idea to include a micro-biography for each killer, which meant researching them in depth, verifying the dates and casualty numbers, getting far more graphic details than I was ready for.

What began as a “what if” project ended up stretching for weeks, to the point where I had to bribe myself with a new video game to finish the last few chapters. (For my future biographers – it was “X-Com: Enemy Unknown” for PS-3 and it was worth every penny!) After proofreading, double-checking all the details and slapping together what I think is a fairly decent-looking cover, I finally published the book on Kindle.

Just like with all my new books, I’m giving away my “Madmen’s Manifestos” for free! The giveaway will end at midnight this Sunday, March 17th. Make sure to get your free download over yonder before you forget about it. (You know how it goes – you’ll keep reminding yourself and then it’ll be Monday and you’ll have to pay $2.99 and the butterfly effect from spending that money will wreak havoc on your personal life and might change the world as we know it! I hate it when that happens.)

The TL;DR version: My new book is out – go here to download it for free until 11:59pm this Sunday: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BM5L2HW/

And one more thing – don’t forget to leave a 5-star review if you like the book! It’ll make my day – there’s nothing we authors like more than praise from our readers.

“The way to live a long time – oh, a thousand years or more – is something between the way a child does it and the way a mature man does it. Give the future enough thought to be ready for it – but don’t worry about it. Live each day as if you were to die next sunrise. Then face each sunrise as a fresh creation and live for it, joyously. And never think about the past. No regrets, ever.”
Robert A. Heinlein, “Time enough for love”

Good advice… Incredibly difficult to follow on a consistent basis, but good advice nonetheless.

I realize that my Google search history has been even stranger than usual lately. In case it triggered some red flags in your byzantine surveillance system, I’d like to assure you that I’m merely doing research for an e-book on serial killers and do not intend to cause any harm to my fellow human beings. (Well, not counting the girl at the local Subway who took 20 minutes to prepare my sandwich the other day and should probably get fired.)

Please don’t send a flying killer robot (or “drone,” as you like to call them) after me.

Best regards,
GL

“girl, interrupted” – 2,180,000 search results on Google
“boy, interrupted” – 133,000 results
“Google, interrupted” – 1,290 results
“Borg, interrupted” – 77 results
“platypus, interrupted” – 62 results
“Chuck Norris, interrupted” – 58 results
“Cthulhu, interrupted” – 8 results
“hermaphrodite, interrupted” – 3 results
“chupacabra, interrupted” – 1 result
“procrastinator, interrupted” – 0 results

‎”the army of one” – 2,020,000 results on Google
“the army of two” – 31,100,000 results
“the army of three” – 460,000 results
“the army of four” – 286,000 results
“the army of five” – 626,000 results
“the army of six” – 73 results
“the army of seven” – 62 results
“the army of eight” – 78 results
“the army of nine” – 33 results
“the army of 10″ – 100 results
“the army of 11″ – 21 results
“the army of 12″ – 50,000 results
“the army of 13″ – 32 results
“the army of 14″ – 26 results
“the army of 15″ – 54 results
“the army of 16″ – 26 results
“the army of 17″ – 12 results
“the army of 18″ – 40 results
“the army of 19″ – 36 results
“the army of 20″ – 88 results
“the army of 21″ – 20 results
“the army of 22″ – 21 results
“the army of 23″ – 10 results
“the army of 24″ – 30 results
“the army of 25″ – 23 results
“the army of 26″ – 18 results
“the army of 27″ – 8 results
“the army of 28″ – 13 results
“the army of 29″ – 8 results
“the army of 30″ – 48 results
“the army of 31″ – 12 results
“the army of 32″ – 14 results
“the army of 33″ – 27 results
“the army of 34″ – 10 results
“the army of 35″ – 26 results
“the army of 36″ – 5 results
“the army of 37″ – 8 results
“the army of 38″ – 13 results
“the army of 39″ – 25 results
“the army of 40″ – 41 results
“the army of 41″ – 11 results
“the army of 42″ – 13 results
“the army of 43″ – 50 results
“the army of 44″ – 6 results
“the army of 45″ – 14 results
“the army of 46″ – 14 results
“the army of 47″ – 11 results
“the army of 48″ – 20 results
“the army of 49″ – 9 results
“the army of 50″ – 41 results
“the army of 51″ – 13 results
“the army of 52″ – 18,400 results
“the army of 53″ – 5 results
“the army of 54″ – 5 results
“the army of 55″ – 3 results
“the army of 56″ – 9 results
“the army of 57″ – 13 results
“the army of 58″ – 18 results
“the army of 59″ – 6 results
“the army of 60″ – 20 results
“the army of 61″ – 78 results
“the army of 62″ – 13 results
“the army of 63″ – 7 results
“the army of 64″ – 6 results
“the army of 65″ – 11 results
“the army of 66″ – 6 results
“the army of 67″ – 14 results
“the army of 68″ – 16 results
“the army of 69″ – 20 results
“the army of 70″ – 40 results
“the army of 71″ – 10 results
“the army of 72″ – 10 results
“the army of 73″ – 7 results
“the army of 74″ – 7 results
“the army of 75″ – 15 results
“the army of 76″ – 21 results
“the army of 77″ – 14 results
“the army of 78″ – 11 results
“the army of 79″ – 5 results
“the army of 80″ – 10 results
“the army of 81″ – 5 results
“the army of 82″ – 7 results
“the army of 83″ – 5 results
“the army of 84″ – 11 results
“the army of 85″ – 15 results
“the army of 86″ – 11 results
“the army of 87″ – 5 results
“the army of 88″ – 10 results
“the army of 89″ – 11 results
“the army of 90″ – 34 results
“the army of 91″ – 11 results
“the army of 92″ – 8 results
“the army of 93″ – 4 results
“the army of 94″ – 9 results
“the army of 95″ – 14 results
“the army of 96″ – 1 result
“the army of 97″ – 6 results
“the army of 98″ – 23 results
“the army of 99″ – 13 results
“the army of 100″ – results
“the army of 101″ – 18 results
“the army of 102″ – 11 results
“the army of 103″ – 20 results
“the army of 104″ – 1 result
“the army of 105″ – 13 results
“the army of 106″ – 18 results
“the army of 107″ – 4 results
“the army of 108″ – 5 results
“the army of 109″ – 6 results
“the army of 110″ – 8 results
“the army of 111″ – 14 results
“the army of 112″ – 6 results
“the army of 113″ – 2 results
“the army of 114″ – 4 results
“the army of 115″ – 7 results
“the army of 116″ – 6 results
“the army of 117″ – 2 results
“the army of 118″ – 6 results
“the army of 119″ – 1 result
“the army of 120″ – 25 results
“the army of 121″ – 5 results
“the army of 122″ – 9 results
“the army of 123″ – 8 results
“the army of 124″ – 7 results
“the army of 125″ – 21 results
“the army of 126″ – 4 results
“the army of 127″ – 4 results
“the army of 128″ – 9 results
“the army of 129″ – 4 results
“the army of 130″ – 11 results
“the army of 131″ – 4 results
“the army of 132″ – 4 results
“the army of 133″ – 8 results
“the army of 134″ – 3 results
“the army of 135″ – 9 results
“the army of 136″ – 6 results
“the army of 137″ – 2 results
“the army of 138″ – 3 results
“the army of 139″ – 0 results

Lessons learned:
1. I may have too much time on my hands.
2. I didn’t think it would take me that long to reach zero… But as a famous philosopher once said, “When you mess with Google long enough, Google also messes with you.” Or something like that.