Berkshire Hathaway Letters to Shareholders

Max Olson's compilation of Warren Buffett's complete Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters from 1965 onward, organized chronologically with an index. Olson self-published the collection as a reference work for Buffett followers who wanted the full text of every letter in a single bound volume, and Buffett has recommended it directly from the annual-meeting bookstall.

Buffett recommended this in his 2013 letter: 'One is Max Olson's compilation of Berkshire letters going back to 1965. The book includes an index that I find particularly useful, specifying page numbers for individuals, companies and subject matter.' For founders, Olson's compilation is the most complete single source of Buffett's own words — not filtered through biographers or journalists but straight from the annual letters he wrote to Berkshire shareholders for over 50 years. The index is the key: it lets a founder search by topic (insurance, acquisitions, succession, buybacks) and read everything Buffett has ever said on that subject without reading every letter cover to cover.

Founders should treat this as a reference work, not a cover-to-cover read. The letters are the primary source for everything else on the Buffett shelf — The Essays of Warren Buffett, Buffett's Bites, and Bevelin's A Few Lessons — and owning Olson's compilation gives a founder the raw material to check any interpretation against Buffett's actual words.