Preorder Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Essential Wit & Wisdom of Charles T. Munger

Timeless lessons on investment strategy, philanthropy, and living a rational and ethical life from the Ben Franklin of our age.

“Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up,” Charlie Munger advises in Poor Charlie’s Almanack. 

Originally published in 2005, this compilation of 11 talks by the legendary Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman has become a touchstone for a generation of investors and entrepreneurs. Delivered with Charlie’s signature wit and rhetorical flair, it draws on his encyclopedic knowledge of business, finance, history, science, philosophy, and ethics—and more besides—to introduce the latticework of mental models that underpin his rational and rigorous approach to life, learning, and decision-making. It is an essential volume for any reader seeking to go to bed a little wiser than when they woke up. 

Our abridged edition includes a new foreword by Stripe cofounder, president, and avowed Munger disciple John Collison. It’s available for preorder now.

We asked the book’s editor, Peter D. Kaufman—chairman and CEO of Glenair, Inc. and longtime friend of Charlie Munger—about the vision behind Poor Charlie’s Almanack. He said:

Charlie strongly believes that knowledge of history will help you not only understand what's happened in the past, but it'll help you understand the present and it'll help you prepare for the future. This book is all about the big ideas that have been generated over human history—identifying those ideas, honoring those ideas, and using those ideas to help you in your present and future life. 

The book is a mirror of the way Charlie's mind is constructed. It's a journey of learning and knowledge and understanding. One thing leads to another, leads to another, leads to another. He might quote somebody like John Maynard Keynes, and there's a sidebar to tell you a little bit about John Maynard Keynes. [In the Stripe Press edition, the sidebars are presented as endnotes.] And then you may go off and read a book by John Maynard Keynes. 

Charlie's very familiar with the luminaries of the past. He's read all their books and he's synthesized their best ideas, and he helps the reader apply those ideas to their life and what they're doing, say, in business. 

The book is constructed to help somebody become a learner. You can learn not only from Charlie Munger, but you can learn from all the quotes and the stories that are told, the historical names and dates and places. You can take this book and go off on your own journey in any direction you want. It's supposed to get people to love learning, to be interested in learning. 

The secret to learning is to accept the world the way the world really is. Warren Buffett does that. Charlie Munger does that. But most people are selective in what they choose to accept and not accept about the world. There’s a wonderful Japanese proverb: “The frog in the well knows nothing of the mighty ocean.” Too many people today are frogs in wells. They've got their little silo and that's all they know. As Wittgenstein says, “To understand is to know what to do.” How can you possibly know how to deal with the world if all you know is a little slice of it? You have to have a broad spectrum of generalized understanding. That's what this book is all about. This is a book to help you learn the mighty ocean, to get greater and broader understanding.

Stay tuned on the web and on social media—we’ll share more Munger morsels in the coming weeks.