The book that's been called the "Warren Buffett Bible" just got even bigger.
Just in time for the annual Berkshire Hathaway meeting in Omaha, Andy Kilpatrick has finished up the latest version of his encyclopedic-like biography of Warren Buffett.
Kilpatrick's "Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett" is now a trilogy, packed with 2,000 pages and 1,600 photos that tell the tale of Buffett's life and career at Berkshire.
Three volumes is a first for Kilpatrick's self-published tome. Last year's "Woodstock Edition" was a mere two volumes and 1,900 pages. I've been reading that edition off and on for the past several months and am now about done with the first volume.
Kilpatrick's book differs from other Buffett biographies in that it doesn't really attempt to weave together the story of Berkshire and Buffett into narrative form. Rather it reads like a series of articles, each of which tells a small part of the remarkable history.
For people interested in earning a degree in Buffettology, "Of Permanent Value" is a must. Readers will come away knowing every minutiae about Berkshire and how Buffett built it into the $200 billion empire it is today. Kilpatrick also turns up little nuggets such as the time Buffett caddied for Tiger Woods (pre-scandal) and the biographical details of the largely anonymous dozen and a half people who work behind the scenes with the Oracle of Omaha at Berkshire's world headquarters.
That Kilpatrick structures his book as a series of articles is no surprise given his background. His father, Carroll Kilpatrick, was White House correspondent for The Washington Post from 1961 until 1975, and Andy Kilpatrick's interest in Buffett started when Berkshire began pouring money into the Post near the end of those years.
Kilpatrick himself was a newspaper reporter for 20 years in Birmingham, Ala., where he still lives. He's now a stockbroker for Wells Fargo Advisors but says the book remains his passion.
The book first appeared in 1992 as "Warren Buffett: The Good Guy of Wall Street," which was a mere 300-pager. In 1994 Kilpatrick started self-publishing the book, which appeared for the first time that year as "Of Permanent Value," a title it has retained since.
McGraw-Hill picked it up in 1998 and 2000 but later decided sales (8,000 and 5,000, respectively) were too small and the book too large to be a commercial success. Kilpatrick has self-published it since, selling about 2,000 copies a year. It's been used in a course at Stanford Business School.
He revises it at least every other year and gives each edition a different name. This year, appropriately, is the "Trilogy Edition." It involves a couple of hundred new pages of material, including Berkshire's purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. The picture on the back cover shows Buffett sitting on a BNSF train wearing a conducter's hat.
Kilpatrick has lunched with Buffett three times and has run into him on several other occasions. He has attended every Berkshire annual meeting since 1983, and he'll be there again this year. He plans to sell signed copies of "Of Permanent Value" at the Qwest Center's Bookworm booth during the May 1 meeting.
Kilpatrick told Buffett in 1990 that he planned to write the book. Buffett didn't grant an interview but said his friends and family could do so if they wanted. Many did. Kilpatrick sends Buffett the first book of each edition and says Buffett usually replies with a funny note saying something like, "Thanks for the book, but it's a bit skimpy."
Like Buffett, Kilpatrick has a wonderfully self-deprecating sense of humor (I've only e-mailed with him and read much of his book, but it's obvious just from that). He refers to his company as AKPE -- Andy Kilpatrick Publishing Empire. He jokes that the $70 price tag for the hefty "Of Permanent Value" includes $1 for the book and $69 for shipping.
That's not cheap, but for fans of Buffett it'll be well-worth the price.
Also check out: Just in time for the annual Berkshire Hathaway meeting in Omaha, Andy Kilpatrick has finished up the latest version of his encyclopedic-like biography of Warren Buffett.
Kilpatrick's "Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett" is now a trilogy, packed with 2,000 pages and 1,600 photos that tell the tale of Buffett's life and career at Berkshire.
Three volumes is a first for Kilpatrick's self-published tome. Last year's "Woodstock Edition" was a mere two volumes and 1,900 pages. I've been reading that edition off and on for the past several months and am now about done with the first volume.
Kilpatrick's book differs from other Buffett biographies in that it doesn't really attempt to weave together the story of Berkshire and Buffett into narrative form. Rather it reads like a series of articles, each of which tells a small part of the remarkable history.
For people interested in earning a degree in Buffettology, "Of Permanent Value" is a must. Readers will come away knowing every minutiae about Berkshire and how Buffett built it into the $200 billion empire it is today. Kilpatrick also turns up little nuggets such as the time Buffett caddied for Tiger Woods (pre-scandal) and the biographical details of the largely anonymous dozen and a half people who work behind the scenes with the Oracle of Omaha at Berkshire's world headquarters.
That Kilpatrick structures his book as a series of articles is no surprise given his background. His father, Carroll Kilpatrick, was White House correspondent for The Washington Post from 1961 until 1975, and Andy Kilpatrick's interest in Buffett started when Berkshire began pouring money into the Post near the end of those years.
Kilpatrick himself was a newspaper reporter for 20 years in Birmingham, Ala., where he still lives. He's now a stockbroker for Wells Fargo Advisors but says the book remains his passion.
The book first appeared in 1992 as "Warren Buffett: The Good Guy of Wall Street," which was a mere 300-pager. In 1994 Kilpatrick started self-publishing the book, which appeared for the first time that year as "Of Permanent Value," a title it has retained since.
McGraw-Hill picked it up in 1998 and 2000 but later decided sales (8,000 and 5,000, respectively) were too small and the book too large to be a commercial success. Kilpatrick has self-published it since, selling about 2,000 copies a year. It's been used in a course at Stanford Business School.
He revises it at least every other year and gives each edition a different name. This year, appropriately, is the "Trilogy Edition." It involves a couple of hundred new pages of material, including Berkshire's purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. The picture on the back cover shows Buffett sitting on a BNSF train wearing a conducter's hat.
Kilpatrick has lunched with Buffett three times and has run into him on several other occasions. He has attended every Berkshire annual meeting since 1983, and he'll be there again this year. He plans to sell signed copies of "Of Permanent Value" at the Qwest Center's Bookworm booth during the May 1 meeting.
Kilpatrick told Buffett in 1990 that he planned to write the book. Buffett didn't grant an interview but said his friends and family could do so if they wanted. Many did. Kilpatrick sends Buffett the first book of each edition and says Buffett usually replies with a funny note saying something like, "Thanks for the book, but it's a bit skimpy."
Like Buffett, Kilpatrick has a wonderfully self-deprecating sense of humor (I've only e-mailed with him and read much of his book, but it's obvious just from that). He refers to his company as AKPE -- Andy Kilpatrick Publishing Empire. He jokes that the $70 price tag for the hefty "Of Permanent Value" includes $1 for the book and $69 for shipping.
That's not cheap, but for fans of Buffett it'll be well-worth the price.
