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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The three sages dance to their own music, September 27, 2009
This review is from: The Sages: Warren Buffett, George Soros, Paul Volcker, and the Maelstrom of Markets (Hardcover)
Morris does a nice job summarizing some of their key accomplishments. While doing that, the reader will learn about some important events in the past forty years or so. The book is divided into four chapters. One chapter is dedicated to each sage and the final chapter is some of the author's thoughts and insights on capitalism and the markets. He interviewed Soros and Volcker but did not have direct access to Buffett.
This is not a light read. Like his previous book, "Trillion Dollar Meltdown", background knowledge of finance and economics makes the reader appreciate the book more. The casual reader who wants to learn about these three important figures may get confused at some of the more intricate financial parts of the book. I greatly respect the three sages but I disagree with the author that the three saw the 2008 crisis coming. While they might have known that we were on a path of destruction, even they did not know how and when it would manifest itself in the real world. If they did, you can be sure that Soros and Buffett would have made billions more than they did at that time.
Soros has written many books. Morris summarizes Soros' philosophies on philanthropy and investing. Large section is dedicated to recounting Soros' one year diary in the 1980's. Unlike, Buffett, Soros' investing strategies are mysterious. Aside from very general theories and thoughts, Soros has not described how he goes about making investing decisions. Soros' son even acknowledges that his father's back pain may influence his investing decisions more than anything else. I am skeptical of his son's anecdote (which Soros, himself, does not deny) given Soros' amazing success.
I have read extensively on Buffett so I got very little out of that chapter, but if you know little about Buffett, then you may find it worthwhile. This chapter is based on what has already been written about Buffett and his own letters to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. If you have read Schroeder's "Snowball", then perhaps you, too will find little new in this section.
I got the most out of the Volcker section mostly because I knew least about him. Morris' account of how Volcker managed to break inflation was interesting. He takes you behind the scenes of the Fed at the time.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
wisdom of the sages, September 19, 2009
This review is from: The Sages: Warren Buffett, George Soros, Paul Volcker, and the Maelstrom of Markets (Hardcover)
This book on the "longest recession in postwar history," is made up of three biographical essays about three men who have lived this and previous economic disasters of recent times: Buffet, Soros, and Volcker. Warren Buffet and George Soros are consummate investors; Economist Paul Volcker is a crisis-solver - an inflation slayer, more graphically.
The author wants to understand from these VIPs how and why most experts failed, and only a few succeeded, to see the coming of this near-depression recession. Other experts like Paul Krugman have offered their explanations. What is new in this book is that Soros has warned of the gathering "'superbubble' in the 1990s (p. viii)." Buffet worried about financial excesses even earlier than Soros. Apparently close friendly and colleagues have known for a long time of Volcker's concerns about the states of the US and global economies, but the ex-Fed Chairman kept quiet because he did not want his worries to undermine the authority of his successor.
Why did these men see what many didn't see? - because they are not dogmatists; they are commonsense pragmatists. Instead of allowing blind fixation with quantitative idiocy of late, the three VIPs avoided dogma with high integrity and preparedness to accept mistakes and to move on with enthusiasm. History is part teacher and part cheerleader here. Volcker saw the strengths and weaknesses of Keynesian policy in dealing with the inflation of the 1965-1980. Soros and Buffet made billions of dollars in good and bad economic times. All three sages respect free markets, but they also understand that freedom has its limits. Ideal efficient markets assume a statistical person pursuing her/his self-interests (maximum satisfaction = utility). Unfortunately application of that model to real life is a folly, because financial markets play dice with other people's money.
If you like historical biographies, you will love this book. And there are new facts to learn. Did you know, for example, that Soros' Open Society organization is named after Karl Popper's book Open Society and Its Enemies (1945)"? Interesting stuff.
Amavilah, Author
Modeling Determinants of Income in Embedded Economies
ISBN: 1600210465
ISBN: 1600210465
Quotable Arthur Schopenhauer
ISBN: 9781430324959
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14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not Very Actionable -, July 18, 2009
This review is from: The Sages: Warren Buffett, George Soros, Paul Volcker, and the Maelstrom of Markets (Hardcover)
Morris tells us that true believers of free-market fundamentalism oversaw the great asset bubble of 1995-2005, three men stood out as beacons of sound judgment and wisdom - Buffett, Soros, and Volcker. He tells us that he book largely comprises their extended biographical essays, plus a concluding essay drawing together their insights. Except it doesn't - yes, we get biographies of the three as promised, but the concluding essay lacks the promised value. Thus, readers are simply left with short biographies of three 20th century financial giants.
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