Starting from scratch, simply by picking stocks and companies for investment, Warren Buffett has amassed an astonishing fortune - a net worth of $64 billion and counting. His awesome investment record has made him a cult figure popularly known for his seeming contradictions: he is a billionaire with a modest lifestyle, a phenomenally successful investor who eschews the revolving-door trading of modern Wall Street, a brilliant dealmaker who cultivates a homespun aura.Journalist Roger Lowenstein draws on three years of unprecedented access to Buffett's family, friends and colleagues to provide this definitive inside account of the life and career of this American original. He explains Buffett's investment strategy - a long-term philosophy grounded in buying stock in companies that are undervalued on the market and hanging on until their worth invariably surfaces - and shows how it is a reflection of the character of the man himself. And in a brand new afterword, in the wake of the news that Buffett has decided to give the bulk of his fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, Lowenstein reflects on the largest charitable donation in American history.