The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder

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If you ever want to be successful at something in life; it stands to reason that you will study people who were successful in that field before. If you’re a musician you have probably study music from some of the greats from yesterday and if you are a basketball player I am sure that you have watched footage of Michael Jordan playing the game. With these thoughts in mind, it only makes sense that I study other successful investors. So I choose to start out by reading the biography of one of the greatest investors of all time. The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life proved to be an in depth study of not only the business but of the personal life of Warren Buffett.

I have included a review of the book below and look forward to any comments on the book. If your interested in obtaining the book yourself then I have included a link to the book on Amazon below.

This book is totally worth more than 5 stars but I can only give it 5. It does a great job of telling Warren Buffett’s life story as only he could do. The story begins from some of his earliest memories and also includes insights from some of his family and friends. After you learn about Warrens childhood, the book then begins into his adolescence; when he starts some of his first businesses. You also learn a lot about his quirks and the odd things that help make him an individual.

Once he is grown Warren tries several things in life including being a stock broker; before he decides to start his own partnership and become a money manager for other people. He cites Benjamin Graham and Dale Carnegie as being some big influences on his life and setting him on course. His struggle in his early years was never quite having enough money to invest in all the companies that he wanted to invest in, but as time would go on this feeling would change.

The book covers in pretty good detail the thinking that went through Warren Buffett’s mind during his business decisions, both good and bad. All his life Buffett was very aware of the importance of having a good reputation built on honesty and integrity. That reputation would help him later in life when some of the companies he was connected with would be brought under suspicion of illegal activity. Always looking to do the noble thing, would often help Warren prevail during the tough times during his life.

Overall I think that this was a great book, not just because of the investment experience that is gained but also because of the great life lessons that can be learned from someone else’s experiences. I recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of investing or who like to study people who have been very successful in their field.