Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger

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Weekly book 18: Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger

Charlie Munger passed away at the end of last year at age 99. I am ashamed that I only now read Poor Charlie’s Almanack, which gathers the essence of his thinking. It can be considered the product of 80 years of his intellectual wisdom, since the third edition of the original book was completed in 2008. Recently I have read too many success books, and I am truly full of expectation and confidence about the future and myself.

Read biographies and study those successful lives, as well as those lives that left regrets or met failure.

None of Munger’s successful friends disliked reading.

“Rapidly destroy what should not be done, then launch a skilled, multidisciplinary attack on what should be done, and then, when the right opportunity arrives - only when the right opportunity arrives - act decisively.” This is very similar to the thinking in The Art of War. The Art of War truly deserves to be a three-thousand-year classic, a summary of human wisdom.

  1. The best way to simplify a problem is usually to first solve the big questions whose answers are obvious.
  2. Galileo said that only mathematics can reveal the true face of science, because mathematics seems to be the language of God.
  3. It is not enough to think about problems only in the forward direction; you must also think in reverse.
  4. The best and most practical wisdom is basic academic command. Premise: think in a multidisciplinary way.
  5. The lollapalooza effect usually appears only under the combined action of several factors.

Einstein: my achievements depend on four factors. First is self-criticism, and only then curiosity, concentration, and perseverance.

I just want to know where I will die in the future, so I will never go there.

The later part contains many speeches. Some of the content is similar, and in fact there is an inheritance relationship. Talk 11 is the longest and also the most comprehensive.