Life Stories Archives - Book of Collier Blog

[57] Legacy in Motion: The Story of My Great-Great-Grandfather

While I enjoy reading stories in many forms, there’s nothing quite like a biography.

Munger described reading biographies as gathering wisdom from the “eminent dead”. Not only is it entertaining but also enlightening. You get to glean first-hand experience without having to go through the tribulations. And you end up learning a lot about what not to do, versus finding a story to try and emulate.

More recently, I’ve read biographies about prominent Americans who helped shape the country: Franklin, Washington, Lincoln, Grant, Eisenhower, LBJ, James Baker…

And also financiers and businessmen: Jay Gould, Aristotle Oanassis, Lee Iococca, Walt Disney, J. Paul Getty, Rockefeller, Mark Rich…

And global figures: Mandela, Churchill….

And of contemporaries: Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, David Goggins, Gary Stevenson, Andrew Wilkinson, Andre Agassi, J. Prince…

[58] A Sketch of The Life of Edward Courtney, Sr.

My favorite biography I’ve ever read was that of my great great grandfather, Edward Courtney, Sr. I wrote about him here. Here’s Edward’s life, in his own words. Also included is an obituary published in the Dubuque Herald on December 29, 1880. A SKETCH OF

[55] Mr. Story Teller and Me: Getting To Know My Inner Voice

All I am is the story I tell myself. Everything I feel, think and experience is based on my personal narrative, spoken to me by my inner voice. We all have an inner voice. Our personal narrator laying out our story for us, moment by

[54] Mental Ninja Training – My Journey with CBT – Part 1

There was a period in my life when I felt really low. My thoughts turned negative more than positive, which wasn’t my norm. I had trouble falling asleep and would stare at the ceiling for hours at night, my mind wondering. I felt tired. I

[53] Enough With the Lawyer Billboards: An Ode to the Legal Profession

I didn’t grow up wanting to be a lawyer. Most of what I heard about lawyers when I was younger was from lawyer jokes. Then, I took a Contract Law class when I was in business school at the University of South Carolina. I was

[46] A Lesson From Mooresville And My Friend Madam Mayor

I moved around a bit as a kid. During my early years, I lived in a few places near Huntsville, Alabama – and then spent my formative years in Charleston, South Carolina. But my hometown – my true hometown – is Mooresville, Alabama. Mooresville is

[45] On the Topic of Ethics: My Dad’s Singular Advice

My dad and I didn’t have the type of relationship where he would give me a lot of advice. It just wasn’t like that. If I asked him about something, he’d opine. But generally he kept his thoughts to himself and let me learn things

[44] Using Writing as Therapy: A Lesson of Self-Healing From Grandma

Some years ago, my family was in the midst of a long episode of severe trauma. My Grandma was in her early 90s at the time. She watched as one of her children went through a period of early onset cognitive decline. It was a

[38] A Toast to Tough Love: An Ode to My Mom’s Reverse Psychology

It was a hot summer day in Charleston, South Carolina. For anyone who knows the Low Country in the summertime, that means it felt like a hot yoga class outside. The only chance for reprieve was an ocean breeze. That day, my mother enlisted me

[33] Defining Culture: My Visit to the Berkshire Hathaway Meeting

As I write this, I’m listening to Warren Buffett conduct the 2024 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting – the so-called “Woodstock for Capitalists” that takes place every year, since 1973, in Omaha, Nebraska. My affinity for Mr. Buffett’s late sidekick Charlie Munger is well-known. I wrote

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