20% of book proceeds to charity. We love this!

Gems from Warren Buffett

By Mark Gavagan

Dave Thackeray
Jul 24, 2017 · 2 min read

Noone inspires humility in achievement quite like Warren Buffett.

Not to be confused with his marginally younger namesake James William Buffett, the musician who made his millions with a chain of party bars in airport lounges and on formerly exotic beaches, Warren Buffett quietly amassed a billion-dollar fortune analysing Wall Street with the kind of meticulous attention that few others possess.

Berkshire Hathaway’s Buffett has attested time and again his good fortune to studying form. To reading voraciously. He is unique and exceptionally talented in focusing on what matters. And playing the long game. Always the long game. Whether acquiring stock, or companies whole.

Charlie Munger is as much part of Buffett’s success story as the man himself. Buffett regularly attributes his achievements to Munger’s no-nonsense approach to business. They are the yin and yang of one another. Friends for decades, trusting for eternity. There is no better mercantile pairing in the world today, and it has been that way for as long as anyone working at Berkshire Hathaway and the wider world can recall.

Everyone with a remote interest in building success should give themselves the hours deserved by Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders to get the inside track on a man who has inspired millions yet lives the lifestyle of your everyman American. Buffett drives an old-fashioned sedan, stops at the same fast food restaurant every week, and still lives in the house in Omaha, Nebraska, that he bought in 1958 for $31,500.

In a world fuelled by excess and entitlement, of credit and chicanery, infinite pools and infinite greed, Warren Buffett is in every sense the contradiction.

And with a net worth of $39 billion he’s the personification of looking after the pennies while the pounds look after themselves.

This book is a lazy ramble through a remarkably stable environment unmoved by our turbulent times. That’s not to say it’s unworthy. A compendium of letters is always worthy of your time when the writer has spent thousands of hours dwelling on the subject and wants you to know everything in your best interest on the topic.

Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders is available now on Amazon.

Book reviews

Mostly business, sometimes fiction, almost always both

Dave Thackeray

Written by

Founder of Word And Mouth | Host of #Thacknology

Book reviews

Mostly business, sometimes fiction, almost always both

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade