Recommended by: WiseSuit Staff 

A large, heavy, coffee table book, Poor Charlie's Almanack, is part fanzine, part analysis, and a lot of pure Munger. It's an eye-catching, cleverly designed volume, colorfully illustrated and sporting a breezy style and easy-to-digest layout. The title is, of course, a play on Poor Richard's Almanack, the 18th century almanac written and published year after year by Benjamin Franklin, one of Munger's heroes. That, in itself, hints at Munger's approach.

Warren Buffett said this in the forword to Poor Charlie's Almanack:

"From 1733 to 1758, Ben Franklin dispensed useful and timeless advice through Poor Richard's Almanack. Among the virtues extolled were thrift, duty, hard work, and simplicity. Subsequently, two centuries went by during which Ben's thoughts on these subjects were regarded as the last word. Then Charlie Munger stepped forth."

It says something about the light tone of the book that the foreword by Warren Buffett is followed by a rebuttal by Munger, in which he questions the amount of influence he has had over Buffett.

Still, Warren Buffet went on to write this in his February 2008 Annual Report letter to Berkshire shareholders:

"Without any advertising or bookstore placement, Charlie's book has now remarkably sold nearly 50,000 copies. For those of you who can't make the meeting, go to poorcharliesalmanack.com to order a copy."

Chapter 3 provides a list of Mungerisms, including the legendary, "If you buy a few great companies, you can sit on your ass." Munger's quips on everything from morality to Enron to the public school system make for great reading.

The heart of the book is Chapter 4, which consists of two-thirds of the book, and mostly reprints ten articles, more like speeches, regarding such topics as "Worldly Wisdom," "Academic Economics," and "The Psychology of Human Misjudgment." In these, Munger expounds his theories on investing, how to live one's life, and how to make good decisions.

Charles Helman Lea once said, "It will generally be admitted that the true test of all books is the influence they have upon the lives and conduct of their readers."

Do readers find this book useful?

One reader said: The best tip (so far) is to approach your lifetime investing as if you have a twenty punch card. Each time you make an investment, it costs you one punch. Consider a 40-year investment career with twenty key decisions. That really appeals."

And another wrote, "While many of the anecdotes give interesting illustrations of Munger's character are just plain funny, and the life story and investing principles are informative and useful, the adulatory nature of some of the more fanboyish prose in the front matter can be a bit wearing. "

About the Author:

Charles Thomas Munger is Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation, the diversified investment corporation chaired by investor Warren Buffett.  In multiple speeches, Munger has introduced the concept of "Elementary, Worldly Wisdom" as it relates to business and finance. Munger's worldly wisdom consists of a set of mental models framed as a latticework to help solve critical business problems.

Categories:  Leadership ,  Biography,  Corporate Finance,  Personal Growth ,  Personal Finance