Book of the Day - Tao of Charlie Munger By David Clark
I’ve been on a Charlie Munger kick lately. Watching Munger interviews, his Daily Journal Annual Report video, quotes, and books about him. I find him hilarious, relatable, and straight forward. He’s ordinary and that makes him someone to listen to, but I probably wouldn’t “follow” him in terms of what investments he makes. I relate to his study of the stoics. His up front answer to frankly stupid questions during annual reports I admire. There’s no ass kissing and it never feels like he’s hiding his financial strategy albeit there is some reading between the lines that I’ve decided makes me not follow whatever investments he is in. When you are playing in the financial big leagues with as much capital and brand ownership as Charlie Munger, he doesn’t own these companies to produce cash profit, but for tax advantaged profit. That motive of financial engineering is why I stay away from Charlie Munger and Warren Buffet investments.
On to the book! The week prior to reading this book I read another book filled with quotes by Charlie Munger and it was a disaster of a book. When I cracked this book open and realized it was the same setup I lost all motivation to read it. Luckily I plowed through the first page and found this book to be incredibly well written. I didn’t want to stop reading this one. The quotes were Charlie Munger staples just as the other book was, but this book had a touch of magic that felt less formulaic and less “publish a book for the sake of selling a book”.
