Review of Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett/More in '04, California Edition (Hardcover)

Andy Kilpatrick did a great job as usual.The chapters are organized as short stories.These stories and pictures take the reader into the world that surrounds Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, family, friends, fans, and the Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary companies.The book is a solid account of Warren Buffett's and Berkshire's history.Furthermore, it includes many of the people that have been affected by this growing phenomenon called Berkshire Hathaway.

The author presents the story with a good sense of humor and he captures the spirit of fun each of these people bring to the annual meetings.I almost fell off my chair after seeing page 1464.This biography of investor Warren Buffett includes 1,500 pages and 750 photographs.It is a real valuable addition to anyone's library, and it is offered at a bargain price, relative to its intrinsic value.For those new to the study of the Buffett-Munger investment phenomenon, this book is a "must have" to your collection.The Compounding Success of the Graham-Dodd-Buffett-Munger investment ideas are conguent with ideas presented in the OPV book.Forget the Efficient Market Hypothesis!In an old school paper entitled the "Compounding Success Model", found somewhere on a web search, I had concluded that 10 major factors contributed to the Compounding Success of the Graham-Dodd-Buffett-Munger investment approach:
1. Rational and thorough business analysis, with keen emotional intellects that promote ethical information exchange.
2. Wide experience with analyzing and managing numerous different businesses.
3. Charlie Munger's Role as (a.)"Devils-Advocate" (Munger as therapist/analyst of investment decisions) and (b.) Munger's role in encouraging further limiting the portfolio towards "wonderful businesses."
4. Leverage via a Low Cost of Capital from Insurance Operations
5. Disciplined Tracking of Understandable Businesses
6. Analysis of Strategic and Sustainable Competitive Advantages of Industries and Businesses.Warren Buffett has a Masters in Economics from Columbia University and Charlie Munger has a Law degree from Harvard University. Both have a variety of operational business experiences.
7. Trustworthy First-Class Managements with proven track records.
8. Ben Graham's Mr. Market and search for the Margin of Safety. The Margin of Safety is the bargain obtained when purchasing at a market price below the intrinsic value estimation. Graham and Dodd taught: "An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and a satisfactory return."
9. Satisfaction: Buffett stated: "Though "working" means nothing to me financially, I love doing it at Berkshire for some simple reasons: It gives me a sense of achievement, a freedom to act as I see fit and an opportunity to interact daily with people I like and trust."
10. Learning from Practice, Mistakes, and Experiences: "After many years of buying and supervising a great variety of businesses, Charlie and I have not learned how to solve difficult business problems. What we have learned is to avoid them."

Andy's book gives you a more comprehensive view of the human interactions that make these successes possible.I also got a big kick of Andy including my poem on page 1034.This book gives a very good account of Buffett's business and investing evolution.Any student of "investment decision making" should review this work. I learned more about this evolution by reading an earlier OPV edition.It described the growth from Benjamin Graham's classical "Value Investing" to the Buffett-Munger "wonderful business" purchases.

Of Permanent Value: The Story Of Warren Buffett is a big book that will appeal to fans of financial wizard Warren Buffett. It explores how Buffett began from scratch to form a business empire. It includes in-depth examinations of business philosophy while providing a fun and lively read.In my view, time is the friend of the wonderful book, and the enemy of the mediocre one. This one packs a big punch. In time, it will be a bestseller.



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