Warren Buffett Speaks

Wit and Wisdom from the World's Greatest Investor

By: Janet Lowe

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

"With enough insider information and a million dollars, you can go broke in a year."

"What I am is a realist. I always knew I'd like what I'm doing. Oh, perhaps it would have been nice to be a major-league baseball player, but that's where the realism comes in."

"If a graduating MBA were to ask me 'How do I get rich in a hurry?' I would not respond with quotations from Ben Franklin or Horatio Alger, but would instead hold my nose with one hand and point with the other toward Wall Street."

"Wall Street is the only place that people ride to work in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway."

Over the years, as Warren Buffett's influence and affluence have grown, one thing has remained the same - his unpretentious, honest, and optimistic approach toward business and life. Now you can discover life's little secrets of success as revealed by the world's greatest investor. In this wise and winning collection of quotes, writings, and favorite sayings, Warren Buffett speaks on diverse subjects such as investing, the Internet economy, family and friends, running a business, honesty, teaching, paying taxes, and much, much more. It also examines the thinking that prompted the second richest man in the world to give 85 percent of his wealth to the first richest couple (Bill and Melinda Gates) to distribute to charity.

Assembled by best-selling author Janet Lowe - and updated to reflect Buffett's life over the past decade - this audiobook includes a wealth of previously unpublished material. This unprecedented peak into the financial genius' wildly profitable philosophy is often surprising, always intriguing, and sparked throughout by Buffett's unique combination of savvy business smarts and wry wit.

©2007 Janet Lowe (P)2008 Gildan Media Corp

Worth the price

Where does Warren Buffett Speaks rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It would be hard to listen to this book and not gain enough wisdom pay many times over for this well packaged set of stories. Brilliant subject. Brilliantly written.

Random and repeating

Although Warren is a genious and the author does quote him, the author does so without a plan and repeats herself over and over. This is disjointed and not recommended.

A repeat of other, better material

A lot of stories that, if you've read about Buffett before, you've already heard. Not told in a particularly interesting or compelling way.

no useful information

this book is primarily a bunch of hype about how great of a person Warren Buffett is. i don't disagree that he's an impressive person, but there is very little substance to this book. there's also a lot of information about his personal life. i guess if you like hearing details about famous people's lives you might enjoy this, but i didn't learn anything useful.

Disappointment

Didn't expect any secrets. Author keeps alluding to how he is outling the book and then goes off on a tangent. If you are interested in Buffett quotations, there are plenty. Lots of big financial figures thrown around if you are interested. Guess I didn't know what my expectations were so I can't complain about that.

Not for someone that is familiar with Buffett

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

No... I have read and/or listened to all that I can on Warren Buffett. This book was ultra-basic, provided nothing new, and was not well organized at all. The narrator was particularly disappointing... while his voice was pleasant and he would make a good narrator for a lot of books, his vocal delivery lacked an understanding of Warren Buffett's quotes. For example, there are times when Buffett makes a point with an irony or sarcasm in his voice... the narrator would read the quote like it was meant as profound wisdom. The narrator lacked a read on Buffett's tone in the quotes, and on some (certainly not all) gave a false read on Buffett's thinking.

What could Janet Lowe have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Organized the material into a more coherent manner... it is broken into sections, but there is no clear reasoning for why the ordering of the quotes was used, or why this selection of quotes were used. There was also too much time spent on topics that really are not about Buffett, weren't quotes from him, or about business.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Sean Pratt?

Mr. Pratt has a pleasant voice, but the reading REALLY should have been done by someone familiar with Warren Buffett. The fellow that narrated the unabridged biography on Buffett (Snowball) would be a good choice for this.

Who do you think would benefit most from listening to Warren Buffett Speaks?

Someone just interested in a basic introduction, that will focus on the words and not the reading...? This book would not be my recommendation tho... Snowball, the interviews with Mr. Buffett available from Charlie Rose here on Audible would be better, etc.

I could write this book

Go to Google. Type Warren Buffet quotes. Cut & paste what you find. Have someone record them. Let idiots like me download it thinking I was going to get something interesting and relevant. In short, don't bother.

NOT worth it

nothing here that anybody interested in Buffett can't see in better books. just a bunch of published quotes. even so, manages to be annoyingly redundant and to get specific facts wrong when talking between the quotes.