Why is Warren Buffett a Hero?

Should I buy Cunningham's publication of Warren Buffett's essays or just print out all the available writings on Berkshire's website?

• I was thinking about buying Lawrence Cunningham's editorial of Warren's essays (http://www.amazon.com/The-Essays-Warren-Buffett-Corporate/dp/1611634091/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top), until I found out that all of Warren's essays are actually available on Berkshire's site for free. What should I do? What value is there to be gained from buying Cunningham's version, assuming that printing costs do not matter?

• Answer:

  The Essays of Warren Buffett is an easy read, and the main benefit is to save on time. You'll get the key lessons. One downside: I don't know if it has been reprinted, but my version is a decade old, so you are missing everything from the dotcom crash onward. I got a ton of  value reading all of Buffett's letters from the early partnership through to current Berkshire Hathaway letters. There is so much information and insight, most of this revolves around how Buffett has changed over time. We've all heard the CNBC sound bytes from the last few years as Buffett has becoming a rockstar, but his strategies were far different in the early days. The downside of the essays is that it will take you quite a while to read through everything. Depending on how you want to take notes, you can spend 1-4 hours per year, and after almost 60 years the time adds up. Well worth it if you are a true disciple though :)