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The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Investors and Managers
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Experienced readers of Warren Buffett's letters to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. have gained an enormously valuable informal education. The letters distill in plain words all the basic principles of sound business practices.
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Paperback, 320 pages
Published
2009
by John Wiley & Sons
(first published April 9th 2002)
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This is a MUST read for anybody interested in investment, management or business in general. It not only provides, in my opinion, the most sound investment strategies and advice, but also provides guidelines on how to run businesses with moral integrity and focus on providing value. It heavily criticizes various self-serving practices of "modern" CEOs, while at the same time not saying CEOs should not be well compensated. In other words, Buffet and by extension Berkshire demonstrate how you can
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• "Inactivity strikes us as intelligent behavior. Neither we nor most business managers would dream of feverishly trading highly- profitable subsidiaries because a small move in the Federal Re- serve's discount rate was predicted or because some Wall Street pundit had reversed his views on the market. Why, then, should we behave differently with our minority positions in wonderful businesses?"
• "To suggest that this investor should sell off portions of his most successful investments simply bec ...more
• "To suggest that this investor should sell off portions of his most successful investments simply bec ...more

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An impressive and structured walkthrough of many of the lessons from Berkshire's letters to its shareholders.
For anyone without the patience or time to read through all of the letters, this book provides a great overview structured and divided into topics across letters. ...more
For anyone without the patience or time to read through all of the letters, this book provides a great overview structured and divided into topics across letters. ...more

Although I have no formal background education or professional training in business or finance this collection has elevated my financial literacy as measured against peer-based discussions with a Senior Financial Analyst at a major commercial banking institution, a former Solomon distressed assets broker, and my general reading comprehension of business sources such as Motley, WSJ, Financial Reports, and more. In sum, Buffet's financially conservative, honest, owner-oriented, likeable-admirable-
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It was enjoyable, a little long and dry but lots of good content. Not sure how much I will really take away other than some big picture ideas and a better sense of Warren Buffet's style and way of thinking.
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Warren Buffett is fond of saying that he loves Coca-Cola (the stock) because of the virtue of knowing how its business will look a decade from now (i.e. the same). One can almost certainly say the same about his own writings: A century from now people will still marvel at the insights and resonance from Buffett ́s annual shareholder letters and other publications, trying to apply them in their own investments. If Security Analysis (Ben Graham) laid the foundations for valuing companies and Phili
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Again
The Essays of Warren Buffett, as the name suggests is the book about the investing style of Warren Buffett and his approach when it comes to investing in the businesses or buying them out.
The author has chosen these broad topics on which Warren Buffett have talked about to the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders through the company's Annual Report.
1. Corporate Governance
2. Merger & Acquisitions
3. Accounting Principles
4. Business ownership
You will get to read what does the great investor thinks ...more
The Essays of Warren Buffett, as the name suggests is the book about the investing style of Warren Buffett and his approach when it comes to investing in the businesses or buying them out.
The author has chosen these broad topics on which Warren Buffett have talked about to the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders through the company's Annual Report.
1. Corporate Governance
2. Merger & Acquisitions
3. Accounting Principles
4. Business ownership
You will get to read what does the great investor thinks ...more

Pg 33: our long term objective is to maximize per share intrinsic value
Pg 36: deferred tax liabilities bear no interest...liabilities without covenants or due dates (I.e. insurance) have the benefit of debt without the drawbacks.
Pg 37: We don't want to sell sub par businesses as long as we expect them to generate some cash and as long as we are comfortable with labor relations and management.
Pg 38: unintelligible footnotes usually indicate untrustworthy management -- be wary of companies that tr ...more
Pg 36: deferred tax liabilities bear no interest...liabilities without covenants or due dates (I.e. insurance) have the benefit of debt without the drawbacks.
Pg 37: We don't want to sell sub par businesses as long as we expect them to generate some cash and as long as we are comfortable with labor relations and management.
Pg 38: unintelligible footnotes usually indicate untrustworthy management -- be wary of companies that tr ...more

Book provides a good selection of Buffett's essays and writings, organised in a clear topics. Buffett's writings are written with the average off-the-street person in mind, and is hence suitable for anyone with an interest in finance, who wants to learn more about Buffett's views on investing and management. Fundamental ideologies of Buffett can clearly be identified, and the book's layout makes it easy to refer to specific topics of interest. I did feel however, that some of the pieces were a b
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My Personal Experience
What better to learn from the Richest Investor than from his book?
The Essay of Warren Buffet consists of the collection of the shareholder letters that Warren Buffet provides in the Berkshire Hathaway meetings.
Buffet urges us to buy a great business at a sensible price, rather than a mediocre business at a bargain price. The mediocre companies might be a lot cheaper, but you will have to buy many such companies before one of them brings you a good profit.
Moreover, don’t d ...more
What better to learn from the Richest Investor than from his book?
The Essay of Warren Buffet consists of the collection of the shareholder letters that Warren Buffet provides in the Berkshire Hathaway meetings.
Buffet urges us to buy a great business at a sensible price, rather than a mediocre business at a bargain price. The mediocre companies might be a lot cheaper, but you will have to buy many such companies before one of them brings you a good profit.
Moreover, don’t d ...more

If there is a God for investors, it must be Warren Buffett. Reading this book, his love for his work and his knowledge are there to behold. His common sense approach to investment has clearly worked in his favour and, as this book is essentially a collection of his yearly reports to holders of Berkshire Hathaway stock, his humour and hubris is also ever-present.
Of course, we would all benefit from buying Coca-Cola stocks in the 1950s and, to a large extent, he is a product of his time, benefitin ...more
Of course, we would all benefit from buying Coca-Cola stocks in the 1950s and, to a large extent, he is a product of his time, benefitin ...more

To get an in-depth view into the investing philosophy of the Oracle of Omaha, this book is a very good collection of his essays. Lawrence Cunningham has organised them in good order so that one can choose which chapters to read depending on one's topic of interest.
The book covers not just equities, but other financial instruments as well - M&A, Valuation, Accounting Shenanigans to name a few, and on each subject Buffett gives his unique views.
As opposed to a university course, here is content th ...more
The book covers not just equities, but other financial instruments as well - M&A, Valuation, Accounting Shenanigans to name a few, and on each subject Buffett gives his unique views.
As opposed to a university course, here is content th ...more

I feel privileged to have read the thoughts and principles of Warren Buffet.
Many of the poor reviews of this book said the information was dated. When are honesty and superior intelligence ever dated? Others claimed there wasn't any information about trading, but as Buffet says, comparing trading to investing is like comparing a one night stand with romance. Secondly, no trader in history has ever sustained the returns that Buffet has achieved. Comparing traders (paper shufflers) with Buffet is ...more
Many of the poor reviews of this book said the information was dated. When are honesty and superior intelligence ever dated? Others claimed there wasn't any information about trading, but as Buffet says, comparing trading to investing is like comparing a one night stand with romance. Secondly, no trader in history has ever sustained the returns that Buffet has achieved. Comparing traders (paper shufflers) with Buffet is ...more

Jun 29, 2017
Sagar Acharya
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Investors
Recommended to Sagar by:
Dad
Deep!
When Warren speaks, his words have a tinge of all point of views and while you may understand some prospects of the book, it's very difficult to understand everything since he has a diverse understanding of psychology, accounting, economics: both micro and macro and many more disciplines. Across the book, which is nothing but a mere compilation of the letters written by Warren to Berkshire Hathaway in his annual meetings plus some other short material written by him has been segregated into ...more
When Warren speaks, his words have a tinge of all point of views and while you may understand some prospects of the book, it's very difficult to understand everything since he has a diverse understanding of psychology, accounting, economics: both micro and macro and many more disciplines. Across the book, which is nothing but a mere compilation of the letters written by Warren to Berkshire Hathaway in his annual meetings plus some other short material written by him has been segregated into ...more

This book gives a good insight in to the mind of Warren Buffett and his investing philosophy, creating Berkshire into an institution that would survive the test of time. Lawrence Cunningham has gone through the annual letters that Buffet releases as part of his annual report, picked and arranged them by topics to make it easy to read. As is always the case, the investor does not give any insight into the actual calculations that are involved in evaluating an investment opportunity but rather thi
...more

Warren Buffett has never written a book - in the absence of one, one can easily imagine that the wealth of information contained in this collection of his essays to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders would be the closest piece of work that accurately distills his investment and management philosophies. For those who find The Intelligent Investor or Security Analysis too tedious, this book also acts as an excellent summary of Benjamin Graham's principles. With copious wit to boot, it makes for a ver
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Now I understand what it means to say that a book is vascular - that if you cut the words, they bleed. I expected Buffet to be a great investor, but he is also an influential writer and thinker who is deeply self-reflective of his mistakes, and who beautifully comprehends human and institutional behavior like no other. Excellent read - took 15 pages of notes. Highly recommended

An excellent book on business.
Though this book is more about how to manage CEOs (that's Buffet's job ;)), it is quite useful for an average business leader too.
Learnt a lot about the compensation structure to CEOs, the integration of taxation and compounding, goodwill accounting, the power of delegation and loopholes in the GAAP system.
Worth the time! ...more
Though this book is more about how to manage CEOs (that's Buffet's job ;)), it is quite useful for an average business leader too.
Learnt a lot about the compensation structure to CEOs, the integration of taxation and compounding, goodwill accounting, the power of delegation and loopholes in the GAAP system.
Worth the time! ...more

This book is a must read for anyone who is looking to enter value based investing as well as understand how to find good businesses and how the businesses run long term.
The essays basically helps us understand the thought process behind Warren Buffett and what made him reach this Peak in the Investing world and the world of business acquisitions.
The essays basically helps us understand the thought process behind Warren Buffett and what made him reach this Peak in the Investing world and the world of business acquisitions.

I read this immediately after finishing the 1965-2014 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder's letters, and it was wonderful to read it all again organized thematically; such a different experience than the 'dear diary' experience of the chronological shareholder's letters.
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Very simple concept: a curated collection of many of Warren Buffet's 'essays' (many are from Berkshire annual reports etc. rather than essays per se). Logically ordered and well selected. Would be great if this book got updated every few years!
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Mr Buffett has a way with words. If you're looking for an eminently readable, well-selected distillation of Warren Buffett's investing philosophy, look no further than this book.
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Best summary of Warren Buffett's shareholder letters.
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Lawrence Cunningham, who goes by Larry, has published many books, including:
Berkshire Beyond Buffett: The Enduring Value of Values
The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America
Contracts in the Real World: Stories of Popular Contracts and Why They Matter
The AIG Story
He loves teaching (a prawf at GW), windsurfing, reading, and spending time with his wife and two daughters, preferably at ...more
Berkshire Beyond Buffett: The Enduring Value of Values
The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America
Contracts in the Real World: Stories of Popular Contracts and Why They Matter
The AIG Story
He loves teaching (a prawf at GW), windsurfing, reading, and spending time with his wife and two daughters, preferably at ...more
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