Dear Daily Speculations,

I enjoy the site - immensely ; so much so, that I have to limit myself to the occasional visit, otherwise I may spend all my time reading and none of my time doing.

Being only 27 I feel that I have plenty to learn - and I hope that in 40 years I replace the 27 with 67.

Interestingly my racket-sports education began at the same time as my speculative education - racket sports (most of them) seem to be remarkably similar to poker - except that they're much faster and have a higher ratio of skill vs luck ( I do not rate poker players as "luckier" - just different). And of course both are a form of speculating. I enjoyed " The Education of a Speculator" very much and I am very pleased to incorporate many of the ideas, contained within said book, to my life. I particularly enjoy the Chair's racket sports musings. They are great.

The point of my letter is this:

In the Chair's "Writings" the article of 06/09/2004: Racquet Sports and the Market

Under "9. Be ready to experiment" - "The game's getting harder all the time" ; No, it's as hard as it's always been. But it is different.

Under "10. Keep a lower center of gravity" Yes there do seem to be really a great deal of similarities to boxing, don't there.

However, the following quote struck me --- "...a grand synthesizer will come..............and put them into one grand formula" . I don't think that they will ! The reason for that I cannot explain in a short space - ever. I cannot yet explain it fully in a long space, either. All that I can suggest is to re-read firstly "the Alchemy..." then "Staying ahead of the curve" and perhaps even "The education of....".

Victor - I think you may have put a few toes into one of the greatest traps - The propensity for humans to search for "Holy Grails". Good luck looking. You'll need it !

As an aside Dante's "Abandon hope all ye who enter here" has a second interpretation. The first interpretation means that "you may as well give up now - don't even bother trying, because you've already lost". The second interpretation ? - "If you abandon hope you may just succeed".

Selling hope is on balance a very profitable business. Don't buy it if you value your future.

Yours