The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life

Here is THE book recounting the life and times of one of the most  respected men in the world, Warren Buffett. The legendary Omaha investor  has never written a memoir, but now he has allowed one writer, Alice  Schroeder, unprecedented access to explore directly with him and with  those closest to him his work, opinions, struggles, triumphs, follies,  and wisdom. The result is the personally revealing and complete  biography of the man known everywhere as “The Oracle of Omaha.”

Although  the media track him constantly, Buffett himself has never told his full  life story. His reality is private, especially by celebrity standards.  Indeed, while the homespun persona that the public sees is true as far  as it goes, it goes only so far. Warren Buffett is an array of  paradoxes. He set out to prove that nice guys can finish first. Over the  years he treated his investors as partners, acted as their steward, and  championed honesty as an investor, CEO, board member, essayist, and  speaker. At the same time he became the world’s richest man, all from  the modest Omaha headquarters of his company Berkshire Hathaway. None of  this fits the term “simple.”

When Alice Schroeder met Warren  Buffett she was an insurance industry analyst and a gifted writer known  for her keen perception and business acumen. Her writings on finance  impressed him, and as she came to know him she realized that while much  had been written on the subject of his investing style, no one had moved  beyond that to explore his larger philosophy, which is bound up in a  complex personality and the details of his life. Out of this came his  decision to cooperate with her on the book about himself that he would  never write.

Never before has Buffett spent countless hours  responding to a writer’s questions, talking, giving complete access to  his wife, children, friends, and business associates—opening his files,  recalling his childhood. It was an act of courage, as The Snowball makes  immensely clear. Being human, his own life, like most lives, has been a  mix of strengths and frailties. Yet notable though his wealth may be,  Buffett’s legacy will not be his ranking on the scorecard of wealth; it  will be his principles and ideas that have enriched people’s lives. This  book tells you why Warren Buffett is the most fascinating American  success story of our time.