Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger

This book is very tough to read because there are so many anecdotes and cross-references to multiple genres of literature and science. Charlie Munger has really sound advice. I can't help but think his speeches would have been really interesting to watch. I would give this a 4.5 but there is no way to give a half-star. Basically, his wisdom is you should try to learn as much as you can about as many different fields as possible. Too often schools and academia beat into you that you need to specialize in one niche. They make you think if you are an expert in one thing that is enough. That may be true for a job but its not true for stock market investing. You need to be patient and learn as much as you can about as many different topics as you can. You need to analyze yourself and see what kind of biases hold you back from growing and improving. You will grow wiser and with your wisdom, if you apply it right, you will also grow richer. This book is interesting because it gives perspective into the mind of one of the greatest financial gurus. Also, I think it is worth noting that this book often resales at close to the value of the purchase price of this book new. In my mind, this means a lot of people find value in the book and don't try to sell it after they get it.

This book can be seen as a common-sense presentation of key principles of general wisdom and practical social psychology. It also encourages the reader to seek truth through expanding one’s horizons in multiple directions and becoming familiar with the basic ideas of every kind of science. Those ideas and principles should then form a latticework of models that one should use when making decisions. Charlie warns against being too one-sided in one’s professional field and is confident that he owes his success in life to using a long checklist of correct mental models - which he shares with the reader.

one of the smartest men, book was good but, i format was a little different than I expected

Exposure to the casual wit and extensive wisdom of Charlie Munger primed me to grab the book and try to absorb a bit more. The wit doesn't translate as well to paper as a long life's worth of wisdom does. The book is structured with an opening section that shares a lot of the life background that prepared Charlie Munger for his future. Starting in post-depression Nebraska working in the Buffet store, then on to law school and much more, the story builds through the early association with Warren Buffet, and the broad learning paths through independent learning and a voracious appetite for knowledge. That appetite for knowledge is an enduring theme throughout the book and his life. Hw worked hard to impart that same love of broad learning and wisdom to family, friends, business associates and students along the way. The lessons and the delivery are both top tier. The rest of the book is a series of descriptions of lectures Charlie gave later in life primarily at various learning institutions. Primarily law and business schools it seems, but a couple others thrown in too. The common theme is to always be open to learnings from outside your focus discipline, and integrate all those outside learnings to build a broad base to continuously build on. I'm 20+ years Charlie's junior, and can see where the guidance he shares would have made my early career a bit smoother. That said, I think it would be great for people to read and learn from Charlie starting early, then re-read at life intervals that allow one's own life experiences and situations to benefit from regular course-corrections based on the ideas shared in the book. I know too many youngsters who have attention focus based on continuous screen movement and action; few may initially appreciate the pleasure of reading a good book like this. But a read in mid-teens, and again as major decision points arise, would help most people tremendously. Some of us have had the great fortune to have mentors along the way. Even if you already have that, adding another lesson or twelve from Charlie can only benefit. Yes, I highly recommend this book. It should almost be essential reading from those stepping up to and stepping through their lives and careers. It's that good.

Who would have thought the most important lesson regarding the process of investing in order to obtain great wealth - was psychology. Not some technical trading topic, not some prospectus reading technique, not some other fancy gimmick or thing you haven’t heard about. It’s far more simple than that. And it’s about people. I feel we ALL should hold a tremendous amount of gratitude to Carlie Munger for leaving us with this. I consider him one of my business mentors.

This is the second time I read this book in full. I love it and plan to get back to read it once a year. Buffett and Munger changed my life.

I loved it and I'm going to take notes while re-reading. Best content was "How to be Miserable" & psychology of human misjudgment. Build quality was excellent too!

Was very excited to read this book after hearing so much about it. Now that I have, a bit of a disappointment. For sure there is a lot of good wisdom here don't get me wrong. But hindsight is 20/20, and to me, Charlie has an easy advantage of bosting about his techniques. He does however admit luck is a factor. Its a bit why I skip most books about the "greatest generation". If you take away anything from this book, it should be play the long game when it comes to investing, and invest in what you know. If your a seasoned investor or employed in the industry, you'll probably find this book more interesting.

Great

Livro muito bom! Recomendo a leitura

Libro molto affascinante e ricco di spunti. Per chi vuole iniziare a capire la logica del ragionamento di Munger. Attenzione in inglese

Buenisimo, recomendado 100% en cuanto al contenido. La calidad del libro es muy buena

The book contains some useful advice on reducing cognitive biases before and when making important decisions, as well as Munger's own philosophy in what's a life worth living. A lot of the stuff in the first part of the book lays down the framework and skeleton in the motivation and know-how on making better decisions and that comes a lot from doing a lot of homework, which presumably many would not even have time and motivation to do. But that's exactly what differentiates ... like you have munger / Buffett and all the other investors ...