there are few good thoughts in this book but as for me it a bit overrated and maybe useful only for top management

Always insightful to read essays / transcripts from Warren or Charlie. A good reminder to develop clear principles and then keep it simple. Developing and employing an investment thesis doesn't need to be overly complicated.

Like any other book in the value investing style (Buffett himself disregards the classification, saying that growth is a portion of value) The Essays of Warren Buffett took me a long time to read and think. While I have huge respect for Mr. Buffett, I like this book much less than other investment books, such as Margin of Safety by Seth Klarman or the Most Important Things by Howard Marks. Maybe because Buffett never intended his newsletters to be compiled into a single book. Prof. Cunningham surely did a great job of collecting and sorting the essays (or some paragraphs in Buffett's newsletters) into relevant topics, but still, this book lacks something.

Insightful and entertaining

As expected, Buffett's writing is insightful, Interesting and inspiring. He has firm views and the record to back it up. The book beautifully arranges topics from various letters into chapters which in my view is a great way to experience Buffett's writing.

Buffett establish that investors should go for good business rather than focusing on the market, buy at good prices and keeping them for long term, which actually is what Warren has done during his management in Berkshire. Buffett sent letters to the members of Berkshire shareholders in order to explain them what he is doing and why they are in for. He uses the letters to explain complex concepts to be easily understood and with some peculiar humor and a lot of wisdom.

It is, in my opinion, the first business book really enjoyable to read.
An excellent option to learn from one the most successful business man worldwide.

This collection gets 6 stars from me. Lots of questions and thoughts that have appeared in my mind since years when looking at the behavior of stock markets and corporations are discussed in detail.

What are the motivations and reasoning behind the ways companies operate today and why is it important? This book takes a deeper perspective on topics of management. Additionally it includes the historical perspective to explain why we are where we are today and opens up the insanity of how a lot of large corporations are run.

The book also opens up the reasonings, behavior and relationships of managing directors, C-level and stockholders. Think about stock buybacks, goodwill, sky-high valuations, mergers and acquisitions etc.

It provides practical principles about sound investment thinking and opens up a path into the mind of a common-sense investor. I would consider this as a must-read for any business student.

I myself took lots of notes and highlights which I will use to write a summary for the lostbookofsales.com.
There is surely a lot of food for thought here that will serve you well in the business world.

An absolute gem, too many learning's but the key ones:

intangible goodwill is true economic value
be fearful when others are greedy, be greedy when others a fearful
logic around buyback vs issuing shares
stock options: definitely an expense
don't be afraid of concentration
every dollar spent has to generate more than a dollar of value
roll ups aren't all that bad (cap cities, Berkshire, Washington Post... list goes on)

it's like the bible. yuh.

Warren's candor unravels a lot of the deception in the different sectors of finance.

- Intrinsic vs book value
- IB's propensity to tell you to buy at a preimium of 20-50% rather than a discounted value and justifying it through synergies. Later spinning off the company you were so enticed to acquire to "unlock shareholder value". Fees & action perpetuation
- PE's dealings and debt/equity restructuring. Equity reduced debt maximized. Best when interest rates are low.
- Valuation - how many birds, certainty of them, risk free interest rate, black scholes
- use return on equity not earnings per share
-net cashflow discounted, rate of risk of long term bond rate, what is the discount, theory of investment value
- Capex is the main thing left out of cash flows
- the clocks have no hands
-1st class CEOS exhibiting 3rd class actions due to the institutional imperative. Mimesis & short term success incentivization.
- upstream/downstream structure of holding companies

It is difficult to judge this as a book, because it really is just a collection of Warren Buffet's letters to the shareholders. There is a very nice introduction that sums up Buffet's views, and is great for people who have not been exposed to, or are not very familiar with value investing.

The books lacks flow, with the order that the letters are listed in sometime jumping back and forth by a decade and two without preparing the reader to make the appropriate context switch. Since these are letters to shareholders, there is also an underlying assumption that the reader has some knowledge/experience on the matter at hand, making it slightly more difficult to read. To some extent, it is analogous to picking up a newspaper from three decades ago. While it is an unbiased look into the past, showing that history does repeat itself, the book does a poor job at preparing the reader from entering the proper mindset.

This shouldn't be the first book any value investor picks up, but it should still be read early into one's "investment career" since there are invaluable lessons directly from one of the world's greatest investors.

I wish I read this book earlier

It is a collection of Bershire’s Essays in orderly manner. Rather than diving through the annual reports of the past, reading this book is much more enjoyable. (Sure it won’t be incorporating the whole thing.. but as a starter... I think..) The book is really insightful on almost all aspect of investing, but also life. I really entertained and laugh a lot troughout the reading. I recommended this book.

Good...but this was a bit beyond my knowledge. I am the average joe, so this was a bit beyond me. Interesting, what I did understand.

WB is the most famous name in investing circles, and there's enough literature on the man already, this book is a rehash of what you've already read about the legend.