tailieunhanh - The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book On Value part 2

The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book On Value part 2. The purpose of this book is to supply, in a form suitable for laymen, guidance in the adoption and execution of an investment policy. Comparatively little will be said here about the technique of analyzing securities; attention will be paid chiefly to investment principles and investors’ attitudes. We shall, however, provide a number of condensed comparisons of specific securities - chiefly in pairs appearing side by side in the New York Stock Exchange list in order to bring home in concrete fashion the important elements involved in specific choices of common stocks | ix Preface to the Fourth Edition BENJAMIN GRAHAM 1894-1976 Several years ago Ben Graham then almost eighty expressed to a friend the thought that he hoped every day to do something foolish something creative and something generous. The inclusion of that first whimsical goal reflected his knack for packaging ideas in a form that avoided any overtones of sermonizing or self-importance. Although his ideas were powerful their delivery was unfailingly gentle. Readers of this magazine need no elaboration of his achievements as measured by the standard of creativity. It is rare that the founder of a discipline does not find his work eclipsed in rather short order by successors. But over forty years after publication of the book that brought structure and logic to a disorderly and confused activity it is difficult to think of possible candidates for even the runner-up position in the field of security analysis. In an area where much looks foolish within weeks or months after publication Ben s principles have remained sound their value often enhanced and better understood in the wake of financial storms that demolished flimsier intellectual structures. His counsel of soundness brought unfailing rewards to his followers even to those with natural abilities inferior to more gifted practitioners who stumbled while following counsels of brilliance or fashion. A remarkable aspect of Ben s dominance of his professional field was that he achieved it without that narrowness of mental activity that concentrates all effort on a single end. It was rather the incidental by-product of an intellect whose breadth almost exceeded definition. Certainly I have never met anyone with a mind of similar scope. Virtually total recall unending fascination with new knowledge and an ability to recast it in a form applicable to seemingly unrelated problems made exposure to his thinking in any field a delight. But his third imperative generosity was where he succeeded beyond all others. I knew Ben as