Customer Reviews
To a great extent, his life has been business...and business has been his life - By: Robert Morris, 17 Nov 2008 
I recently re-read Roger Lowenstein's biography, Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist (first publishedin 1995 & now re-issued with a new Afterword), & then read this more recent one by Alice Schroeder. Both are first-rate. Which to select if reading only one? That depends on how much you wish to know about Buffett's personal life, including his relations with various family members, & how curious you are about his personal hang-ups, peculiarities, eccentricities, fetishes, etc. If you can do without any of that, Roger Lowenstein's biography is the one to read. I also highly recommend the recently published Second Edition of The Essays of Warren Buffet: Lessons for Corporate America, with content selected, arranged, & introduced by Lawrence Cunningham.
The heft of Schroeder's biography may discourage some people from obtaining a copy. To them I presume to suggest that they not be deterred by that factor. Schroeder has a lively, often entertaining writing style that drives the narrative through just about every period & (yes) interlude of Warren Buffett's life & career thus far. There is much more information provided than most readers either need or desire. However, she had unprecedented access not only to Buffett but to just about everyone else with whom he is (or once was) associated as well as to previously inaccessible research resources. It is possible but highly unlikely that anyone else will write a more comprehensive biography than Schroeder has, at least for the next several years, if not decades. Also, her opinion of Buffett seems to me to be balanced & circumspect. No doubt he wishes that certain details about his life & career were not included. However, there has been no indication from him or those authorized to represent him that any of the materialin this biography (however unflattering) is either inaccurate or unfair. Both halos & warts are included.
Others have shared their reasons for holding this bookin high regard. Here are two of mine. First, although I had already read various Buffett's chairman's letters that first appearedin a series of Berkshire Hathaway's annual reports, I did not understand (nor could I have understood) the context for observations he shared, especially his comments about especially important 12-month periods throughout BRK's history. Schroeder provides the context or frame-of-reference I needed but previously lacked. For example, whereasin previous letters, Buffett merely offered brief updates on how each BRK company was doing,in 1978 he began to share his thoughts about major business topics such as performance measurement for management & why short-term earnings were a poor criterion for investment decisions. With the help of Carol Loomis, especially since 1977, his chairman's letters "had grown more personal & entertaining by the year; they amounted to crash coursesin business, writtenin clear language that ranged from biblical quotations to references to Alicein Wonderland, & princesses kissing toads." As Schroeder explains, these gradual but significant changes of subject & tone reflect changesin Buffett's personal life as he became more reflective about business principles & more appreciative of personal relationships. His children were growing up & departing the "nest"in Omaha. His wife Susie decided to relocate to San Francisco. Meanwhile, his personal net worth continued to increase substantially. His national & then international recognition also increased. The "Oracle of Omaha" had finally become sufficiently confident of himself to reveal to others "a sense of him as a man."
I also appreciate how carefully Schroeder develops several separate but related themes that help her reader to manage the wealth of information she provides. The biography's title suggests one of these themes: the "snowball" effect that compounded interest can have. From childhood when he began to sell packs of gum (but not single sticks) & bottles of soda, & a money changer was his favorite toy, Buffett was fascinated by the way that numbers "exploded as they grew at a constant rate over time was how a small sum could be turned into a fortune. He could picture the numbers compounding as vividly as the way a snowball grew when he rolled it across the lawn. Warren began to think about it a different way. Compounding married the present to the future. If a dollar today was going to be worth ten some years from now, thenin his mind the two were the same." Earlyin life, Buffett avoided making any purchases unless they were almost certain to generate compound interest. This theme is central to understanding Buffett's investment principles & to his own leadership of BRK. It also helps to explain why he could become physically ill when an investment cost others the funds they had entrusted to his care. Other themes include his determination to simplify his life to the extent he could (e.g. eating hamburgers & wearing threadbare sweaters, minimizing participationin family activities) so that he could concentrate almost entirely on business matters; his dependence on a series of women, beginning with his mother & two sisters (especially Doris) that continued with his first wife Susie (and their daughter "Susie Jr.") & then companion Astrid Menks whom he marriedin 2006; & his passion for helping others to understand the business principles to which he has been committed since childhood.
There is one other theme of special interest & importance to me: over the years, how Buffett has interacted with various associates, notably with Jerome Newman & Benjamin Graham, Sandy Gottesman, Charlie Munger, Bill Ruane, Katherine Graham, & Bill Gates. By all accounts, Buffett is a superb business associate once he agrees to become involved. He cares deeply about each relationship, does whatever may be necessary to protect & defend the best interests of his associates, & is extraordinarily generous with material rewards as well as recognition. Here is an especially revealing excerpt from Cunningham's Introduction to The Essays of Warren Buffett: "The CEOs at Berkshire's operating companies enjoy a unique positionin corporate America. They are given a simple set of commands: to run the business as if (1) they are its sole owner, (2) it is the only asset they hold, & (3) they can never sell or merge it for one hundred years." These three "commands" are wholly consistent with what Lawrence explains earlierin the same Introduction: "The central theme uniting Buffett's lucid essays is that the principles of fundamental business analysis, first formulated by his teachers Ben Graham & David Dodd, should guide investment practice. Linked to that theme are management principles that define the proper role of corporate managers as the stewards of investment capital & the proper role of shareholders as the suppliers & owners of capital. Radiating from these main themes are practical & sensible lessons on the entire range of important business issues, from accounting to mergers to valuation." Those who shared Buffett's same core values of honesty & integrity, & who are also committed to the same basic principles, cherish their relationship with him.
To me, Alice Schroeder's rigorous & eloquent analysis of this theme of mutually productive & beneficial collaboration is her single greatest achievement among manyin this definitive biography of one of the most important & yet least understood business leadersin recent years. Bravo!
No silver bullet - By: R. Emmott, 16 Nov 2008 Understanding Buffett has become a modern Holy Grail, the pot of gold at the end of a seventy eight year rainbow. How does he do it? How can ordinary people even come close? Having met him firstin 2001, Alice Schroeder was first allowedin to the inner sanctum, then granted unfettered access to the man himself "You'll do a better job than I would, Alice. I'm glad you're writing this book, not me". He adds "Whenever my version is different from somebody else's, use the less flattering version".
Five years, 960 pages, 62 chapters, 90 pages of notes, 32 pages of photos, 23 pages of index later, Schroeder has brought us The Snowball, Warren Buffett & the Business of Life. Berkshire Hathaway put on over $50 billion of market capitalisation whilst she was writing it. That's over $50 million for each page. No wonder Buffett was happy to entrust the book to Schroeder. Writing books doesn't usually add value that fast.
Schroeder demonstrates that, after all this detailed research, much from the man himself & other primary sources, there is no silver bullet. This may disappoint critiques of other works on Buffett who seemed to be seeking one & were rather hoping that the official biography would, at last, provide it. Rather, what emerges is a combination of old fashioned focus, discipline, common sense, the ability to get with people, to push them just beyond their comfort zone but keep them onside, to drive hard bargains but still remain popular, to calculate business risks & probabilities with consummate ease, accuracy & success, & to continue to seek great businesses at affordable prices. A complex approach from a deeply complex, old-fashioned yet fully at easein the moment, extremely well-connected & quite remarkable man who has defied the odds and,in the process, conclusively disproved & outlived the Efficient Markets Hypothesis.
Having read The Snowball, the Shareholder Letters & a number of other books on Buffett, the author of this review is still left wondering how he really managed it. There is plenty of inspirationin The Snowball for would-be investors. Many mistakes are also profiled - & the lessons to be learned from them. The book was worth the wait, but don't expect it to reveal all the answers. Otherwise we would all be billionaires.
Remarkably detailed biography of Buffett - By: Rolf Dobelli, 14 Nov 2008 Warren Buffett is "everyman" as multibillionaire. Despite his vast wealth, he has always eschewed ostentation. He pays himself about $100,000 annually, whichin today's U.S. economy places himin the upper-middle-class. He livesin the same simple Omaha, Nebraska, house that he boughtin 1958 for $31,500. He prefers an old gray suit to expensive London tailoring. In Buffett's early days, when he was only a multimillionaire & not a multibillionaire, he walked around with holesin the soles of his shoes. To Buffett, wardrobe doesn't matter; what matters is making money. He is better at this pursuit than anyone elsein the world. In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked him as the globe's richest man, with a net worth of $62.3 billion. Author Alice Schroeder does a masterful job of chronicling Buffett's improbable, inspiring life. As a former superstar research analyst, Schroeder uses her expert knowledge of finance & commerce to detail Buffett's investment philosophy & business activities. getAbstract praises Schroeder's remarkable skills as a researcher & writer. Her book is packed with fascinating details & trenchant observations about the "Oracle of Omaha." One of the best business biographies available, this book shows how the world's greatest investor amassed the world's greatest fortune, while staying true to his essential self.
WOW - By: D. J. Coates, 12 Nov 2008 Was completely blown away by this book. I was always going to be interestedin the business side of this book, but it was the personal side that really suprised me. A really well written piece. A truly amazing story about a life well spent!!
best insight into buffetts life so far - By: eamo, 18 Oct 2008 This is the best insight into the sages life that you will probably ever get. I think i have read every book written about buffett so far. This one tells you more about what makes up this truely amazing value investor.
Its a long read but worth every bit. I think alice schroeder has done an excellent job.
