Each year, I travel to Omaha, Nebraska to attend the annual Berkshire-Hathaway shareholder convention. It’s sometimes referred to as “Woodstock for capitalists,” and that’s a pretty good way to describe it: thousands of tuxedo-clad rich people hanging out together and listening to Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger speak.

I’m not a shareholder – I just buy my tickets on ebay for $5, since Buffett makes them available to everybody who wants to attend. The convention weekend is always filled with all sorts of Berkshire-related activities, such as special sales at Nebraska Furniture Mart (owned by Berkshire-Hathaway) or the famous jewelry store Borsheim’s (ditto). The main event, though, is a 7-hour-long Q&A session with Buffett and Munger. This year, 46,000 people (!) came to Omaha to listen to an 80-year-old investor and his 86-year-old sidekick speak for seven hours. On a good year, some of the questions they answer provide a priceless insight into the world of finance, investing, etc. Then again, there are always random questions about their favorite sports teams, blatant requests for stock tips (asked by seemingly intelligent people such as Tim Ferriss), and so on.

This year’s Q&A (which starts in just 10 hours!) should be mighty interesting. Buffett’s rogue biographer, Alice Schroeder, has a pretty good write-up of things to expect from tomorrow’s meeting. Given the sheer number of controversies and new developments that took place over the past year, this just might turn into a roast of Warren Buffett. There is reason to believe that he’ll try to divert everyone’s attention from the Sokol scandal by unveiling some new developments – this week’s gradual growth in Berkshire’s stock value suggests that I’m not the only one expecting good news.

I went to the annual book-signing event earlier today – it’s essentially a meet-and-greet opportunity where one can buy autographed books about Buffett and chat with their authors. (And there’s free ice cream as well!) Walking through those aisles, I was amazed by the sheer number of titles that were essentially clones of one another, regurgitating the same old information that anybody can find online in less than five minutes. Some guy even wrote a book about the grocery store that Buffett’s grandfather used to own. Lessons learned: people will buy anything that has Buffett’s name on it. I should look into that…

A few of the books got my attention, but instead of buying an overpriced physical book (as opposed to a Kindle download), I simply wrote down their titles and will look for them at my local library. Judging by the long, long line of shareholders who lined up to buy those books,  Buffett’s number-one principle (“Never lose money”) is not so easy to follow… I might buy those books if I really like them after I’m done reading them (after all, that’s what libraries are for) – I’m not the sort of a greedy mooch who would rather photocopy a book than pay for it – but if there’s a legal way to access information without paying for it, I’d try it first.