Summary

Warren Buffett considers the foundation of his multi-billion dollar empire to be a book. At 19 years old, he bought a copy of The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. We don’t know exactly what he paid for it, but in the early 1950s, a hardcover typically went for $1.30. Today, Buffett’s worth $108.7 billion, having given away some $37 billion to charitable causes.  Not a bad ROI! Some people might recoil at categorizing a book that way, but as a lover of literature, I have no problem with it. I myself wouldn’t be writing this to you today if I hadn’t bought a copy of Meditations in 2006 for $8.25 on Amazon. That book of philosophy taught me not just about life, but also schooled me in the art of writing, in working with and managing people, and gave me the speciality which I now write my own books about. Again, not a bad ROI! One of the questions I get most is about business and marketing books specifically. In school, kids are already assigned literature and history. But about books that teach you about bu...