The Snowball

Warren Buffett and the Business of Life

By: Alice Schroeder

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

Length: 36 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

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."

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.

©2008 Alice Schroeder (P)2008 Books on Tape

One of the best biographies... EVER.!

You feel like you know Warren, this enigma that has impacted the world today in so many ways. Alice's writing accompanied by Kristen's wonderful performance bring you into his world. You hear each person, feel their emotions and want to keep going. Time flies, wow, this book did not seem long, it was purely interesting and entertaining. Thank you for taking the time and effort to do this book, man and family justice. A must read for any fan of nonfiction, biography and business.

Fanastic!

An absolutely great read. Fun to listen to and incredibly informative! You will not be dissapointed!

Excellent

The story of Warren Buffet is very fascinating. Credibility really goes a long way. I’ve learned a lot of life experiences listening to Warren Buffet story

Great Story!

Loved this book and all that it offered to my understanding of business and life. Would listen again when the time is right.

Life lessons to learn from

I didn’t know about Buffett’s personality until listening to his bio. It was an amazing book to listen to.

It’s mostly about buffets life, not his business

I wanted to know more about how warren’s net worth went from 2B to 120B, and the mechanism of Berkshire that facilitated it. 80% of the book is not about his business empire. It’s long, but I still finished it in order to learn something, to which I eventually did learn about his mindset.

Well worth the listen

Obviously tough to hear it through the total 36 hours, but at the end I ended up thinking that my time was well invested. Entertaining and educating at the same time... I also liked the narrator, Kirsten Potter. I would rate the book as one of the top listens I've had at audible.

Far more interesting than I had imagined.

Warren Buffett is far more interesting - and flawed in so many ways - that I would have ever imagined and this book does an excellent job of uncovering what makes him great - and terrible - and, well, human.

First, I am a big believer in the need for men (and women) like Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, and others who, through their own drive and focus, deliver joy to the world while causing pain to those closest to them. Warren Buffet seems to be one of those men.

In THE SNOWBALL, Alice Shroeder brings Buffett into ones own psyche. She goes into such intimate detail about the man, the investor, the husband, friend, and father that I literally felt as if I had met the man. What I liked best, however, was the amount of detail she gives on financial theory and the thought processes that Buffett and his partner Charlie Munger have implemented over the years to build one of the most valuable companies in the world.

Kirsten Potter also does a first-rate job narrating the story. I must admit that I was initially put off by a woman's voice telling this story, once you know Buffett's utter dependency on the women in his life, it was perfectly fitting.

every minute counts!

Incomparable! I love it! definitely I will buy a book version!

Good read so far

update: it turns out that the brief first chapter was narrated by the author herself. the actual narration by Kirsten starts from second chapter and is delightful to listen to.


outdated review: (only applies to the first chapter of 5 minutes)

Kindle text to speech sounds better than this. the content itself is good. However, poor narration entirely defeats the purpose of buying audio books. Alexa on Echo sounds far far better and she can read all your Kindle books which are far cheaper than audio books