Buffett

The Making of an American Capitalist

By: Roger Lowenstein

Narrated by: Graham Winton

Length: 18 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Since its hardcover publication in August 1995, Buffett has appeared on the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Newsday, and Business Week best-seller lists. The incredible landmark portrait of Warren Buffett's uniquely American life is now available in audiobook, revised and updated by the author.

Starting from scratch, simply by picking stocks and companies for investment, Warren Buffett amassed one of the epochal fortunes of the twentieth century - an astounding net worth of $10 billion and counting. His awesome investment record has made him a cult figure popularly known for his seeming contradictions: a billionaire who has a modest lifestyle, a phenomenally successful investor who eschews the revolving-door trading of modern Wall Street, a brilliant dealmaker who cultivates a homespun aura. Journalist Roger Lowenstein draws on three years of unprecedented access to Buffett's family, friends, and colleagues to provide the first definitive inside account of the life and career of this American original.

Buffett explains Buffett's investment strategy - a long-term philosophy grounded in buying stock in companies that are undervalued on the market and hanging on until their worth invariably surfaces - and shows how it is a reflection of his inner self.

©2008 Roger Lowenstein (P)2015 Recorded Books

Inside the mind of an investing genius

Excellent and detailed account of how Warren got his start and investing and became the most successful investor of all time.

Loved it!

I was fearful to even attempt to listen to a book that is 17 hours long and a biography to say the least. All I can say is “I loved it!”

Understand Warren Buffett Like Never Before

What did you love best about Buffett?

I love that the book intersperses insights about Buffett's youth and family with very specific examples of what shaped his values, intellect and approach to investing as well as giving insight about the times and environment that led to the Buffett we know and love today. It doesn't specific tell you how to invest but gives insight by learning about Buffett's approach to investing.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Warren Buffett!

What about Graham Winton’s performance did you like?

His voice is very pleasant. Great reading dialogue as well as narration.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The book immediately riveted to me and I couldn't put it down.

Great bio of Buffet and The Market

Really enjoyed this as a great insight into the man and a snapshot of some of the major events of the stock market over the lost 60 odd years. Well worth your time. Graham Winton is an excellent narrator and Buffet is an interesting subject given his low profile persona.

Insightful.. learned few good life lessons

Favorite quote " Buffet's son Pete stipulated to me mentioned in his will, so Buffet wrote "hi Pete"..
Along side of few valuable lessons as to credit is better to have than debt, I have learned few things of not to do.. as to be stingy with money as he was which put a strain on his family.. as a personal opinion, what is the point in accumulation wealth for the sake of accumulating it.. as he was agnostic and spent his life obsessing over death, did he really live? And loss in a afterlife with Christ is a the ultimate loss.. what a waste of life..

Excellent book

I rank this book up there with the Intelligent investor and the Essays of warren buffett

What A Great Book About An American Original

Anybody with a dollar in the stock market should read/listen to this book. It could make you a small fortune (or keep you from giving a small fortune to the bank robbers on Wall Street).

Of a man who seems to belong to a different era

Warren Buffett turns 90 this Sunday. His net worth is estimated at around $82 billion. But, he has made a lot of other people rich also. His primary holding company, Berkshire Hathaway consistently brings returns far above the stock market averages and better than any other fund. 

It was very interesting to read this book and this is a long review, but it's because I liked it so much. It was written in 1995, with an epilogue added in 2005, so it is quite out of date, but what it talks about hasn’t changed and is still amazing. Buffet was born in Omaha and started working delivering papers as a boy. He bought his first stock at 11 years old with that money. He was fascinated with numbers and had a photographic memory. He could add and multiply large numbers in his head almost instantaneously. But, he also read something about how interest compounded may seem slow at first but is actually exponential over the long haul. He became slow to spend money, not because he wanted to suffer now and be rich enough to live richly later, but because he started calculating the cost of things in terms of what the money would be if compounded over his lifetime.  He was known to say things like, “Do I really want to pay $300 for a haircut?” He also didn’t like change. His father was elected to Congress when he was 13 and the family moved to be near Washington. Buffett hated it so much that he and 2 friends ran away. Of course, he was caught and returned home a day later, but afterwards complained so much of not being able to sleep, that he was allowed to return to live with a relative in Omaha for a year. When he eventually bought his first home in Omaha for $35,000 (which he calculated to be actually more than $1 million if invested over his lifetime), it was a modest ranch style home, which he still lives in. He drove himself around and traveled economy until his travel became so much and to so many out of the way places that it was no longer practical to fly commercial out of Omaha. When he bought his business jet, it was used and he later christened it “The Indispensable” because he found how important it was for the business. When he later bought an upgraded model, he christened it, “Indefensible” because he couldn’t defend the expense on the balance sheets.  He was not interested so much in the money itself, but the challenge of making it grow. 

But, how did he become so rich and do it totally on his own, without any seed money from a rich father or anyone else? He did it the old fashioned way. He didn’t buy stocks on tips. He didn’t follow the market. He didn’t try to buy on a price drop and sell at the peak. He did meticulous research on mostly small, unnoticed companies. He looked for companies whose market value was less than the amount of capital that they owned, whether they were doing well or now. He looked for management that was honest, open, and forthright, and counted that for more than brilliance or genius. He invested, and came back often, but kept his hands out of management. He almost never sold. He invested for others, but put his own money into it as well and had a greater stake in the fund than anyone else did, to keep himself honest. He didn’t go looking for investors. He only wanted ones that trusted him and wanted to invest. He didn’t take calls from investors who tried to question him or convince him where to go. He simply bought them out and told them to invest elsewhere. When the market started going crazy with all kinds of schemes for quick trades, hedges, manipulation and paying prices that were far in excess of any reasonable valuation based on their assets. He refused to invest in tech stocks, because he would only invest in companies that he could understand. In time, he developed enough confidence to step out a bit, beyond just looking at physical assets and that started with Coca-Cola. Buffett ate almost nothing but hamburgers and drank nothing but Pepsi, and he loved adding some cherry flavoring to his Pepsi. Then New Coke came out and the public backlash was so great that Coca-Cola had to return to its original formula. The interesting thing was, in blind taste tests where people didn’t know what they were drinking most people chose New Coke. Buffett realize that a company was sometimes worth more than its assets and that customer loyalty and brand recognition, though it couldn’t be accurately “priced,” was still an asset of value. When he did further research, he found that Coca-Cola was all over the world and was the world’s most recognized brand, but Pepsi was not reaching the rest of the world. In some ways, Pepsi made more sense because of its tie in and ownership of so many fast-food restaurants, but in terms of the world, Coke was sitting on an undiscovered gold mine. When Coke started really focusing on world markets, Buffett started buying and when he was introduced to Cherry Coke, he became a convert. And, that was just one beginning. Berkshire Hathaway is not a “fund” but is a company. Buffett bought a controlling stake in the mill even though fabric mills were closing and moving overseas because they simply couldn’t invest in the technology needed and still be profitable. But, Buffett kept the factory running, but also used it as an investment vehicle to buy out other companies, especially insurance (because insurance is based on probabilities, something that Buffett with his grasp of numbers could understand). He kept on investing more in the company, but using that to buy stakes in other businesses. Right now, even though the market is down, one single share of Berkshire Hathaway would cost you more than $327,000 (yes, that is a comma in the middle, not a decimal point). Most of us would have to sell our house to buy one stock. This book is super interesting, whether your into finance or not. It’s more about a man than about investing, though you’ll learn a lot about investing along the way. The book portrays him honestly, including his mistakes, some of which were costly, such as his investment into Salomon Brothers, which became a poster-child for Wall Street scandal. But, even in that, we see a man who immediately took responsibility (even though he was just the major investor and not involved in management until the scandal became known), who was so open and honest in testimonies before Congressional  Committees that even those who came to tear him apart (and make the news) had to back down and express the admiration. He is an enigma in many ways. When his wife left him to move to California for a singing career, he didn’t divorce her. He continued to love her and would often go to spend weekends or vacations with her. But, eventually a mistress moved in with him. He never had a large staff, and his staff were not involved in following the markets, but in doing research. He never had a legal division because, he said that if he did, they would have to earn their money and if he did his job well, the only way they could do that would be to search for people to sue. He seldom gave to charity, but he said it was because he didn’t know how to understand the “business” of charity, so he didn’t know how to “invest.” The few times he did, the charities were eventually investigated for corruption. And, he doesn’t share his wealth with his children. He didn’t want to spoil them and take from them the pleasure of making it on their own. Too late for this book, Buffett has pledged to give away 99% of his wealth. So far, he has given away more than $41 billion. In 2010, he launched “The Giving Pledge” with others, including Bill Gates, asking billionaires to join in committing to donate at least half their wealth to charitable clauses. Though the book is out of date, it is a great book.

It kept me very intrigued

As an individual who loves business and finance books especially anything about entrepreneurship, I really enjoyed our story of this. it took me on a ride through the life of Warren Buffett made me feel like I was there with him growing up from a small child into the man that he is today I also took away some good but vague life advice

A+

An amazing read. A true genius, a fascinating read, and a book I would read again. A lot of hidden gems and life lessons we can all learn from.