What Warren Buffett likes to read

January 23rd, 2013

From time to time, Warren Buffett makes book recommendations in his annual letters to shareholders. These are some of them.

Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger (2010 letter to shareholders)

Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger, by Peter Bevelin (2006 letter to shareholders)

Where Are the Customers’ Yachts: or A Good Hard Look at Wall Street, by Fred Schwed (2006 letter to shareholders)

Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe, by Graham T Allison (2004 letter to shareholders)

The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron, by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind (2003 letter to shareholders)

In an Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington, by Robert Rubin and Jacob Weisberg  (2003 letter to shareholders)

The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel, by Benjamin Graham and updated by Jason Zweig (2003 letter to shareholders)

Tap Dancing to Work: Warren Buffett on Practically Everything, 1966-2012: A Fortune Magazine Book by Carol Loomis (2012 letter to shareholders). Loomis has been writing on Buffett for many years and seems to have an in with him, getting a couple of mentions in his shareholder letters and featuring at annual meetings.

The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success, by William Thorndike Jr (2012 letter to shareholders). Buffett likes it because it focuses on managers who know how to allocate capital. Tom Murphy, one of Berkshire’s managers, gets a chapter. Buffett calls him the best business manager he has met.

The Clash of the Cultures: Investment vs. Speculation, by Jack Bogle and Laura Rittenhouse, (2012 letter to shareholders). Bogle founded the Vanguard Group and is admired by Buffett.

Although we have not yet reviewed Poor Charlie, the fact that Warren recommends this just about every year in his letter to shareholders suggests that it would make essential reading. Because of this, and our fond regard for the way Charlie Munger does business, we think we had better read it soon and post a review.

The Benjamin Graham book, updated by Zweig, is necessary reading to anybody who seeks to value invest. It forms part of our essential reading and we have it by our bedside. Our review is here.

And Warren’s favourite newspaper is the Omaha World-Herald which he devours each day. He told CNBC, tongue in cheek we suspect, that he reads it with the same avidity as other men read Playboy.

Posted by Julian Livy on January 23rd, 2013 | Posted in Book reviews, Warren Buffett |