Stock Markets: Introductory comment

To most people, this will sound like a heresy--An English Literature Professor with an active interest in the stock markets! But I guess we are made of complex elements and if we going to be what E. M. Forster calls 'round characters' in his book, Aspects of the Novel, we jolly well have a number of interests in this world.

I have had an active interest in following stocks ever since I was studying in college. So, this heads back to the late 1980s. But my first investments were made in around 1995, which is still sometime ago.

And long ago, I made Warren Buffett a guru. I have always been inspired by him. I have read his biography and have read so much about him. I have also read the annual reports of his company, Berkshire Hathaway on his website www.berkshirehathaway.com and I have given extracts from his annual reports to my students as exercises in the translation class, where they could learn how such a giant of the world industry could use folksy humor.