The main ideas in this booktrace their intellectual lineage to Benjamin Graham, whom I never knew but must thank posthumously, and Warren Buffett, whom I have the great fortune to know and from whose writings, talks, and conversations I have gained knowledge and insight. Neither of these men, of course, has any responsibility for this book’s content and no doubt would disagree with some of what it says, though it is written as a narrative interpretation of principles they developed, to which it tries to be faithful.