Charlie Munger Donates $65M for Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara

http://dailynexus.com/2014-10-23/billionaire-donates-over-65-million-to-ucsb/

by nikitabu • 12 years ago

54 28 12 years ago

dailynexus.com

kartman2• 12 years ago

A bit off topic, but Poor Charlie's Almanac by Munger is a great book.

arkitaip• 12 years ago

I've heard a lot of good things about it. What did you like about it?

jeremyis2• 12 years ago

Doesn't look like either it or the Peter Bevelin book mentioned above are available on e-book :/

thegenius2• 12 years ago

I have it and it's great. At first you think it's just some arrogant old man who is full of himself rambling on, then you realize you're dealing with a genius, and you can't put it down. The thing that resonated with me is his multiple mental models approach to life. He basically feels that one just needs a basic college education and the ability to apply the most important concepts from each course in a combinatorial way, and that if you specialize too much, you're likely to make an error (to the man with a hammer, everything is a nail). Lots of other stuff on human error.

The Almanac also pointed me to "Influence" by Robert Cialdini, which is one of Munger's most highly recommended books.

That is the quickest summary I can give from my ipad

rvn1045• 12 years ago

Munger and Buffet both have a remarkable set of experiences. My understanding of reading about both of them (and the book) is that they have a deep understanding of human nature, which is really remarkable. If you read stuff from them through their share holder letters and such, you'll find that they've been saying the same things for literally decades. Which means that they've figured out the core of human nature, figured out how to keep themselves sane and figured out how to lead a good life relatively early on. Besides Munger is very witty, and you crack up quite a bit reading the book.

kartman2• 12 years ago

some of the earlier comments have already touched on the good points of the book. its a collection of essays and talks each on different topics. i liked it because Munger gives usable tools and sensible approaches to both aspects of life - personal and professional.

overall, Munger seems like a wise man who has lived a long fruitful life well beyond the vagaries of chance, so worth listening to.

kqr2• 12 years ago

Also recommend Seeking Wisdom From Darwin to Munger:

https://www.poorcharliesalmanack.com/seeking_wisdom.php

scw• 12 years ago

Came to recommend the same. The great thing is the book isn't built around a 'one neat trick' approach that so much financial literature takes, but instead tries to aid in building up useful mental models -- that just happen to be applicable to financial problems.

kenjackson• 12 years ago

I never realized that UCSB had become a haven for physicists. I once conjectured that I thought UCSB and UCSD would soon become hotbeds for scientific research, in part because of their great physical weather and beauty. And I think it is playing out for both institutions.

impendia• 12 years ago

An interesting conjecture.

As an academic, it's interesting to observe the relationship between geography and attractiveness to new faculty.

As I heard from a UCSD professor, it is extremely rough to live in San Diego/La Jolla on a grad student salary, and prospective grad students are aware of this and (largely) avoid the place. So, the grad program is weaker than one might think, which the faculty find a little bit demoralizing.

So, in this instance, the attractiveness of the area seems to go against the university.

akbar501• 12 years ago

As of 2010, the UCSD Bioengineering graduate department was #1.

The strength of UCSD in bioengineering, plus their other strengths (chemistry, theoretical chemistry, biology, physics, math...), is part of what explains San Diego's strength in life sciences industry.

mmc• 12 years ago

I went to UCSD about 10 years ago, and have lived in the area since.

If we're talking about new faculty, who probably want to buy a house and may want to live near campus, I'd agree that UCSD's location is problematic financially. They seem to be able to attract solid faculty at least in engineering (the people I know), so they must be figuring this out somehow. Certainly some professors are living in small condos who would be living in big houses in the midwest…

However, most grad students while I was there managed well enough. If you don't have kids, and are OK with roommates, you can find places near campus or a short drive away (e.g. Pacific Beach) that are plenty affordable.

I don't really believe that any grad students avoid UCSD because of the cost of living - in a place where you'll only spend a few years and then probably leave.

Animats• 12 years ago

Amazingly enough, UCSB has a strong physics department. Shuji Nakamura there just won the Nobel Prize for inventing the blue LED.

UCSB does look like the Hollywood version of college. It's right on the ocean, there's an on campus surfing beach, and the students are very fit.

nether• 12 years ago

Definitely one of the lesser Nobels though, given that it was awarded for an achievement in engineering, not physics.

brandonl222• 12 years ago

You forgot its top party school status... UCSB was an all around awesome college experience.

ebildsten2• 12 years ago

UCSB has 3 Physics Nobel prizes, and 6 total laureates

http://www.ucsb.edu/nobel/

jroesch• 12 years ago

The physicists have even better views then Computer Scientist's do, and it is hard to beat a research environment where this is your view: http://imgur.com/nA4gNcP.

ebildsten2• 12 years ago

More information about the institute and residence:

http://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/a-billionaires-65-mil...

cs702• 12 years ago

I have a great deal admiration for Munger. If you haven't read his essay, "A Lesson on Elementary, Worldly Wisdom As It Relates To Investment Management & Business," I highly recommend it. Y Combinator's old site has a copy:

https://old.ycombinator.com/munger.html

peddamat• 12 years ago

Thank you for posting that. It was fantastically, brilliant.

sq1020• 12 years ago

Seems like UCSB is has come out nowhere in the past few years. When I was applying to college in California only about 10 years ago, I didn't even really consider UCSB because of its reputation as a party school and because it was ranked much lower than Irvine and Davis. I'm sure the recent Nobel prize win and this will affect it's reputation significantly.

hackuser• 12 years ago

Seems like UCSB is has come out nowhere in the past few years

I know they had some top-notch graduate programs 20 years ago (based on someone I know who was in one).

ArkyBeagle• 12 years ago

He should have donated it to Scott Sumner to set up the test NGDP futures market.

I guess Charlie sold NGDP short.

Charlie Munger Donates $65M for Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara

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