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Accounting Search Accounting AccountingThe Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Investors and Managers
John Wiley & Sons Search John Wiley & Sons by L. A. Cunningham Search L. A. Cunningham
Amazon.co.uk Review
Buffett, the Bard of Omaha, is a genuine American folk hero, if folk heroes are allowed to build fortunes worth upward of $15 billion. He's great at homespun metaphor, but behind those catchy phrases is a reservoir of financial acumen that's generally considered the best of his generation. For example, in an essay on CEO stock options, he writes, "Negotiating with one's self seldom produces a barroom brawl." This is his way of saying that an executive who can give himself compensation totally disproportionate to his performance surely will. There are uncountable gems of financial wisdom to be harvested from these essays, taken from the annual reports he writes for Berkshire Hathaway, his holding company. Just to pick one more, here's a now-famous line about those he competes with when making stock-market investments: "What could be more advantageous in an intellectual contest--whether it be chess, bridge, or stock selection--than to have opponents who have been taught that thinking is a waste of energy?"
While Buffett has a policy of seldom commenting on stocks he owns--he feels public pronouncements will only lead to the public's expectation of more public pronouncements, and he likes to keep his cards close to his vest--he loves to discuss the principles behind his investments. These come primarily from Ben Graham, under whom Buffett studied at Columbia University and for whom he worked in the 1950s. First among them is the idea that price is what you pay and value is what you get--and if you're a smart investor, the first will always be less than the second. In that sense, the value of the lessons learned from Buffett's Essays could be far greater than the book's price. --Lou Schuler
Customer Reviews:
A must have
This is the first Warren Buffett book I have ever bought and I wish I had bought it long ago. it isn't a technical analysis type book, but it makes you stop and completely re-think trading and investing methods and is superbly witty in bits. Over the last few years I have bought literally hundreds of books on trading and investing, and clearly most of them are written by people who couldn't invest to save themselves so write books. Of all the books I have, there are no more than about 6 or so I would ever recomend and this is definitely one of them. I have since also bought the Buffettology workbook and also recomend that highly.
should have been names: the warren buffett investment dicitonary. 
This book is great DICTIONARY on mr. buffetts great experience. Its very well organised, so tht finding key topics is very easy. And, in general, i would recommend anyone to buy this book, or better yet, borrow it from a friend jot down all the years tht the author used and just copy the text from the free online "REAL" letters from mr buffett. The only thing cunningham did well, was organise the ideas. everything else sucks!!!!!
The Guru shines through!
This is an excellent down to earth discourse on Berkshire Hathaways business along with amusing asides. It is written, as usual, in laymans terms, and does not seek to confuse like many current publications.
Well worth a read, and certainly, you will gain a lot of insight.
Good content, annoying editing
Warren Buffett's insights are invaluable in any context, so this is no exception, hence the high rating. Here are essentially what seems to be some pretty old letters (1980s?) to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway essentially cut and pasted into a book. Useful no doubt, plentiful Buffett words of wisdom: I particularly like the stories and sayings he uses to explain a point in simple 'relatable' terms for the reader.
However, there is another reviewer who commented that the book's editing is really rubbish. I agree. The arrangement seems a bit arbitrary and I'm not sure exactly what the author is taking credit for, since he doesn't seem to have contributed anything to the content (except the intro). Like with Benjamin Graham's 'The Intelligent Investor' (recommended btw), the essays could have been doing with some commentary and evaluation from the author to give some cohesion and continuity to the 'cutting and pasting'.
BUT, if you can be patient and creative with the content there is no reason why you can't get some useful insights from this book. I'm heading back to the original now with 'Security Analysis' by Benjamin Graham (Buffett's inspiration), reading both of their philosophies will give a good grounding in value investing, in my (albiet novice) opinion.
The only authentic Buffett
Too many books contain the word Buffett in their title but only this book comes from the annual letters to shareholders. Truly authentic Buffett in his own words is much better just because he dosen't need any interpretation.
Domenico De Salvo
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Wiley::The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Investors and ...
Cover image for product 0470824417. Larger Image. The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Investors and Managers, 3rd Edition. L. A. Cunningham. ISBN: 978-0-470-82441-2. Paperback. 288 pages. January 2009. £13.99 / €16.30 Add to Cart ...
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the essays of warren buffett: lessons for investors and managers ...
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 ...
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