George Washington

Tue, 10/12/2010 - 09:47

 From Lorax: 

Alice,

 Apologies for sticking this post in the wrong place, but I don't know how to start a new topic...Way back when, I brought to your attention The Ascent of George Washington, by John Ferling. It comes to mind because Ron Chernow's new biography of Washington has just come out to rave reviews. I'm curious if you ever had a chance to read the Ferling book, and if so, what you thought of it.

Hi Lorax, I still haven't read it; I've been reading Hitch 22 and The World Is What It Is (V.S. Naipul's biography). I like contemporary memoir and biography because their willing self-disclosure often more than makes up for the lack of extensive primary sourcing. Anyway, now that Chernow is out, which would you recommend? 

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Fri, 10/15/2010 - 03:33 — John Klein

Sorry for posting in the wrong place...

So, I am sorry for posting this in the wrong place, but I wanted to make sure you would see it, Alice. I am wondering about Buffett's time in college. Do you know if he liked college? Do you know what kinds of grades he got, or what his final college GPA was? It seems to me that he was the type that did ok, but not great, in college and classes because he was too busy working on what he thought was more important. How much can you tell us about these years?

Everyone that has been around him says that he is very, very smart, but I am wondering if more of this is from his intense and continuous learning in his life. Munger, I think, is just innately smart, but I get the feeling that Buffett is somehow different. What I mean is, if someone met Buffett and Munger when those 2 were 20, everyone would say that Munger was very smart, but how many would say Buffett was?

Thu, 10/21/2010 - 20:15 — Anonymous

John, The questions you ask

John,

The questions you ask are actually covered in quite a bit of detail in The Snowball. It is not appropriate for a biographer to make overly directly or simplistic pronouncements on these questions after a point, but Alice very much gives the context you need to reach your own conclusions in her book.

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