If you want Munger wisdom, check out the Seeking Wisdom book instead. This is too random for my taste, I don't think I took home anything lasting or what I didn't hear before. Perhaps a closer look as to what went on with his eye, but then again you are digging deep into the personal/medical life of Charlie. I have nothing against him and look up to him as Buffett's right hand. But this book just didn't quite cut it, hence my neutral 3-star rating. When the author/designer feels the need to explicitly state the word BILLIONAIRE on the cover, I can't help but be reminded of BuzzFeed clickbait. The foreword was good, then it went to downhill, downright unmemorable, I'm sorry. Just read other stuff related to Berkshire or him, as you are not going be a better investor by reading this. I like to hear Charlie's story, but the book didn't do a great job, merely an okay one. Overall, I seem to realize I like it better when great people tell their stories in their own words, and not through book ABOUT them. Buffett's letters were priceless and that is still a good foundation of my business knowledge. This book didn't make me feel connected to the person in question. For example, Ashlee Vance's Musk book did a better job.

If you want to know more about Munger you need to read this book. The book was well done and well written.

One hell of a man.

There are multiple books and papers written about the vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Charles T. Munger. When Damn Right! was published however there wasn’t much. And whereas a lot is written about Munger as an investor, in this biography we get to know him on a more personal level from his birth to his 70s around the year 2000. Munger and his family always wanted to remain out of the public eye, causing very little information to be available about Munger before Damn Right!. Thus, Munger’s family was not overly excited about this book from the start. Still, the author Janet Lowe told Munger that she was going to write about him with or without his consent and after a while he agreed to be cooperative. Lowe is an investment writer and author. She specializes in books about business leaders and has among others portrayed Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.

Damn Right! describes how Munger was born in 1924 and grew up in Omaha. His family taught him the sound morals of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin from an early age. His father was an Omaha judge and Munger followed in his father's footsteps by pursuing law. Early in his career he suffered from both distractive events as being forced into military service, as well as sad ones with a divorce and the tragic death of his son. It took him until his thirties to start accumulating his fortune which he built out of savings from his legal practice, invested into real estate projects. Having realized that debt is a vital ingredient to be successful in real estate investing together with it being a full-time job, he soon moved on to other interests. This involved starting an investment partnership and resigning from being a lawyer after having co-founded the law firm Munger, Tolles and Olsen - which is used by Berkshire to this day.

Munger ran a concentrated investment portfolio with huge success but also wild fluctuations. He frequently discussed his investment ideas with Warren Buffett who he later famously went into business with, taking the subordinate position as vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Munger is famously known for teaching Buffett that it pays off to pay up for quality. What is not so known but explained in the book is that he himself also learnt that lesson fairly late. The company that in this regard made the strongest impression on him and Buffett was See’s Candies, a high quality, premium chocolate company located in San Francisco which has been a home run for Berkshire.

Aside from getting to know some of his and Berkshire's investments in See’s Candies, The Buffalo Evening News and Salomon Brothers the reader is introduced to Munger’s moral compass, which is strongly influenced by Franklin - his biggest hero. Munger is of the view that honesty and hard work will take a person a long way. Morals aside, a trait he is famous for which isn’t as positive though, is his manners. People who don’t know him well may think he is arrogant and rude. One thing that defines Munger is that he didn’t set out to become superrich but rather financially independent enough to pursue interests within education, medicine and philanthropy and also his hobbies of architecture, travelling and fishing.

Although the book is filled with timeless quotes from both Munger and Buffett I still feel that some quotes are a bit misplaced where one subject is discussed and then followed by a quote or writing which is not really connected with the prior text disrupting the flow of the reading. However, this is more of a minor observation than a large negative. For me, a book about Munger could never be boring. I like Poor Charlie’s Almanack more, which is a book I often go back to, but I still rate Damn Right! highly and it’s a must for all Buffett & Munger fans. The part I enjoyed the most was to get more insight into Charlie Munger the person and not only his sharp quotes and wisdom, even if the book gives the reader plenty of that too.

The only thing I would ask for now is for someone to fill in the gaps of the last 20 years of the fascinating life of Charlie Munger.

Niklas Sävås, September 23, 2018

I was reading this book together with another book about Charlie--"Poor Charlie's Almanack" (there are not many books about Charlie Munger in the world). I like the other book better (mostly Charlie's speeches).

In this book, the author tried to cover the life events on Charlie (before and after the family got rich), which was not that interesting. Many of those events have been well covered by any book of Warren Buffett (which was plenty), therefore not super useful for some readers.

Ich fand dieses Buch nicht lesenswert:

Die Autorin scheint gemäss Buchdeckel bekannt zu sein für ihre Biografien über amerikanische (wahrscheinlich meinen Sie US-...) Führungspersönlichkeiten; und dies ist nun eine weitere über Charlie Munger.

Wer daraus Erkenntnisse über Charlie Mungers Investitions-Grundsätze erhofft oder ähnliches liegt vollkommen falsch.

Das Buch enthält hauptsächlich Anekdoten zum Familien- und Ferien-Alltag von Charlie Munger mit seiner Grossfamilie & nix über Investitions-Entscheidungen.

If you want to learn more about Charlie Munger, his Family and some of the business decisions he has made over the years(on a 10000 foot view), you would enjoy this book. This is not a book about learning about their investing. I liked learning a lot about the other side of Charlie Munger, how he thinks about life, family and how some of his views changed over the years. One of my favourite quote.

“If, in your thinking, you rely entirely on others, often through purchase of professional advice, whenever outside a small territory of your own, you will suffer much calamity. “

A hidden gem. This book opens your eyes and encourages you to think differently about... everything? There's a consortium of books I'll be reading from the recommendations in here.

One key point I took away: learn from studying the dead. Learn from studying what success looks like and what failure looks like. Similar to how we look to nature for examples and truths in science, we should look to those around us for truths in success and apply it.

Munger is a very interesting person

Great book, that is more about the man (Charlie) than his investments. You learn a lot about how his environment shaped the thought patterns that he followed!

2023- Dec

A term paper that never ends.