Mary Buffett is the ex-daughter-in-law of Warren Buffett who has perfected the art of writing books about the craft of investing the Warren Buffett way. I think after the initial few books, her homework disappoints. Ever since her first book "Buffetology", I have been reading every book of hers invariably co-authored with David Clark. In the last few years, the pace of her writing has become hecti...c as she is turning this out into a Buffett franchise that should take care of her retirement planning. Warren Buffett - is the usual prefix - what follows are sub-titles like "management secrets", "the art of stock arbitrage", "the interpretation of financial statements", and now the latest "stock portfolio". I dont think she is able to add new stuff than her previous books in the new one which analyses for the nth time how to value GEICO or Coke or Washington Post and at what prices Buffett picked up. The trouble is when you run of the filial proximity to the Buffett family and the intellectual steam that used to oil the mathematical workings that underpinned her unveiling of the "secret" of a billion-dollar investment, you realise it is time to stop buying her books. You are better off following Warren Buffett's op-ed articles in NYT or his Annual Report letters (coming up in April again) or his occasional interviews in Fortune, Bloomberg (like the last article on Gold just a few days back). Its time Mary Buffett stops fooling the public with old hat knowledge. Her finest hour came with the Buffetology workbook and maybe those two books on Stock Arbitrage and Interpreting Financial Statements.
Talking about the franchisees - thats a whole new world - a sole preserve of American writers. My experience is that the publishers will churn out these titles on a binge until colossal failure greets them. Like "Rich Dad/Poor Dad" series or Donald Trump's "How To..." or those books by Jeffrey Fox or Ken Fisher. I am strictly limiting the references to books on finance and investing/real estate etc. Look at the heap of books that have come up within a month of Steve Jobs' passing. I found Walter Isaacson's bio the best biography but soon followed other rival reporters and greedy publishers - you have books promising more of Steve's "little kingdom" and I-quotes and other I-conic trivia. The franchisee builds to a crescendo then drops to a tedium faster than a S-curve. A great deal goes without quality checks - and one should discern well before picking such books. My threshold for picking such books is quite high - hence I usually learn the hard way after burning deep in my pockets.
Talking about the franchisees - thats a whole new world - a sole preserve of American writers. My experience is that the publishers will churn out these titles on a binge until colossal failure greets them. Like "Rich Dad/Poor Dad" series or Donald Trump's "How To..." or those books by Jeffrey Fox or Ken Fisher. I am strictly limiting the references to books on finance and investing/real estate etc. Look at the heap of books that have come up within a month of Steve Jobs' passing. I found Walter Isaacson's bio the best biography but soon followed other rival reporters and greedy publishers - you have books promising more of Steve's "little kingdom" and I-quotes and other I-conic trivia. The franchisee builds to a crescendo then drops to a tedium faster than a S-curve. A great deal goes without quality checks - and one should discern well before picking such books. My threshold for picking such books is quite high - hence I usually learn the hard way after burning deep in my pockets.
