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

Charlie Munger died in 2023 at ninety-nine, having spent decades as Warren Buffett’s partner at Berkshire Hathaway and as one of the more genuinely unusual minds in American finance. Poor Charlie’s Almanack collects his speeches and writings around the concept he returned to throughout his life: the value of a latticework of mental models—drawing from multiple disciplines to reason about problems rather than applying a single framework mechanically. The book covers investing, psychology, ethics, and decision-making, often simultaneously. Munger was blunt to the point of rudeness, deeply read, and constitutionally uninterested in flattery. The writing has his voice. Readers looking for a standard business book will be surprised: this is closer to a work of practical philosophy than a guide to stock picking, though the investment thinking is also excellent. Best for readers willing to do the intellectual work the book demands.