Carol Loomis, the Fortune journalist who has edited Buffett's shareholder letter since 1977, assembles 46 years of Fortune coverage of Buffett — including several pieces Buffett wrote himself — into a chronological narrative of Berkshire's growth. The collection covers Buffett's early partnership years, his acquisition of Berkshire, the Salomon Brothers crisis, the friendship with Bill Gates, the philanthropy pledge, and his evolving thinking on investments, taxes, and corporate governance. Buffett co-signed 500 copies for the 2013 annual meeting.
Loomis's collection is the best single-volume survey of Buffett's public thinking through the media lens, covering material the shareholder letters and biographies don't — his philanthropic commitments, the Salomon Brothers crisis from the public's perspective, and his occasional media essays and op-eds. For founders, the value is seeing how Buffett's philosophy survived exposure to public scrutiny, regulatory crisis, and the media's demand for instant opinions. The Salomon chapters alone are worth the book: Buffett as interim chairman navigating a scandal that could have destroyed the firm, deciding every day between transparency and legal caution, and setting the reputation standard he would later codify as the 'front-page test.'
The title's phrase — 'tap dancing to work' — is Buffett's own description of how he felt about his job, and it is part of his broader point that passion for the work itself is the only durable motivator.