Warren Buffett Unlimited Exclusive Interview
#1 Amazon/New York Times Bestseller
Book of the Year by [Time], [People], [Washington Post], [Business Week], etc.
The most detailed portrait of Warren Buffett, the greatest investor in history.

“Can you write my story?”
One day, Alice Schroeder, who was working as an executive at Morgan Stanley, receives an unbelievable offer.
The person who made this suggestion was none other than the great investor Warren Buffett, known as the 'Sage of Omaha.'
He has held the top spot on Wall Street, the center of global finance, for over 50 years, but has never written a single book, and is only remembered as a legend. He has finally decided to take off his veil and share his story with the world.

Alice Schroeder then devoted herself entirely to writing his story, researching and analyzing Buffett for five years.
For this project, Warren Buffett promises her unlimited interview opportunities, extensive information about himself, and active support from those around him.
As a result, the unique biography "Snowball" was born, which records Buffett's life without omission.

As soon as this book was published in 2009, it not only won the title of 'Book of the Year' selected by major media outlets, but also became a bestseller simultaneously around the world.
This is partly due to the fervent interest in the great investor Warren Buffett, but also thanks to Alice Schroeder's persistent efforts to convey Buffett's investment performance, as well as his unusual private life and foolish mistakes, as objectively and meticulously as possible.

This revised edition, which is being republished in response to popular demand, corrects errors from the previous edition and features a new cover that faithfully captures the meaning of the title.
Volume 1, which mainly contains stories in chronological order from Buffett's birth to his 40s, provides a glimpse into how Buffett's extraordinary 'economic sense' and 'clear perception of the flow of wealth', which were evident from his childhood, were developed.
You can also learn about his unusual family story and the secret love triangle between his lifelong lover Susie and his second companion Astrid.
Rare old photographs of Buffett and those around him add further detail to the biography of this remarkable man.
Warren Buffett, who still holds a reputation as the world's number one investor even after more than 10 years since the book was published.
For those wondering where his insight, which has allowed him to continue making "winning investments" in a turbulent stock market for over half a century, comes from, this book will provide the most definitive answer.

It's winter, the year Warren was nine years old. It's snowing outside and Warren is playing in the yard with his younger sister, Bertie.
Warren catches the snowflake in his hand.
Then he gathers a handful of snow with his hand.
More and more eyes are closing.
It becomes a fairly large snowball.
The boy now puts it on the ground and starts rolling it.
A snowball becomes a snowball, and this snowball gets bigger and bigger.
The excited boy rolls the snowball across the yard, and the snowball grows bigger and bigger.
Eventually, the snowball reaches the end of the boy's yard.
After hesitating for a moment, the boy finally makes up his mind and pushes the snowball into the neighbor's yard.
Warren continued to push the snowball, his gaze now turned to the entire snow-covered world.

--- From "Before You Begin"

Seeing this reminds me of the story of an oil prospector who died and went to heaven.
Saint Peter said:
'I have looked into your records and I see that you have all the qualifications to go to heaven.'
And he continued to say:
'But there is one problem.
Here in heaven, zoning laws are strict, so all oil prospectors are forced to stay in those cages.
But as you can see, the place is packed to the brim, so there's no room for you to enter.'
Then the oil prospector asked, 'Would you mind if I shouted just one word?'
Saint Peter said that it was not a difficult request, so he did so.
Then the oil prospector made a horn with both hands and shouted loudly.

'Oil has been discovered in hell!'
Then the lock on the iron cage fell off and the oil prospectors inside the cage burst out like lightning and ran straight into hell.
Saint Peter said:
'You're quite good at using your head.
Then go in now and get some rest.
There must be plenty of space.'
Then the oil prospector hesitated for a moment, said nothing, and then said:
'Wait a minute, I guess I'll have to follow those guys to hell too.
'If the rumors are spreading like that and everyone is going, then I think there must really be something going on.'

People feel and act this way about stocks too.
It's too easy to believe that there's something real in the rumors floating around.

--- 「2.
From "Sun Valley"

Warren began to think about time differently.
Welfare connects the present with the future.
If one dollar today becomes ten dollars a few years from now, then one dollar today and ten dollars a few years from now are the same.
Warren thought this way.

Warren sat on the front steps of his friend Stu Erickson's house and declared that he would be a millionaire by the age of thirty-five.
It was an absurd thing for a child living in the depression of 1941 to say.
But if Warren calculated it (and the book said it would), it was definitely possible.
He still had 25 years left.
Although he needed a little more money, he was confident he could do it.
The earlier you start saving money, the longer it will last, and the more likely you are to achieve your goals.

And a year later, Warren revealed the essence of his identity to the people.
By the spring of 1942, his fortune had grown to $120 million.
Needless to say, his family was surprised and proud of him.

--- 「8.
Among “A Thousand Ways”

Before that, no one had ever thought of installing a pinball machine in a barbershop, but the two kids went to Eriko and made that suggestion.
Eriko accepted the offer.
The two children removed the pinball machine's legs and loaded it into Danley's father's car and drove it to the barbershop.
And the prediction came true.
When Warren and Don went to see how business was going on the first evening, there were coins totaling nearly four dollars waiting to be fed into the machine.
Eriko loved it, and the pinball machine has been there ever since.
(…)
All of them were $25.
It was enough money to buy another pinball machine.
Soon, Mr. Wilson's pinball machines grew to eighteen, occupying a corner in every barbershop in Omaha.
Here Warren witnessed the miracle of capital.
Money was like a person who worked for a job, earning money for his master.

--- 「12.
From "Silent Sales"

“So, I bought a cigarette butt.
I tried to light this cigarette butt and smoke it.
If you walk down the street, you will see cigarette butts.
It's so damp and disgusting that I feel reluctant to pick up the cigarette butts.
But it's free.
(…) Maybe I could take a puff of smoke.
But Berkshire didn't have a single sip left to suck.
It was just a wet cigarette butt.
I put the cigarette butt in my mouth.
That was Berkshire Hathaway in 1965.
“They tied a huge amount of money to that cigarette butt.”
--- 「27.
From "Foolishness"

Suzy, who was always reaching out to others in search of emotional connection, later said that her husband was by no means an emotionally deficient person.
It's just that I didn't express my feelings outwardly.
But it seemed clear that Warren felt a strong emotional connection to his friends and investors.
Warren felt a strong sense of duty toward them and practically considered them family.
Warren's family could not help but be particularly aware of this aspect of Warren.
Warren behaved in a ceremonial manner when attending family functions, preoccupied with something else, which was a marked difference from his behavior when dealing with friends or investors.

--- 「33.
From "Unraveling"

Warren tried to convince Kay that acquiring a media company was difficult because the accounting issues were a significant burden to anyone trying to acquire one.

“Then Kay started to snicker, saying things like, ‘The depreciation of intangible assets is causing us problems.’
Howard looked straight into Kay's face and said,
"K, what does depreciation of intangible assets mean?" At that very moment, oh, it was truly amazing.
Kay was frozen in place.
It was as good as being completely paralyzed.
Howard seemed to enjoy that.
I intervened and explained to Howard what that meant.
After I finished explaining everything, Kay said this.
“That’s it.”
Warren enjoyed outwitting Simons, cutting the game short and cleverly defending Kay.
Kay's stiff smile began to loosen.

“From that moment on, we became each other’s best friends.
I became Lancelot, a Knight of the Round Table.
I would say it was one of the most shining moments of my life.
“It was the moment that turned her defeat into victory.”

--- 「37.
From "Newspaper Man"