BloggingStocks http://www.bloggingstocks.com BloggingStocks http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/media/feedlogo.gif BloggingStocks http://www.bloggingstocks.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Warren Buffett in tiff with biographer?]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/02/04/warren-buffett-in-tiff-with-biographer/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/02/04/warren-buffett-in-tiff-with-biographer/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/02/04/warren-buffett-in-tiff-with-biographer/#commentsFiled under: ,

The honeymoon between Warren Buffett and the biographer he allowed access to his personal records has ended. For more than a decade, each Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) annual meeting has included a question and answer session between Alice Schroeder and the Oracle of Omaha.

The event -- held as a dinner at a local country club has been canceled, "apparently because of his displeasure with some aspects of Ms. Schroeder's 960-page encyclopedic best seller about his life," according to The New York Times.

Buffett and Schroeder deny any particular rift and say that they still do communicate, though with less frequency because the work on the book is finished.

If Buffett is concerned about the public knowing intimate details of his life, he shouldn't be. The book has sold a lot of copies but at 976 pages, it's doubtful that the majority of buyers ever actually read it.

Warren Buffett in tiff with biographer? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Alice SchroederAliceSchroederBerkshire HathawayBerkshireHathawayBRK.ainthenewsWarren BuffettWarrenBuffettWed, 04 Feb 2009 12:45:00 EST<![CDATA[Book Review: The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/10/22/book-review-the-snowball-warren-buffett-and-the-business-of-li/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/10/22/book-review-the-snowball-warren-buffett-and-the-business-of-li/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/10/22/book-review-the-snowball-warren-buffett-and-the-business-of-li/#commentsFiled under: ,

When I first heard that Alice Schroeder was writing a biography of Warren Buffett, I was excited. Buffett knows Ms. Schroeder well, and had given her extensive interviews and unprecedented access to his records -- this was sure to be the definitive tome on one of the richest and most ethical people in the world.

The result of the collaboration is the 838 page tome The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life. It's an exhaustive look at Buffett's life and career but it's also, frankly, exhausting. The problem is that the book is just too darn long, with seemingly hundreds of pages devoted to Buffett's friendship with Washington Post matriarch Katherine Graham, and huge amounts of pop psychology discussing his complex relationship with his wife. There is even a detailed discussion of Buffett's colonoscopy and the polyps that were found -- minutiae that only diehard value investors will appreciate.

There is some fascinating material here, especially in the beginning: did you know that The Oracle of Omaha was a bona fide juvenile delinquent, stealing golf clubs from Sears every weekend? But funny anecdotes like that aside, Warren Buffett's personal life is just not interesting enough to be a major component of a biography. He plays bridge, eats hamburgers, and pals around with Bono. The most interesting story is the business story, and you can get a more interesting look at that in Roger Lownstein's Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist.

Book Review: The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Alice SchroederAliceSchroederBerkshire HathawayBerkshireHathawayBRKSnowballWarren BuffettWarrenBuffettWed, 22 Oct 2008 16:26:00 EST