A panoply of Fortune articles, excerpts of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters, and Buffett's speeches, this book strives to depict Warren Buffett as a man and a businessman. It falls short on both fronts. Except for the impressiveness of the chronological compendium of Warren Buffett-isms, the book suffers most from its lack of focus and a coherent, unified thesis that the editor, Carol Loomis, somehow chose to omit. The book reads as though Loomis never really thought hard about what pieces of Buffett's patchwork matter most. Many other biographers have written about Buffett and delved into his mind -- I read Roger Lowenstein's in 2010 and particularly enjoyed that book -- and given Loomis's long-standing relationship with Buffett, you would assume the book would reveal an inside perspective on Buffett's thought process, especially since she helped him craft his annual shareholder letters. Instead, you get little more than an arm's length, third party perspective on Buffett. Loomis's close-knit relationship with Buffett, if anything, feels like more of a liability than an asset -- she abstains from any overly critical analysis of Buffett at all. For those of you who will read this book to learn about Buffett's craft of investing, you'll find only two or three pieces of substance. The best, in my opinion, "How Inflation Swindles the Equity Investor" actually lays out a foundation for investing in cheap securities. The next best "Warren Buffett on the Stock Market" describes the relationship between economic output and stock and bond returns. And the 3rd best, "Why Stocks Beat Gold and Bonds" sum up his perspective nicely. Read these three for substance and the other excerpts for hackneyed Buffettisms. I saw Warren Buffett and Carol Loomis promoting this book on the Charlie Rose show and immediately got it. Although I'm in no way an expert in finance and investing, I found this book very interesting. I learned so much even though most of the writing was over my head. Buffett is definitely a man to be admired, not just for his investment success, but more important, for his intelligence, philanthropy, and generosity of time and knowledge.
Do You like book Tapdancing To Work (2012)?
Not as good as I had hoped, but made me wish I had invested in Berkshire Hathaway years ago.
—jtrifilo
Not as good as the first Warren Buffet book I read
—Kang
A must-read book for fans of Buffett.
—jennypellettera
