The Clash of the Cultures (PDF)

Recommended Reading by Warren Buffet in his March 2013 Letter
to Shareholders

How speculation has come to dominate investment--a
hard-hitting look from the creator of the first index fund.

Over the course of his sixty-year career in the mutual fund
industry, Vanguard Group founder John C. Bogle has witnessed a
massive shift in the culture of the financial sector. The prudent,
value-adding culture of long-term investment has been crowded out
by an aggressive, value-destroying culture of short-term
speculation. Mr. Bogle has not been merely an eye-witness to these
changes, but one of the financial sector's most active
participants. In The Clash of the Cultures, he urges a return to
the common sense principles of long-term investing.

Provocative and refreshingly candid, this book discusses Mr.
Bogle's views on the changing culture in the mutual fund industry,
how speculation has invaded our national retirement system, the
failure of our institutional money managers to effectively
participate in corporate governance, and the need for a federal
standard of fiduciary duty.

Mr. Bogle recounts the history of the index mutual fund, how he
created it, and how exchange-traded index funds have altered its
original concept of long-term investing. He also presents a
first-hand history of Wellington Fund, a real-world case study on
the success of investment and the failure of speculation. The book
concludes with ten simple rules that will help investors meet their
financial goals. Here, he presents a common sense strategy that
"may not be the best strategy ever devised. But the number of
strategies that are worse is infinite."

The Clash of the Cultures: Investment vs. Speculation
completes the trilogy of best-selling books, beginning with
Bogle on Investing: The First 50 Years (2001) and Don't
Count on It! (2011)