Jimmy Soni Interview – Chat With Traders Episode 140

Welcome everyone!

I have a feeling that this week’s episode may have brought a few first-time listeners. If that’s you, I appreciate you being here. I’m Aaron Fifield, your host for this podcast.

Today’s guest is Jimmy Soni. He along with his co-author Rob Goodman just released a book about Claude Shannon’s life, called A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age.

Claude Shannon was a genius who was born in 1916 and died in 2001. He was an inventor, a scientist, mathematician as well as a stock market investor. He may not be well known among the general public, Claude was the one who is credited with inventing with what’s known as Information Theory. This is how we measure information using many of the technology we use daily.

If you’ve been here before, you may recall that Jimmy has been mentioned on a previous episode with Edward Thorp. Edward and Jimmy beat the roulette together after they invented the world’s first wearable computer.

I could go on about all of Jimmy’s long list of accolades and achievements, including fire breathing trumpets, chess playing machines and cryptography. However, it would take too long and it’s more fun to listen to little surprises along the way.

I will warn you that you might not learn any trading tactics in this episode. Yes, we talk about investments, but what you’ll learn is probably inspiration on how you can explore new ideas.

Let’s hear from the man who spent thousands of hours researching one of the foremost intellects of the 20th century. Here’s Jimmy Soni.

What’s Covered in This Interview:

Why Jimmy and Rod decided to write Claude Shannon’s biography, including the many challenges they faced.
Why Claude Shannon wanted to shy away from public spotlight.
Claude Shannon’s childhood growing up in a small town, whether he was brilliant as a child and what we can learn from his personality.
What Information Theory actually means and how it became responsible for so much of today’s technology.
How Claude Shannon approached stocks, including their simple approach, their best investments and portfolio performance.