Todd Holmes on Michael Lewis, Gilt Groupe and 'Family Guy'

Serial entrepreneur Todd Holmes, 44, founded Liquidus, a Chicago video-marketing company, on the Cubs' opening day 10 years ago. In September, he threw the ceremonial first pitch at a Cubs game, "my greatest day ever." More notes from the field:

Author Michael Lewis is a must-read. Favorite: last year's "The Big Short," about the post-bubble economic free-fall. Not typically a movie-watcher, he thought the baseball saga "Moneyball" was true to Mr. Lewis' book.

CNN has straight news, while CNBC is "more entrepreneurial." Online: Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal and tech blogs like TVTechnology.com and Performance Marketing Insider (PerformInsider.com). In print: Forbes and Entrepreneur.

Shops Gilt Groupe (Gilt.com) because "the user interface is super-elegant and you're buying stuff at basically a third of the cost." Uses his Yelp iPhone app to find good food while traveling. A founding investor in Chicago's Goose Island Beer Co., he shops Napa Valley for wine, ordering direct from vintners like Cade and Pride.

Likes the minimalist design and sustainable bent of Dwell magazine. Vanity Fair "harkens to a past era" with its stories of rich people and their problems. Pure fun: "Family Guy" on Fox; also humorist David Sedaris.

Digs the eat-explore vibe of "Kitchen Confidential" author and Travel Channel host Anthony Bourdain. "He's got a real edge to him. He's an absolute no-nonsense guy." John Steinbeck's classic travelogue, "Travels With Charley," inspired a family Grand Canyon trip last summer. "We decided we're going to do that more, get out and see the country and talk to people."