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Posted

I just saw that he wrote a book in 2011,...

 

The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor (Columbia Business School Publishing)

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Most-Important-Thing-Thoughtful/dp/0231153686/

 

I'm on my second reading of it.  I read it initially when I bought it last summer after its release.  I didn't get much out of it..........OK, I didn't understand most of it.  ;D

 

The second reading is going well, I love it and can see reading it over and over again.

 

By the way, he released a "second edition" recently.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0231162847/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfoll-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0231162847

 

From the Amazon description,

Columbia Business School Publishing is proud to announce an innovative digital edition (with a print version to come in Fall 2012) of Marks's volume that allows readers to read the author's words alongside the comments, insights, and counterpoints of four renowned investors and investment educators: Christopher C. Davis (Davis Funds), Joel Greenblatt (Gotham Capital), Paul Johnson (Nicusa Capital), and Seth A. Klarman (Baupost Group). These experts lend insight into such concepts as "second-level thinking," the price/value relationship, patient opportunism, and defensive investing. Marks also adds his own annotations, expanding on the book's original themes and issues. This digital edition includes a new, twenty-first chapter on the importance of reasonable expectations....
Posted

I just saw that he wrote a book in 2011,...

 

The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor (Columbia Business School Publishing)

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Most-Important-Thing-Thoughtful/dp/0231153686/

 

The Most Important Thing is very good.  If you haven't read it; it is absolutely worth the time.  It's not overly technical; instead focusing on how to approach thinking about investing and risk. 

 

That second edition sounds really interesting.

Posted

That was great, other than the annoying women.  Seems like all these shows are filled with people looking at laptops and interrupting throughout the interview...

Posted

Thanks for posting.  It always seems like the anchor is yelling at the guest.  That must make it more appealing to the audience, but it would annoy the hell out of me if I was trying to respond to their questions.

 

 

Posted

Most of his writings are also available on the Oaktree website: http://www.oaktreecapital.com/memo.aspx .

 

From what I read on Amazon, the book mostly repeats / contains the advise given in these memo's. I recommend reading the memo's. They give a good overview of financial markets and what value investing is all about. However, it's all a very generic (basically boils down to: don't be stupid like other market participants) and I doubt whether the book contains significant extra material.

Posted

Most of his writings are also available on the Oaktree website: http://www.oaktreecapital.com/memo.aspx .

 

From what I read on Amazon, the book mostly repeats / contains the advise given in these memo's. I recommend reading the memo's. They give a good overview of financial markets and what value investing is all about. However, it's all a very generic (basically boils down to: don't be stupid like other market participants) and I doubt whether the book contains significant extra material.

 

While it's true that the book does contain a lot of excerpts from his client letters, it is organized with an overall narrative in mind and includes other relevant materials and thoughts that aren't in the letters.  Sure, it might be better if there were fewer or shorter excerpts and more fresh writing.  But, to dismiss the book as little more than a collection of his letters would be a mistake.

Posted

I've read all of his memos as well as the book, and would definitely recommend them all.  The book is a nice book-end, and is well worth reading, imo.

Posted

 

Thanks. I had only ever read Marks and seen photos of him. In the flesh he actually looks much younger than I expected. Anyone knows how old he is? I saw 66 somewhere, but I'm not sure it's a good source.

 

http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/officerProfile?symbol=OAK&officerId=1620874

 

The Most Important Things is a very good read . It might be repetitive from his newsletters but it doesn't mean the content is not good. My key takeaway from the book is that you do not need to time the market when using Value Investing Framework because the valuation itself will keep you out of the market when the price is too high and make you come back when the price is too low. And that might make you underperform the market in the short-term(few years) but in the long-run you should do better.

Posted

This book ranks as one of the best investing books - and would be in my list of the top 10 investing books of all time.

 

For such really key books, I try to summarize or take the key points and make short notes that I can review periodically. For those interested, here is a link to my notes for this book

 

http://vinodp.com/documents/general/MostImportantThing.pdf

 

Vinod

 

His book doesn't have any value for me.  I agree with every single thing he says, but it all seems to be stating the obvious.  Perhaps that's because I'm wired to be a value investor.  ???

Posted

His book doesn't have any value for me.  I agree with every single thing he says, but it all seems to be stating the obvious.  Perhaps that's because I'm wired to be a value investor.  ???

 

Or perhaps it's because you've read so much on the subject already (Buffett, etc) and because the basic ideas remain the same whoever says them... Maybe if you had come across this book before all of that it would have seemed more valuable.

 

Personally, I quite liked the book. I find a lot of value in reinforcing key concepts periodically.

Posted

His book doesn't have any value for me.  I agree with every single thing he says, but it all seems to be stating the obvious.  Perhaps that's because I'm wired to be a value investor.  ???

 

Or perhaps it's because you've read so much on the subject already (Buffett, etc) and because the basic ideas remain the same whoever says them... Maybe if you had come across this book before all of that it would have seemed more valuable.

 

Personally, I quite liked the book. I find a lot of value in reinforcing key concepts periodically.

 

It may be that extensive reading has colored my view of Marks' book.  I am a compulsive reader and  rereader of all the great books on investing.  The book publisher in me has the sense that Marks' book could be improved by including stories and examples that are lacking.  People learn more from vivid mental pictures than from didactic instruction, especially in a long work.

 

 

 

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