 Gilden Media, a division of recorded books, presents Damn Right! Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger revised by Janet Lowe. Narrated by Tom Parks. FORWARD Late in the summer of 1991 I appeared before a House subcommittee chaired by Congressman Ed Markey to answer questions about the Salomon scandal. The hearing room was piled high with TV and print reporters, and I was more than a little nervous when Chairman Markey led off with his first question. He wanted to know whether the reprehensible behavior that had occurred at Salomon was characteristic of Wall Street, or rather, as he put it, sui generis. Normally I would have panicked at the introduction of such a strange-sounding term. In high school I barely made it through elementary Spanish and never came close to Latin. But I had no trouble with sui generis. After all, I knew a walking, talking example. Charlie Munger, my long-time friend and partner. Charlie truly is one of a kind. I recognized that in 1959 when I first met him, and I have been discovering unique qualities in him ever since. Anyone who has had even the briefest contact with Charlie would tell you the same. But usually they would be thinking of his, shall we say, behavioral style. Miss Manners clearly would need to do a lot of work on Charlie before she could grant him a diploma. To me, however, what makes Charlie special is his character. It's true that his mind is breathtaking. He's as bright as any person I've ever met, and at 76 still has a memory I would kill for. He was born, though, with these abilities. It's how he has elected to use them that makes me regard him so highly. In forty-one years I have never seen Charlie try to take advantage of anyone, nor have I seen him claim the least bit of credit for anything that he didn't do. In fact, I've witnessed exactly the opposite. He has knowingly let me and others have the better end of a deal. And he has also always shouldered more than his share of the blame when things go wrong, and accepted less than his share of credit when the reverse has been true. He is generous in the deepest sense, and never lets ego interfere with rationality. Unlike most individuals who hunger for the world's approval, Charlie judges himself entirely by an inner scorecard, and he is a tough grader. On Business Matters, Charlie and I agree a very high percentage of the time. Sample complete. Ready to continue?