Security Analysis: Sixth Edition, Foreword by Warren Buffett: Principles and Technique (PROFESSIONAL FINANCE & INVESTM) Hardcover – 16 Oct. 2008

I have the same confession as Glenn Greenberg's (the one who wrote the intro to Part V of this book): I never read Security Analysis back in school, although I did read The Intelligent Investor. Many years into my career in investment research, I finally got around to writing about how I regret not picking up the book earlier. I would consider this a must-read, both as a textbook and a practical guide, for serious securities analysis professionals.My experience with reading this book has been wonderful. Not only did I pick up various specific lessons that would be valuable for my career in the stock market (particularly on behavioral biases, such as the market's tendency to value management quality twice), I also came to appreciate the various aspects about Ben Graham as a person:1. VISIONThe book helps you understand why Ben Graham is considered a 'man of ideas', whose investment philosophies transcend time. Decades after the various editions of this book were published, such ideas as 'speculation focuses primarily on, and attempts to profit from, the unknown future' as well as the classic 'margin of safety' would have served to prevent the dotcom or the subprime mortgage crashes. Moreover, observations such as that the P/E ratio was arbitrarily applied ('sometimes to the past, sometimes to the present, sometimes to the near future') still resonate with current practices in many markets.2. LOGICBen Graham was mathematically inclined. After all, he did elect to major in math at Columbia. Reflecting this, his writing consisted of many instructive guidelines that are both illuminating and elegantly succinct, like what you would expect of a mathematical equality. This makes it so easy for readers to quote his wisdom. Consider this sentence: 'It may be said, with some approximation to the truth, that investment is grounded on the past whereas speculation looks primarily to the future.' (although this is not a complete statement).3. CREATIVITYBen Graham's intellectual capacity is by no means confined to quantitative analysis. A reflection of his being offered post-graduation employment in English, math and philosophy, Ben Graham eventually went on to co-write a Broadway play, develop a patented Morse-code-based system, and translate a Spanish novel. In his writing, you would find such flair of his creativity as this: 'An indefinite and approximate measure of the intrinsic value may be sufficient. To use a homely simile, it is quite possible to decide by inspection that a woman is old enough to vote without knowing her age.'4. GENEROSITYWarren Buffett was impressed by Ben when he used his own stock picks as examples in his class at Columbia, thereby revealing his trade secrets, perhaps to his financial detriment. This tendency to be so generous is reflected in the book: the 'Dean of Wall Street' was so deeply concerned with the well-being of the laymen investor in the stock market that he lashed out on Wall Street as an institution, which he himself was part of. Warren Buffett was lucky to be at the receiving end of Ben's generosity.Note that this is still essentially a book about the technicality and psychology involved in the job of a security analyst. To obtain a more detailed picture of Ben Graham as a person, I would recommend his own Memoirs book, or The Einstein of Money by Joe Carlen.

Brilliant book.Every investor should read it

This is not a classic. This is THE classic.It is very outdated in many ways, with outdated examples and rants on long forgotten legislature. But the calculations and examples that illustrate the basic calculations to work a set of financial statements are simple, diligent and beautiful.And don't kid yourself: the thinking behind his principles is rock solid. He carefully tries to develop a framework to distinguish investments and speculation. To rationally analyse the conceptual possibility of of technical analysis. And so on. The gems still shine, even though the wrapping is old.Plus: the introductions are worth the money themselves. Very high grade investors (Seth Klarman, Howard Marks etc.) who muse on the books importance for their field.Gold.

Benjamin Grahams classic on value investment👍

Most people will understandably get bored of this book. But for those who are very serious about learning about stocks, markets, trends, etc it is a very good book covering both principles (similar to those covered in The Intelligent Investor) and practical applications/examples.A lot of people I know who have read and enjoyed One Up on Wall Street, The Intelligent Investor, Essays of W.B., common stocks and uncommon profits, and more of these shorter and concise books abandoned this book very early on after I had recommended it to them. Considering it is quite an expensive book, I would now only recommend it to professionals who want a reminder of the father's (B. Graham) principles and analyses of more recent events.My opinion: great book, very interesting to get the perspectives of multiple security analysts and investors on recent events, detailed, and worth the 30 pounds. However a lot of the original 1940 text is missing from this version and cheaply (also very inconveniently) placed onto a CD.The deletion or archiving of these old chapters onto a CD is a problem for many people including me. People often find that The Intelligent Investor in its new edition with commentary from Jason Zweig takes too much away from Graham's original principles. They read too much into Zweig and not enough into Graham. So they usually read the original text first and then the new edition with Zweig. But this is your call.

Both the book, packaging and delivery were excellent.

What a great book! It is amazing to see how many rules of graham that worked back then, are still applicable today.It is also nice to see about the mistakes investors made back then are still made today (bubbles)

My husband wanted this and he never reads book but he has been glued to this as finance is his passion! Great delivery - it is a heavy book so beware!