Tao of Charlie Munger: A Compilation of Quotes from Berkshire Hathaway's Vice Chairman on Life, Business, and the Pursuit of Wealth With Commentary by David Clark

Any takeaways from Mr. Munger are worth reading. Clever book.

I always knew that Buffett has so much wisdom, but Charlie had much more interesting take on investments through his various knowledge.One ought to read this multiple times to get ahead in his portfolio. This book could function as your book of principle, guiding your thoughts before major decisions in picking the next best investment in your finance, or life.

If you collect quotations from one of the broadest thinkers in business who for decades has delivered witty and wise sayings, you cannot really go wrong. The Tao translates as “the way” or “the path” and what we are served here is the way of Charlie Munger, vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and long business partner to Warren Buffett. Munger’s many sayings have over time gained enough status to be christened as “Mungerisms.”The reference to Taoism is equally apt when it comes to the format of the book. Just as Lao-tzu, the Taoist collection of saying and proverbs, this is a commented assortment of quotations where David Clark, co-writer of the many Buffettology books does the observing and deciphering of the wise musings of the old master. Buffett obviously has a wonderful way with words but I have always enjoyed Munger’s shorter, sharper and more cynical statements more and Clark has done us all a huge service collecting these quotes. It is a book possible to read in one, albeit long, sitting – but please don’t. Take the time to scribble down how Munger’s thoughts reflect on your investments, business and being. Does this make sense to you? If so, how are you living up to it? What can you change? What can you improve?The selected quotations are grouped into four parts covering investing, banking and the economy, business and philosophizing on life at large. Sections one and three are delivered with authority and Ben Graham’s saying that investing is the most intelligent when it is most businesslike springs to mind. At the same time the investing of Munger and Berkshire Hathaway is hardly unknown material due to the vast coverage of Buffett’s investing success.The danger with adding commentary is that it isn’t always better to say something in a lengthier format when it has already been delivered crisp and clear in a short pitchy way. There is a balance to be kept to not over-explain things. Clark is mostly on the right side of the tracks but he delivers rather similar explanations to many of the quotes and is forced to add quite a few “as we have said earlier”.Further, just as it comes to later commentary of, say old Taoist texts, it is always possible to debate if the interpretation of the original scriptures from one specific scholar is optimal. Occasionally I would have chosen to make alternative reflections. I think the selection of quotes Clark has made is a good one. Perhaps it could have hade been tilted a tad more towards psychology given Munger’s wisdom in the area. There are few real gems missing apart from this favorite on investing “It’s not supposed to be easy. Anyone who finds it easy is stupid.” – a typical Mungerism in it’s lack of flattery.The second part of the book is the least interesting - but every time one hears figures about the gross exposure of global derivatives one marvels. The best and most inspiring part is the fourth, on Life, Education and the Pursuit of Happiness. Below are some of our favorites. “Being rational is a moral imperative. You should never be stupider than you need to be”; “Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Discharge your duties faithfully and well. Slug it out one inch at a time, day by day. At the end of the day – if you live long enough – most people get what they deserve” and especially close to our heart “In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn’t read all the time – none, zero. You’d be amazed at how much Warren reads – and how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.” Amen. If you ever find yourself hesitating over a decision, simply ask yourself “What would Charlie Munger do?”This is a review by investingbythebooks.com

A great collection of Mr.Munger's ad verbatim aphorisms that are explained. If you want a book that touches on the subject of money making AND living a good life, this is it. It's essentially a collection of remarks of Mr.Munger that are explained.Other than the over glorification of Mr.Munger's skills and their relevance to the subject of money making through the markets, I thought the book was a solid explanation of his views on both money and life. You'll understand what I mean once you read the bit about Mr.Munger's understanding of Einstein's unified field theory and his ability to quote Mark Twain - all of which were utterly useless in his ability to save Berkshire from losing money on the US Airways investment.

easy to see why mr. buffet values his opinions.

David Clark is an excellent author, he makes things very easy to understand. Tao of Warren & Charlie are two underrated books.--Hardcover does NOT have poor quality papers.It's called "Rough cut" also known as "deckled edged". It's a style. Google it to understand more. Book is good; so just trying to educate people here.

I got a lot an amazing amount of wisdom from this little book. Charlie is now my new role model!

I learned a couple very useful ideas from this book (such as holding cash reserves for opportunities), and it was a fast read which made it worth it.The commentary on the bottom varied between irrelevant, insightful, and utter poppycock. By the end, I just focused on the quotes and not the commentary, at least partially because these quotes generally stand on their own.

An almanack of Naval Ravikant like book, but where the author writes more than Charlie Munger himself.I highlighted a bunch of stuff, but truly insightful visions were just a few.The greatest lesson? It is better to buy for a fair price a great business than to buy for a cheap price a fair business. BUT you need to have the patience.

It's very rare nowadays to find a book that is concise and easily understandable. The author has really done very good research and has given very accurate references.I will re read this book when I'm trying to find some answers. Thanks

Molte citazioni le avevo già lette in giro per il web, ma i commenti di David Clark approfondiscono i concetti in modo esaustivo.Come da descrizione Il libro è di tipo "rough cut" o "edge deckle", (vedi foto) l'effetto tutto sommato non dispiace

Superb advice insightfully interpreted.Some readers may not like the 'torn edge' finish on the pages (or do I have an ex-review copy' but the binding is good and the content valuable.

book cover is damaged, and this book clearly is cropped by hand.