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  • The Smartest Guys in the Room

  • The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron
  • Written by: Bethany McLean
  • Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
  • Length: 22 hrs and 30 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (109 ratings)

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The Smartest Guys in the Room

Written by: Bethany McLean
Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
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Publisher's Summary

The definitive volume on Enron's amazing rise and scandalous fall, from an award-winning team of Fortune investigative reporters.

©2003 Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind (P)2010 Penguin Audio

What the critics say

“The best book about the Enron debacle to date.” (BusinessWeek)

“The authors write with power and finesse. Their prose is effortless, like a sprinter floating down the track.” (USA Today)

“Well-reported and well-written.” (Warren Buffett)

What listeners say about The Smartest Guys in the Room

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  • Sam
  • 2019-10-07

exhaustive account of the Enron scandal

highly interesting, goes into good depth with regard to the shoddy accounting practices and the toxic corporate culture at Enron

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  • Uri
  • 2024-03-04

Amazing narration of a long scandal story

A huge example of scandalous American business. One can find fraud in every business only you have to dig deep enough. CEOs learn how to lie and that's all they do.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent!

The research is incredible.

The Speajer Dennis Boutkaris is perfect ( he did the audible for “ Sticky Fingers” which was also excellent). Not just a monotonous reading but perfect inflections of what’s being said.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book with an amazing performance

This was a riveting story, though I sometimes got a bit lost in the intricacies of stock trading. If you’re familiar with Wall Street jargon, you’ll probably be fine. If you aren’t, like me, this still managed to be a fascinating listen, in large part because of the attention devoted to the characters involved. On top of that, the narration was absolutely incredible. Dennis Boutsikaris reads like he’s telling you the story directly while sitting on a sofa across from you. That, plus the writing, kept me invested through a very long and complicated story even when I didn’t understand every detail. Definitely recommend if you’re interested in corporate crime and epic tales of hubris.

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Detailed Account

Smartest guys in the room details catalogue of failures, early warnings and the final descent of Enron. The book clearly and relatively simply dip its the interlocking features of Enron that allowed it to rise so high and fall so far. I greatly appreciated the somewhat clinical style avoiding the excuses and self
pity that some of the actors have shown

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Corporate Crime Gold

Wow, what an incredible story. While the audiobook runs long, it's a requirement to delve into the details and the nitty gritty thank make up the story. The author did an incredible job. Narration is excellent, easy to listen to and well punctuated.

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    4 out of 5 stars

Thorough and well executed

I thought knew a bit about the Enron scandal, but this book revealed a deep saga I'm glad I took the time to explore. Not only what happened, but how and why. Understanding that requires a long story. If you are interested in corporate fraud, this is as good as it gets. If you aren't, I can see this being somewhat long and dry compared to something with more general appeal like Bad Blood.

Dennis Boutsikaris is as good a narrator as you'll find. Authors please use actors like him (or just use him!) and don't narrate your own books.

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