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The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life |  | Author: Alice Schroeder
Publisher: Bantam
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
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Seller: snowlionbooks
Rating:  219 reviews
Sales Rank: 17099
Format: Deckle Edge
Media: Hardcover
Edition: First Edition, First Printing
Pages: 976
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6 x 2.2
ISBN: 0553805096
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.6092
EAN: 9780553805093
ASIN: 0553805096
Publication Date: September 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Here is THE book recounting the life and times of one of the most respected men in the world, Warren Buffett. The legendary Omaha investor has never written a memoir, but now he has allowed one writer, Alice Schroeder, unprecedented access to explore directly with him and with those closest to him his work, opinions, struggles, triumphs, follies, and wisdom. The result is the personally revealing and complete biography of the man known everywhere as “The Oracle of Omaha.”
Although the media track him constantly, Buffett himself has never told his full life story. His reality is private, especially by celebrity standards. Indeed, while the homespun persona that the public sees is true as far as it goes, it goes only so far. Warren Buffett is an array of paradoxes. He set out to prove that nice guys can finish first. Over the years he treated his investors as partners, acted as their steward, and championed honesty as an investor, CEO, board member, essayist, and speaker. At the same time he became the world’s richest man, all from the modest Omaha headquarters of his company Berkshire Hathaway. None of this fits the term “simple.”
When Alice Schroeder met Warren Buffett she was an insurance industry analyst and a gifted writer known for her keen perception and business acumen. Her writings on finance impressed him, and as she came to know him she realized that while much had been written on the subject of his investing style, no one had moved beyond that to explore his larger philosophy, which is bound up in a complex personality and the details of his life. Out of this came his decision to cooperate with her on the book about himself that he would never write.
Never before has Buffett spent countless hours responding to a writer’s questions, talking, giving complete access to his wife, children, friends, and business associates—opening his files, recalling his childhood. It was an act of courage, as The Snowball makes immensely clear. Being human, his own life, like most lives, has been a mix of strengths and frailties. Yet notable though his wealth may be, Buffett’s legacy will not be his ranking on the scorecard of wealth; it will be his principles and ideas that have enriched people’s lives. This book tells you why Warren Buffett is the most fascinating American success story of our time.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 219
 Interesting February 24, 2010
Alejandro Decker
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Buffet was smart to choose a biographer that would take the time to provide such an accurate and detailed portrayal of his life. I discovered there is a lot more to Warren Buffet than what I've seen in the media, and I found that this book presented a great look at the arc of Buffet's life, including how his experiences shaped who he is. That said, I think the biographer went overboard on the detail. There were places where the narrative was like wading through mud. Just too much detail to make sections of the read pleasurable, and at 850 pages you'd have to expect as much. I mean, even Warren Buffet doesn't need an 850 page biography. All in all, still a very worthwhile read, and I definitely recommend checking it out.
 Too Much Personal Gossip, but Intriguing Anyway February 22, 2010
Geoff Hasler (Santa Barbara, CA)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Personally, I think Warren Buffett is overrated. He is an excellent personal PR machine who sings his own glories exactly the way he wants to spin them and most of the media swallows it (a little like Obama and the mainstream media during the 2008 election). He is a smart, shrewd investor unquestionably; but his recent errors are pretty unforgiveable and it's amazing that he still has the following that he has. I'm impressed that Gates' father is impressed, this says something. But this book is more for the people who soak up aspects of his personal life than for serious students of his investing concepts and the extent to which they're still applicable. The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life The Intelligent Investor: The Classic Text on Value Investing
Very informative, though too detailed February 17, 2010
Tristan Heberlein (Seattle, WA United States)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book does a wonderful job of shedding light on the real Warren Buffett. It really brings to light his human side, light and dark.
Unfortunately, the author sidetracks the reader many times by offering overly-detailed accounts of specific events related to the story of Warren Buffet. Easily 50% (and probably more) of the 700 pages could be cut out without any loss of clarity around understanding who Warren Buffett really is.
I hope this book gets vigorously edited down to remove much of the filler, as that will allow the reader to more easily get the powerful nuggets of information included within.
-Tristan
Seattle, WA
An important book beyond its value as a biography February 16, 2010
TahoeKay (South Lake Tahoe, CA United States)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I enjoyed the details in this lengthy biography. Other reviewers have contributed most interesting thoughts.
I just have two observations to add. First, Buffett seems to me to illustrate many of the points made by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers, in which he looks at common threads in the lives of extremely successful people. Two of these particularly stand out. First, they are born in a time and place and family in which their particular gifts are likely to be rewarded. On page 817, Buffett speaks of winning the "Ovarian Lottery." "I have been very lucky. I was born in the United States in 1930 and won the lottery the day I was born. I had terrific parents, a good education, and I was wired in a way that paid off disproportionately in this particular society. If I had been born long ago or in some other country, my particular wiring would not have paid off the way it has."
Second, as Gladwell discusses in "10,000 -Hour Rule," these individuals are often obsessed from childhood in pursuing their interests. As Buffett put it, "Intensity is the price of excellence."
Second, the author's ability to clearly describe arcane financial instruments and transactions shines a light, not only on the life of Warren Buffett, but on the times in which he has operated, and particularly on factors leading up to the meltdown of recent years. It seems to me that, in the future, this work will be valuable far beyond its merit as a biography, as business and economic historians, as well as politicians, try to figure out what went wrong.
A gold mine of insight. February 14, 2010
Dextra L. Suggs (LaVernia, Texas)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Let's face it, reading about Warren Buffett and his silent but formidable partner - Charles Munger - is often times insightful. Although Snowball, by Alice Schroeder, requires an investment from the reader, the payoff - for Buffett fans - is more insight into the infinite wisdom of Warren Buffett's thinking. This book serves as an excellent introduction for new Buffetteer's. For seasoned Buffetteer's; if you've read Roger Lowerstein's, The Making of An American Capitalist, certain parts of the book represent familiar territory. Wherever you are in the Buffett universe, you can't go wrong adding this book to your library because regardless of what you do for a living, a study of Warren Buffett's successes are intriguing, insightful and most of all, helpful.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 219
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