The Snowball

Warren Buffett and the Business of Life

By Alice Schroeder

Average Rating: (See all 5 reviews) Format: Hardcover, 960 pages Other Information: Illustrated Published In: United States, September 2008 Quantity Available: 2 24 hour shipping (Order in the next 9 hours, we'll ship it today) Add to Cart Please wait, the system is processing. Warren Buffet, known as the Oracle of Omaha, is the subject of this biography-of both the man and his ideas. This great American story includes two 16-page black-and-white photo inserts. Publisher: Bantam ISBN: 0553805096 EAN: 9780553805093 Dimensions: 24.26 x 16.61 x 5.38 centimeters (1.54 kg)

Be careful if you don't like 'rough-cut' books. This book was sent to me in this state, although there is no mention of it in the description.
I hope my father-in-law doesn't mind, as it is a Christmas present.

If you liked the intelligent investor you'll love this book. But just like the intelligent investor it's not for everyone. A must for value investors.

Excellent book that tells about Warren Buffets commitment to reach his ultimatum. The additional thing I learnt are the detail strategies he applied, day-to-day practices he had on investing, evaluating companies, financial statements, something you don't learn from Finance degrees.

This book is not really about investing - its about how Warren Buffett lived his life - a biography. The reviews so far are only talking about his investing philosophy - which is not laid bare in its entirety, whereas the way Warren sees business, capitalism and life intermix is completely understood by the end. There is much insight into how he thinks about business, and how he didn't think about those around him, which he has learned to do so. I think this is quite a revealing book, showing Buffett as a genius, but flawed, yet self-learning and actually still very young at heart. If you want to learn value investing, read The Intelligent Investor and Security Analysis. If you want to learn more - read all the BH company reports. If you want to learn more still, get out there and do it yourself. I have two copies- the first run and a later newer one with better binding that I gave to a friend of mine who was stuck in the "I need to know how to be like Warren Buffett". The book was a revelation for him as he learnt about Warren Buffett the man.

It's interesting in parts, especially if you've read books like 'Liar's Poker' which mentions the same people but coming at it from the Warren Buffet angle. The book does drag on a bit about some people who aren't all that significant to the overall story. Best tactic for this is to just bypass the boring bits. Given the current economic climate it does provide some insight into the long term benefits of investing and especially investing now while others are fearful.