Updates

  1. Person pages list letters, writing, profiles and links as sortable tables with filters, and show each person's companies as links; Fund letters show each letter's description in its own column.
  2. Experts show a checked job title and a short description of each person; 30 more people have photographs.
  3. Every company, fund, university and publication the experts work for has a page listing the people there.
  4. Fund letters show each letter's thesis and filter by it; 225 person pages list the essays, columns and newsletter issues the person wrote.
  5. Person pages list every essay and newsletter issue a person wrote, and their own books as a table in List view.
  6. Recommends shows the five largest kinds of book and the rest under More; browse pictures load sooner.
  7. Podcasts and talks link the original episode, filter by Audio and video or Press, and list each publisher once.
  8. Pages are wider, Recommends has List and Grid, and a filter clicked again turns off.
  9. Book cards sit in a ruled grid with Open Library and Goodreads links and each book's one-line note.
  10. Funds is now Investors; each investor's styles are buttons that filter the table.
  11. Podcasts and talks on a person's page filter by year and publisher and show as a list or a grid of pictures.
  12. Quotes show only people's own words: 472 summaries written by list sites are gone.
  13. Country pages open from Browse again, and every link on the shelf lands on a page.
  14. Subject and person pages show their sections as tabs, and each book appears once on a person's page.
  15. Book cards show the quote, who said it and the source; grids show five cards to a row.
  16. On a phone, a menu holds the sections, search, Updates, Feedback and dark mode.
  17. Feedback takes a screenshot of the page with no browser prompt, opens a screenshot full size when you click it, and clears itself once sent.
  18. Book cards are centred, search names the topic each book sits in, and any text cut short shows whole on hover.
  19. Search groups its results by kind: people, companies, geographies, subjects, topics, books, funds, fund letters and papers.
  20. The Books table lists who recommended each book by name, and the browser tab names the section you are in.
  21. Feedback can take a screenshot of the page, or one you paste or choose, and opens in the corner beside Updates.
  22. Each rail button reopens its section where you left it, and Browse, Table and People show on every book and subject page.
  23. Filters grey out choices that hold nothing instead of hiding them, and Books › People filters by authors or recommenders.
  24. Feedback takes a subject line and up to three screenshots.
  25. Biographies are grouped by the person they are about: 41 new pages, from Abraham Lincoln to Lee Kuan Yew.
  26. Sport splits into 23 sports, and Religion into one topic per faith.
  27. Book lists show as cards: the cover, one recommendation quote and every recommender by name.
  28. Seventeen subjects that had two or three pages under different names now have one page each.
  29. Every page lists its Experts as authors and recommenders, with a link to them on the Experts tab.
  30. Economics, Financial history, Financial panics and Accounting are subjects of their own, with one page per financial crisis.
  31. Book, person and subject pages open inside the app, so the tabs stay in view.
  32. 996 more book covers, and photographs or logos for 227 more people and companies.
  33. Books › Browse shows every subject as cards, and the rail holds Fund letters, Papers, Experts, Books and Funds.
  34. Every topic over 150 books splits into narrower topics, each with a page of its own.

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TG

Thomas Gayner

T3InvestorsIndustriesInsurance and property

Has run Markel's equity portfolio since 1991 and was its co-CEO from 2016 to 2022; a director of Graham Holdings since 2007 and of The Coca-Cola Company since 2024.

Markel GroupGraham HoldingsThe Coca-Cola Company

No book, but the Markel shareholder letters are a long-running owner's-manual style record of a Berkshire-inspired insurance and equity compounder.

40 letters · 6 books they recommend

Recommends 6Letters 40Profiles 1Links 2
A Gentleman in MoscowA Gentleman in Moscow
T4 A Gentleman in Moscow
Amor Towles · 2016
Open LibraryGoodreads

“I thought his book, "A Gentleman in Moscow" was a spectacular book” — Thomas Gayner

Source: Masters in Business transcript: Thomas S. Gayner, Markel Corp

Also recommended by: Andrew Wilkinson, Bill Gates

The Lincoln HighwayThe Lincoln Highway
T4 The Lincoln Highway
Amor Towles · 2021
Open LibraryGoodreads

“I think it might be even better written than "A Gentleman in Moscow." So, it's a wonderful book.” — Thomas Gayner

Source: Masters in Business transcript: Thomas S. Gayner, Markel Corp

Also recommended by: Andrew Wilkinson, Bill Gates

Investing: The Last Liberal ArtInvesting: The Last Liberal Art
T2 Investing: The Last Liberal Art
Robert G. Hagstrom · 2000
Open LibraryGoodreads

What physics, biology, psychology and other fields teach about investing.

“here's a book I read, Robert Hagstrom, who has written a lot of books about Buffett” — Thomas Gayner

Source: Masters in Business transcript: Thomas S. Gayner, Markel Corp

Also recommended by: Morgan Housel

The Davis DynastyThe Davis Dynasty
T3 The Davis Dynasty
John Rothchild · 2001
Open LibraryGoodreads

Three generations compounding a fortune through insurance stocks

“One of the great investors I've tried to learn from is Shelby Davis.” — Thomas Gayner

Source: Gayner on learning from Shelby Davis

Also recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai, Peter Bernstein

The Rational OptimistThe Rational Optimist
T2 The Rational Optimist
Matt Ridley · 2010
Open LibraryGoodreads

Prosperity grows as trade and specialisation let ideas meet and combine.

“I really liked The Rational Optimist, by Matt Ridley. The general theme of the book is that while it may not feel like it all the time, things are getting better in the global economy and will…” — Thomas Gayner

Source: Gayner on the book's theme that things are getting better

Also recommended by: Andrew Wilkinson, Bill Gates, Frank Martin and 9 others

The Long Gray LineThe Long Gray Line
T4 The Long Gray Line
Rick Atkinson · 1989
Open LibraryGoodreads

“I read a wonderful book recently called "The Long Gray Line," and it's by a gentleman named Rick Atkinson.” — Thomas Gayner

Source: Masters in Business transcript: Thomas S. Gayner, Markel Corp

Tags

markelmarkel-venturesequitiesinsuranceconglomeratesfloat-investingcompoundingquality-investingcapital-allocationberkshire-model