Charlie Munger said that he has never known a wise or success man that has stayed that way for very long unless he or she was a voracious reader and synthesizer of knowledge.
Another batch of books arrived from Amazon.com following my book buying binge at Borders the other night. That’s typically how it goes, though … I buy a few dozen books at a time, mostly in business, philosophy, psychology, investing, finance, history, and biography (all non-fiction – I’m not a big fiction reader).
Early in my career, books were my biggest expense. When my first business was making only $500 a month in profit, I probably spent $250 of it on buying books to learn. Today, I still try to buy a copy of anything that I think could teach me something or present a different opinion on a topic such as a political issue. I never presume that I am always correct and I attempt to “destroy my own best ideas”. By arguing against what I believe, and finding problems with a given thesis, I can better understand if my beliefs are rational and the best available option.
It could have to do with the fact that when I was much younger, I wrote a letter to Warren Buffett asking him a question. He emailed back through his secretary, Debbie Bosnak, explaining that most everything he knew came from self-taught reading and study. Even today, a single good idea from a book can help make huge profits for us because we look at the problem a different way.
The whole company is designed so I can sit in a room and read, drink coffee, play video games, or do whatever I feel like at the time. To this day, opening these packages feels like Christmas morning, even years after I can afford almost anything I want. It just doesn’t get old.
(Thank God my habits are relatively cheap … some people are addicted to cocaine and hookers.)
