Poor Charlie’s Almanack

The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger

By: Charles T. Munger

Narrated by: Grover Gardener

From the legendary vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, lessons in investment strategy, philanthropy, and living a rational and ethical life.

"Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up," Charles T. Munger advises in Poor Charlie’s Almanack. Originally published in 2005, this compendium of 11 talks, delivered by the legendary Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman between 1986 and 2007, has become a touchstone for a generation of investors and entrepreneurs seeking to absorb the enduring wit and wisdom of one of the great minds of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Edited by Peter D. Kaufman, chairman and CEO of Glenair and longtime friend of Charlie Munger—whom he calls “this generation’s answer to Benjamin Franklin”—this abridged Stripe Press edition of Poor Charlie’s Almanack features a brand-new foreword by Stripe cofounder John Collison.

Poor Charlie’s Almanack draws on Munger’s encyclopedic knowledge of business, finance, history, philosophy, physics, and ethics—and more besides—to introduce the latticework of mental models that underpin his rational and rigorous approach to life, learning, and decision-making. Delivered with Munger’s characteristic sharp wit and rhetorical flair, it is an essential volume for any listener seeking to go to bed a little wiser than when they woke up.

©2023 PCA Publications, LLC (P)2023 Stripe Press

Great if you can remain focused

Dryer than…… something really dry anyway. Lots of great stuff. Plenty of repetition which isn’t necessarily bad given the content. I had to chew it to get it down but I learned a lot. Also very thought provoking.

Updated. Timeless.

All the talks are great. The famous talk on human misjudgment has been expanded and updated so it is worthwhile even if you’ve heard the original.

I wish I had read this book years ago.

I’m going to add this to my list of books. I recommend to business people. I will need to mention that it does repeat several ideas but that this is due to the nature of the book being a series of commencement speeches given over several years, examine some fundamental and contrarian ideas most of which are very useful for business.

I might recommend that one. Listen to this book slowly, over many months, adopting the mental models that one can then practice and master utilizing them, then revisit the book and hear about the other mental models and further revisions and refinement to the mental models presented in the early part of the book.

We also know that most of us need to hear things multiple times before we achieve a kind of true understanding because what Charlie is describing is contrary too much of what is taught much of it bears repeating.

Honestly, I will say that Munger states at least twice that what he and Buffett accomplished is getting harder and harder. I have no doubt that this is correct. Our business continues to get harder and harder, the barriers to entry, regulations, increasing competition from publicly traded companies with Zero cost of borrowing. Repeat repeating. Past successes could never get easier in the age of proliferating knowledge. So the use of mental models for inversion, for psychological principles for looking through to what remains constant and timeless should help us do our work in an increasing complicated and competitive environment.

Wonderful truths shared throughout.

Love the content. Love the narrator. Immutable truths shared throughout the book. Sage advice from a great mind.

Simply beautiful

A lot of lessons and food for thoughts on this book. Definitely a must read!!