 2009-01-03 - A wasted opportunity
Schroeder had unprecedented access to information on Buffett's history. She could have written an in-depth account of the financial analysis that Buffett used in key moments of his investing history. She could have educated readers on why Buffett saw opportunity where others didn't. Instead she wrote about his personal life which is no more interesting than the average person's because Buffett chose to live a relatively normal life outside of his work. Also the personal life material has been covered before by other authors in practically the same level of detail.
This was a missed opportunity to write a unique book about a unique financial genius. Students of Buffett would be better served by learning from Buffett's annual letters or Roger Lowenstein's book.
 2009-01-01 - Awesome!
Lowenstein's biography of Warren Buffett was a classic, The one to read. Schroeder's book has now filled the gaps in Lowenstein's work.
Don't get me wrong though. I do greatly admire Roger Lowenstein. However, Schroeder's latest work takes the cake.
 2008-12-30 - Not the best biography but interesting
On the whole Warren Buffet in the hands of Alice Schroeder is not that interesting. This is a rather dry Buffet bio about a grandfather, a dogmatic father, mentally ill mother, and the damaged siblings of these parents. About 75% of the content of this book is a tiresome account of the people in Buffett's life and Buffett's singular focus on things that only interest himself - his lack of interest in his family, wife, boring affairs.
2008-12-29 - Soime thoughts on The Snowball, Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
This is an interesting and very candid authorized biography of America's most famous money manager, who is in vogue again after being dissed as out of touch during the last great bubble (the dot.com mania) before the current great bubble (the subprime meltdown).
Takeaways include the unusual personal life of Mr. Buffett, warts and all, especially the severe biological mental illness that runs in his family; as well as a greater appreciation of how extremely difficult it is to consistently make money beyond the performance of the general market.
I also enjoyed the sense of transformation and personal development from his midwestern roots to a captain of Wall Street. Many great one liners full of pithy wisdom. All in all, a great read.
2008-12-29 - A Teacher Of Capital Allocation More Than Relationship Management.
I read this biography as a business management person who has not closely followed Buffet. My objective was to glean some sense of the man and apply it to my life and work. To that end, the book provided a summary-level treatment of his investment methods and provides an ongoing trickle of his widely quoted aphorisms. But more notably this book weaves the historical narrative of his personal relationships and his emotional underpinnings in, around, and between his business life. The book is about Warren the person. It's also a chronicle of business events viewed through his eyes.
You do get a general sense of Buffet's worldview from this book. You also see philosophically how he views senior management and senior executive performance in his companies. But it does not provide the rigor to change tactically how you live, work, manage, or invest.
Read this book to capture the carefully-crafted, insider-authorized, image of the man and his motivations. I found Buffet's image nicely summarized in the book's afterword: "Warren Buffet was a timid man who shied from confrontation and needed people to cushion him from life's rougher edges. His fears were personal, not financial; he was never timid when it came to money". The 900 pages tenderly lay foundation around that image.
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