All I Want To Know Is Where I’m Going To Die So I’ll Never Go There

“I particularly recommend attention to the idea that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure—except it really isn’t often a mere pound. An ounce of prevention is often worth a ton of cure.” 

—Charlie Munger

The Greatest Gift: A Great Book

This summer I received a book from someone I do not personally know, have never met in person, or even talked to before for that matter. A familiar name though, and I was very surprised to say the least and also very grateful. Since there’s nothing better than a great book, a gift in the form of a great book must clearly be considered a great gift. Anyway, the book that I’m talking about here is All I Want To Know Is Where I’m Going To Die So I’ll Never Go There: Buffett & Munger – A Study in Simplicity and Uncommon, Common Sense, written by Peter Bevelin. Peter is also the author of a few other well-known books, namely Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger, A Few Lessons for Investors and Managers From Warren Buffett, and A Few Lessons from Sherlock Holmes.

Having disclosed these material circumstances I hope each and everyone reading this piece, by now, should be well aware of any bias on my side due to the fact that I received the book for free. Beyond this, also remember (how could anyone forget…) that I suffer from a serious degree of what is usually called the Buffett/Munger bias. For repeat visitors and readers of this blog this isn’t any surprise. Except for what has already been told, there’s no more significant matters to disclose for today, so let’s have a look at what this book is all about. Enjoy.

Seek and You Shall Find… Wisdom

All I Want To Know is a book about a fictitious character, the Seeker, visiting the Library of Wisdom where he (or she) meets the Librarian, also a fictitious character, together with Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. The Seeker has had his fair share of trouble and misery so far in his life and visits the Library of Wisdom with the intent to learn some basics about how to make better decisions, or rather, how to avoid making stupid ones.

Bevelin’s most recent book is a bit different compared to most other books, at least the book that I have come across earlier on. This is mostly due to the way it is structured; as an ongoing discussion and dialogue full of quotations from Buffett and Munger, and also from other, both known and unknown, people. In total we’re talking about 1827 quotes throughout the book. An exercise requiring a lot of hours, as well as some patience, to complete. Thus, what we have here is sort of an encyclopedia of quotes, arranged and all put together in different parts as a long talk with the full intent of sharing wisdom. In short, nothing but impressing.

The overall theme of the different conversations is: “All I want to know is where I’m going to die so I’ll never go there,” something Charlie Munger has been quoted as saying. The conversations cover a few different areas, not just business and investing but also decision-making in general. When it comes to business and investing the Seeker gets to listen and learn about what doesn’t and what does work, and also about different filters and rules that could be of benefit to the shrewd business analyst and investor.

If you’re already familiar with a lot of the stuff that’s been written over the years about Buffett and Munger there’s not much news here in the quotes themselves. Although I’m pretty sure that you’ll manage to find some quotes that you haven’t read before. This is, in my opinion not a bad thing, not at all, since all great things are worth rereading. But if you have not dug into the Buffett/Munger treasure throve yet, All I Want To Know offers a great starting point on the journey that lies ahead of you. Either way, together with the way that Bevelin has chosen to structure the book I am most certain that it will make for an interesting read for pretty much everyone. It could be said though, without embarrassment, that the book itself is a bit “heavy,” this due to the ongoing cavalcade of quotations with each page full of great discussions, insight and wisdom. But there’s no need to stress here, just keep calm and keep on reading and you’ll do just fine. As Walter Schloss once said; “Investing should be fun and challenging, not stressful and worrying.” Remember, the same applies to reading as well.

I highly recommend All I Want To Know to everyone with an interest in business analysis and investing. What we have here is nothing but a great book filled with numerous examples one should try to steer away from as well as insights about how to think about things, or how not to think about things. It’s a great book, and deserves to be read first once and then reread once or twice.

Links

• All I Want To Know Is Where I’m Going To Die So I’ll Never Go There: Buffett & Munger – A Study in Simplicity and Uncommon, Common Sense
• Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger
• A Few Lessons for Investors and Managers
• A Few Lessons from Sherlock Holmes

Disclosure: I received the book in this post without having to pay a cent. Regardless, as in any case when I haven’t received something, I only make recommendations I personally believe will be of benefit to my fellow readers. I cannot tell for sure whether the fact that I received the book for free made me write this post, i.e., reciprocation tendency. I sincerely hope that I would have written the same words in a situation where I had bought the book myself. Except for receiving the book for free (and the stamps on the envelope) I have not, and will not, be compensated in any way for any further writings etc.