The Snowball – Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, by Alice Schroeder
When Alice Schroeder was granted the great opportunity to write “The Snowball” she was probably aware that she was given the greatest of honors to recount the life and times of one of the most respected men in the world, Warren Buffett.
Buffett, although often tracked by the media, was never intrigued by any journalist or writer to trust his full life story. His truth is private, particularly by celebrity standards. In fact, while the unsophisticated persona that the public sees is accurate, yet Warren Buffett is a collection of contradictions. Although over time he became the world’s richest man, he never considered his investors as less than partners, while teaching honesty and integrity as an investor, CEO, board member, novelist, and spokesperson. However, despite his courtesy and humanity, despite being a mix of strengths and weaknesses, Buffett never before has decided to spend endless hours to respond to a writer’s inquiry, giving full access to his family, friends, and business associates, opening his records and recollecting childhood memories.
With Schroeder things took place smoothly. Being a highly perceptive insurance industry analyst and a gifted writer with a good judgment, Schroeder impressed Buffett with her investment writings and acute finance knowledge. But it was more than that. After meeting with the renowned Omaha investor, Schroeder came to realize that, actually, no one had been able to approach Buffett’s investing style before and explain his broader investment philosophy, which reflects his intricate personality and the details of his life. Her intuitive perception convinced Buffett to cooperate with her and allowed Schroeder exceptional access to explore directly with him and with his closest associates his work, beliefs, struggles, achievements, and wisdom. The brilliant result of this cooperation was “The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life”, the enlightening and complete biography of “The Oracle of Omaha.”
To my view, “The Snowball” reveals Buffett’s fortitude. Having grown up in a difficult family environment under the suppression of a verbally abusive mother, Buffett overcame any obstacle with integrity, allegiance, and sincerity and became the richest man in the world. Schroeder’s questions were nothing like softball and in fact, the book is written in such an intimate way that it feels like Buffett wrote the book himself. Being a fascinating and appealing figure, Warren Buffett presents in “The Snowball” all his principles and thoughts that have made millions of people rich around the globe. And although the size of the book could easily put off the reader, still Schroeder has done an excellent job with her insightful anticipation of financial crises, thorough knowledge of fiscal issues and stock market and serious approach to Buffett’s legacy.
All in all, “The Snowball” is a unique biography that covers a really broad territory and narrates the captivating story of the most intriguing American, and even international, success story of modern times. Moreover, it teaches the reader that there is still some quality in the business world from individuals such as Warren Buffett. And we should be totally grateful for what this man has offered to global society.
I work as a financial and investment advisor but my passion is writing, music and photography. Writing mostly about finance, business and music, being an amateur photographer and a professional dj, I am inspired from life.
Being a strong advocate of simplicity in life, I love my family, my partner and all the people that have stood by me with or without knowing. And I hope that someday, human nature will cease to be greedy and demanding realizing that the more we have the more we want and the more we satisfy our needs the more needs we create. And this is so needless after all.
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