The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life Kindle Edition

A minute ago, I just got off the phone with Amazon customer support and came across some startling information. AMAZON does not know whether or their Kindle books are the FULL text (similar to unabridged) or Shortened (abridged) text. There is no where in the description that informs you of this. I only found out due to already already the Hardcover copy and the Audible Book version. I was listening to the Audible Book as I was reading along in my Kindle and noticed that a lot of text was missing from the Kindle. I thought maybe I purchased the "shortened version" of the book but was stunned when I double checked the description and didn't find any mention of it being "shortened". I was further stunned after speaking with Amazon and being told that "YES", it indeed was an error and that there is no way way to really determined whether you are purchasing the full text version on Kindle.As an avid reader, this is very upsetting. I like to read the full body of work; especially when it's a biography or memoir. However, the fix is simple for Amazon, just give the title of the book the proper label so that we can be informed regarding our purchase decisions. I was fully refunded as well. But now I'm a bit cautious and skeptical when purchasing Kindle books...you should be too.The book itself is great, my star rating is a reflection of Kindle and the misrepresentation in the description.

I had to read the book because I work for Berkshire Hathaway and I had to understand our founder and what he stood for. I find a lot of parallels in the thinking of the great minds of incredibly brilliant people. This is a great American Dream success story but Warren Buffet takes very little credit for his success. He credits the success of his luck "the ovarian lottery" as he calls it, being born in America first, and then all the other possibilities that came to him by "luck". I see an incredible genius who was not afraid to follow his heart, take chances, and put in the hard work. I see a brilliant mind always thirsty for knowledge and growth but able to keep his feet planted on the ground. I see a human struggling for balance in life between what we want and can achieve and those we love. I see a man who cared and gave back and was not afraid to walk his own walk.

Warren Buffett is world-famous for his success at investing. A native of Omaha, Nebraska, the son of a stock broker who served several terms in Congress, he began in business very young selling candy to neighbors and delivering newspapers but his real passion was reading everything he could get his hands on about investing in stocks and bonds, learning about businesses, and investing according to a carefully thought-out investing philosophy derived from the authors of several books he read who became his mentors at Columbia Business School-Benjamin Graham and David Dodd.This biography, written with the cooperation of Buffett by Alice Schroeder, an author with a Wall Street background, is a thoroughly-researched account of his life and career, beginning with his childhood in Omaha and following him through his education and his career as an investor and money-manager who, through the vehicle of his firm Berkshire Hathaway, made himself and many of his investors very wealthy. Indeed, in 2008 he was named the richest man on earth.The book chronicles his philosophy of business and many of his quirks - he favours Coke over wine and burgers and steaks over almost any other type of food - and delves into numerous accounts of his investments which have spanned cocoa-beans, textile mills, Wall Street investment banks, and railroads, among many others.Buffett comes across as an almost asocial machine constantly sifting through businesses to find the best bargains to invest in. With family and friends he seems remote and absent-minded, uninterested in things that fall outside the world of business. He seems never to have read a novel, for instance, or a poem. When one of his friends points out a Picasso sketch on the wall at his friend’s house he says he hasn’t noticed it even though he’s been going there for 30 years. He’s also kind of funny about money, which I suppose is not surprising given who he is. That said, he does change over the course of his life in some respects and the book does a good job of describing it, showing, for example, how he was persuaded to be more generous towards his children, and describing the way he went from believing that his greatest service to humanity was through amassing a huge fortune to believing that giving money away sooner was preferable.If this book has a limitation it is that it shies away from offering a more definitive interpretation of its subject that would aid the reader in coming to a deeper understanding of the real Warren Buffett. The book offers an account of the complete Buffett mythology: his folksy, Midwestern values, his common-sense voice, his sage wisdom about business. It reinforces his philosophy of investing in undervalued companies with excellent long-term prospects, his injunction, via Graham, to “be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.” It charts his growing fame, his circus-like shareholder meetings, his numerous appearances in the business press and on business TV networks, his love for Cherry Coke and Gorat’s steakhouse. And while the mythology is probed and dissected in some ways - yes, he’s lived in the same house since 1958 but Schroeder points out that he has remodeled it since then - I don’t think the reader will come away from this book with a true understanding of what’s driving him, at least not with a view or interpretation of this that has the endorsement and exposition of the author.If I had to take a guess, the primary influence on Buffett seems to be his father, Howard Buffett, a stock broker from Omaha whose civic values led him to Washington D.C. where he served in Congress during Warren’s youth. His mix of patriotism and business seems to have greatly influenced his son whom he took on a visit to the New York Stock Exchange in 1940 at the age of ten. Buffett says he wanted money so he could be “independent” and didn’t like to do manual labor but so do lots of us and he didn’t stop making money once he’d become independent so there is clearly more to it than that. It’s this sort of reading of Buffett I wish there was more of in this book.The book is nonetheless filled with as much superficial detail as you could want about Buffett. At 816 pages there’s tons of information about his whole life and world, it perfectly captures Buffett’s voice, as well as separate accounts of many important times in his life from the perspective of his family and friends. Schroeder has written a good valuation report style biography of the man and I suppose in many ways that’s the type of biography most suited to this life.

In this day and age, you would have to be a hermit to have not heard of Warren Buffet.Anyone in the field of investing, or personal development will be naturally drawn to this book, as I was. But it is also a fine story of life in business and in the public eye from the Great Depression to the 2008/9 Global financial meltdown, which will appeal to everybody. Warren’s personal life and philosophy is examined in just as much detail as his business life.I was initially taken aback by the size of this tome and wondered whether, or not I would have the stamina to get through it. I needn’t have worried though. It drew me in from the very first chapter and throughout the book I often found myself laughing out loud and insisting on reading segments of it back to my (very patient) partner.

Where shall I start. The book is outstanding in all aspects. Buffett is an extraordinary man and a compounding machine. But even he is not perfect. All I know is money and all I know about money is because of Warren Buffett. In his personal life he did commit some mistakes...Susie buffett.. My oh my... What shall I say about her. The person that comes out of this book is not Warren but sussie buffett.The woman gave gave and just gave.. The book should have had a lot of Charlie munger but does not. That is the only drawback I guess. Lessons of the book, specially for value investors -1.Spend time with your family. At 50 or 60. It will be too late.2.The compounding machines and learning machines. Remember shrouds have no pockets. Start giving as soon as you achieve financial freedom and accelerate eventually.3 don't loose your head when you maKe ridiculous money.Keep reading keep giving and spread the love...Thank you Mr buffett and well done Alice schroder.

It is a long read, the author is clearly intelligent, some clever words used. it jumps sections of Warrens life, i like his childhood the best,overall it seems warren makes money for the thrill and challenge of it to see if he is clever enough to beat the market.he doesnt invest so he can spend it.its not a book about how to invest it is more a cse of warren came froma middle classs background with a stockbroker father, in which he had no debt, lived at home or college for years, saved and saved and started as a broker, so made his money via a cut as all fund managers do.but he wanted to pick stocks and businesses, not just place them into folks portfolios for them.he had heartache in his life, deaths , seperation and his kids never really seen him as a suportive dad, nor did his wife see him as a manly husband, they thought in todays analysis, he had OCD when it coems to saving, scrimping and making money.nothing else mattered, he neglected his family and gave them money to make up for it imo.

I found this to be a page turner and thus give it 5 stars and recommend it.I felt as though I got to know him on some level although I feel that the book, like Buffett himself, only gives some things away. A more incisive look into his mind and actions would have been preferred but maybe that's not possible with him.There are far too many pages concerning other people that could have been cut. I suspect this was a requirement of his to pay homage to certain important people in his life. Still, it wasn't too much of a distraction.

Enjoyable CD set - The dialogue is easy listening as Warren Buffett follows his intuition - To para-phrase: 'A complicated man with simple tastes.' His expertise is 'The contribution / application of centred and informed principles (personal and business) , his financial compound growth, builds steadily throughout the narrative. There are also some wonderful quotes - From a grand father to grandson (even if the grandfather is a Billionaire).There are references to key books in WB life and to individuals.