The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life

The Security Analysis Podcast

This is a long discussion between myself and Nelson – the Canadian Dividend Investor – about The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder.

There are really two definitive books about Warren Buffett – this one and Buffett: The Making of An American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein. Lowenstein’s book is excellent, but he wrote it in 1995 without the cooperation of Warren Buffett. The book was also written before Warren Buffett was extremely famous.

The Snowball, in contrast, was written with the cooperation of Warren Buffett. Alice Schroeder covered Berkshire for Morgan Stanley and knew Warren Buffett personally. With his blessing, she began the project in 2003 and was given unprecedented access to Warren’s files, spent a lot of time talking with him directly, and interviewed all of his close associates.

The book is massive – 852 pages – and is a deep study on Warren Buffett’s life.

The book is controversial and we discuss that in this podcast. Warren Buffett hasn’t publicly criticized it or disavowed it, but Alice Schroeder has commented that the portrayal was difficult for him at times. He doesn’t endorse the book, it’s not sold at the Berkshire meetings, and he appears to have distanced himself from Alice.

I love the book and think it’s filled with life & business lessons. I hope you enjoy our conversation about it.

Links.

* The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life: https://www.amazon.com/Snowball-Warren-Buffett-Business-Life-ebook/dp/B009MYD9F8

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