I Have Ordered My Copy: The Snowball: Warren Buffett And The Business of Life

"Life is like a snowball. The really important thing is finding wet snow and a really long hill."

That's where former Morgan Stanley insurance analyst Alice Schroeder got the idea for the title for her book on Warren Book. It's called The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life .

Here is the editorial review on Amazon.

• Product Description
  Here is THE book recounting the life and times of one of the most respected men in the world, Warren Buffett. The legendary Omaha investor has never written a memoir, but now he has allowed one writer, Alice Schroeder, unprecedented access to explore directly with him and with those closest to him his work, opinions, struggles, triumphs, follies, and wisdom. The result is the personally revealing and complete biography of the man known everywhere as “The Oracle of Omaha.”
  
  Although the media track him constantly, Buffett himself has never told his full life story. His reality is private, especially by celebrity standards. Indeed, while the homespun persona that the public sees is true as far as it goes, it goes only so far. Warren Buffett is an array of paradoxes. He set out to prove that nice guys can finish first. Over the years he treated his investors as partners, acted as their steward, and championed honesty as an investor, CEO, board member, essayist, and speaker. At the same time he became the world’s richest man, all from the modest Omaha headquarters of his company Berkshire Hathaway. None of this fits the term “simple.”
  
  When Alice Schroeder met Warren Buffett she was an insurance industry analyst and a gifted writer known for her keen perception and business acumen. Her writings on finance impressed him, and as she came to know him she realized that while much had been written on the subject of his investing style, no one had moved beyond that to explore his larger philosophy, which is bound up in a complex personality and the details of his life. Out of this came his decision to cooperate with her on the book about himself that he would never write.
  
  Never before has Buffett spent countless hours responding to a writer’s questions, talking, giving complete access to his wife, children, friends, and business associates—opening his files, recalling his childhood. It was an act of courage, as The Snowball makes immensely clear. Being human, his own life, like most lives, has been a mix of strengths and frailties. Yet notable though his wealth may be, Buffett’s legacy will not be his ranking on the scorecard of wealth; it will be his principles and ideas that have enriched people’s lives. This book tells you why Warren Buffett is the most fascinating American success story of our time.
  
  About the Author
  Author Alice Schroeder was a noted insurance industry analyst and writer who was a managing director at Morgan Stanley. She first met Warren Buffett when she published research on Berkshire Hathaway; her grasp of the subject and insight so impressed him that he offered her access to his files and to himself. Their friendship and mutual respect make her ideally positioned to write the The Snowball.
  
  Ms. Schroeder was born in Texas, and she earned an undergraduate degree and her MBA at the University of Texas at Austin before moving east to work in finance. She is a former CPA and lives in Connecticut with her husband.

And here is an article from Reuters, Authorized Warren Buffett biography due September 29

• NEW YORK (Reuters) - The long-awaited authorized biography of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, the first written with his cooperation, is scheduled for release on September 29, the publisher said on Monday.
  
  The 976-page book is being written by former Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - News) insurance analyst Alice Schroeder, and is titled "The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life," publisher Bantam Dell Publishing Group said.
  
  Schroeder first met Buffett while working as an analyst, and covered Buffett's insurance and investment company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRK-A - News; NYSE:BRK-B - News).
  
  According to the publisher, Schroeder has spent "thousands of hours" with Buffett, talking about his life and career, and winning broad access to his files and friends.
  
  The book had been scheduled for a May release in conjunction with Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting, but was delayed.
  
  Its title comes from a reported comment by Buffett: "Life is like a snowball. The really important thing is finding wet snow and a really long hill."
  
  Schroeder's book earlier had the title "The Snowball: How Warren Buffett Collected Friends, Wisdom and Wealth."
  
  Buffett has transformed Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire since 1965 into a roughly $179 billion conglomerate with at least 76 companies selling such things as car insurance, ice cream, paint and underwear, and investing in stocks.
  
  Forbes magazine in March called Buffett the world's richest person, worth about $62 billion. Buffett is giving away most of his wealth to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and four family charities.
  
  Bantam Dell, a division of Bertelsmann AG (BERT.UL) unit Random House Inc, said the biography's cover price is $35, a tiny fraction of the cost of buying one Berkshire share. In afternoon trading, Berkshire's Class A shares were up $2,350 at $118,100, while its Class B shares were up $87 at $3,935.

I have just made my pre-order of this copy from Amazon!