Buffett

Carl Sandburg’s Pulitzer Prize winning multivolume biography of Abraham Lincoln won acclaim for its colorful depiction of American history and the common man and was once required reading in high schools and universities across the country. Lowenstein’s Buffett promises to gain similar recognition, for it is a landmark portrait of a uniquely American life- a portrait that offersan enthralling, precisely documented, full-fleshed characterization of an American icon. Yes, Buffett is a billionaire, and American’s love stories of fame and fortune. In fact, in America, fortune usually automatically brings fame. But it is not Buffett’s money that is the story here, it is his "genius of character-of patience, discipline, and rationality," and its rarity in the heat of financial passions of this century that make this work such an important tutorial on American business and investing. Even as a very young boy, Buffett had a thirst for numbers-license-plates numbers on passing cars, baseball scores, and horse-racing odds. Because he was also intrigued by money, he would play Monopoly hour after hour, and his first prized possession was a money changer. At five, he set up a chewing gum stand, and after that he sold lemonade- not in front of his own house, but in front of his friend’s residence where the traffic was heavier. Lowenstein analyzes all Buffett’s investments, he explains the history and psychology of Wall Street, and he provides facts and figures in lucid detail. But most importantly, he explores the man behind the investments- describes the unique personality, in all its subtleties, that allows the man to stand above the mania of Wall Street and to reclaim the rewards of earning money the old-fashioned way- with commitment and integrity. It is a work that should be required reading in every business curriculum, for it relates directly to the current and future interests of individual and corporate investors throughout America.