The essays in this volume are actually Buffett’s 'Letters to the Shareholders' of Berkshire Hathaway that have appeared in that company’s annual reports over the years. In any given letter, Buffett expounds on what must have been on his mind at the time; the list of topics ranges from ruminations on fundamental investing to discussions of the intricacies of accounting and tax policy to his take on the role of money managers in corporate governance.

I imagine that, reading them separately over the years, Berkshire shareholders were highly amused and educated in a “one off” sort of way. Reading them collectively, however, you get a great insight into the mind of one of the great investors of our time. Although I enjoyed Robert Hagstrom’s 'The Warren Buffett Way,' the advantage of this book is that you get the man's philosophy directly from Buffett himself without any editorial filters. ( )

Great perspective. Not awed by what he has to say (a lot of which is simply common sense), but amazed by how convincingly and easily he put it. ( )