40 Chances
Finding Hope in a Hungry World
by Howard G. Buffett
Reading Profile
Should I read this?
A candid mix of field reporting, personal memoir, and pragmatic argument about trying to address food insecurity. The author lays out repeated projects, frank failures, and the lessons he drew from them, which makes this useful for people deciding how to deploy money or pilot interventions. Annoying if you prefer rigorous comparative data or tight policy prescriptions—the book stays in anecdote and reflection rather than systematic metrics. Best read in short chunks so the lessons land without the midbook repetition wearing you down.
Read this if...
- •a foundation program officer deciding whether to fund pilots or scale existing projects — useful for weighing the trade-offs of risky small bets and learning cycles before larger commitments
- •an NGO director running agricultural or food-security pilots in low-resource settings — helpful as a source of practical cautionary tales and decision points from on-the-ground attempts
- •a social entrepreneur or impact investor debating bold bets versus incremental testing — good for thinking about failure tolerance, adapting plans, and when to stop or double down
Skip this if...
- •you'll likely put it down when the book moves into long, project-by-project anecdotes that recycle the same point about learning from failure and humility
- •annoying if you prefer dense, evidence-driven analysis or comparative metrics rather than first-person stories and descriptive field notes
- •not a how-to: lacks hands-on exercises or a step-by-step grantmaking/playbook approach, so avoid it if you wanted a practical implementation manual
With a foreword by Warren Buffett, 40 Chances is an “inspiring manifesto…both an informative guidebook and a catalyst for igniting real changes” (Booklist) in the struggle against world hunger.If someone granted you $3 billion to accomplish something great in the world, what would you do In 2006, legendary investor Warren Buffett posed this challe...
Before You Buy
Reading Specifications
Difficulty:hard
Audience Fit
- a foundation program officer deciding whether to fund pilots or scale existing projects — useful for weighing the trade-offs of risky small bets and learning cycles before larger commitments
- an NGO director running agricultural or food-security pilots in low-resource settings — helpful as a source of practical cautionary tales and decision points from on-the-ground attempts
- a social entrepreneur or impact investor debating bold bets versus incremental testing — good for thinking about failure tolerance, adapting plans, and when to stop or double down
- you'll likely put it down when the book moves into long, project-by-project anecdotes that recycle the same point about learning from failure and humility
- annoying if you prefer dense, evidence-driven analysis or comparative metrics rather than first-person stories and descriptive field notes
- not a how-to: lacks hands-on exercises or a step-by-step grantmaking/playbook approach, so avoid it if you wanted a practical implementation manual
Check formats, pricing, and availability options for Kindle, physical print, or audiobooks directly.
View available editions on AmazonKey themes
Why recommended
Recommended by 2 sources and appears in Books Recommended by Warren Buffett, Most Recommended Books, and Nonfiction.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Warren Buffett
Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
“Forgive a parent when I say I couldn't be more proud of him, as would his mother be if she were alive to watch him. As you read his words, you will understand why.”
Appears In
Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. Recommended by 54 sources.
“Phil Knight’s memoir is a raw, first-person sprint through Nike’s chaotic early years, loaded with near-bankruptcies, strained partnerships, and the obsessive hustle of an underdog. The useful part is its unfiltered look at the emotional cost of entrepreneurship—the sleepless nights, the lawsuits, the brinkmanship. It will lose you when the endless travelogue and repetitive financial close-shaves start to feel like a highlight reel without a clear lesson, and Knight’s own voice can grow self-mythologizing.”
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Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.