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The Big Short
- Inside the Doomsday Machine
- Narrated by: Jesse Boggs
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
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Liar's Poker
- RIsing Through the Wreckage on Wall Street
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1986, before Michael Lewis became the best-selling author of The Big Short, Moneyball, and Flash Boys, he landed a job at Salomon Brothers, one of Wall Street’s premier investment firms. During the next three years, Lewis rose from callow trainee to New York- and London-based bond salesman, raking in millions for the firm and cashing in on a modern-day gold rush. Liar’s Poker is the culmination of those heady, frenzied years - a behind-the-scenes look at a unique and turbulent time in American business.
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A very engaging story!
- By jack on 2023-08-30
Written by: Michael Lewis
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Flash Boys
- A Wall Street Revolt
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Dylan Baker
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Michael Lewis returns to the financial world to give listeners a ringside seat as the biggest news story in years prepares to hit Wall Street....
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Don't sleep on this story.
- By TK on 2021-04-28
Written by: Michael Lewis
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Boomerang
- Travels in the New Third World
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Dylan Baker
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The tsunami of cheap credit that rolled across the planet between 2002 and 2008 was more than a simple financial phenomenon: it was temptation, offering entire societies the chance to reveal aspects of their characters they could not normally afford to indulge. The Greeks wanted to turn their country into a pinata stuffed with cash and allow as many citizens as possible to take a whack at it. The Germans wanted to be even more German; the Irish wanted to stop being Irish.
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Great book!
- By Colin Ferguson on 2018-07-21
Written by: Michael Lewis
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Panic!
- The Story of Modern Financial Insanity
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Blair Hardman, Jesse Boggs
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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A masterful account of today's money culture, showing how the underpricing of risk leads to catastrophe. With his trademark humor and brilliant anecdotes, Michael Lewis paints the mood and market factors leading up to each event, weaves contemporary accounts to show what people thought was happening at the time, and then, with the luxury of hindsight, analyzes what actually happened and what we should have learned from experience.
Written by: Michael Lewis
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Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side? In Going Infinite Lewis sets out to answer this question, taking listeners into the mind of Bankman-Fried.
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He loves SBF too much
- By Samuel Carvalho on 2023-10-07
Written by: Michael Lewis
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The Premonition
- A Pandemic Story
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about. Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at worst-case scenarios. Michael Lewis’ taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19.
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Poor narration
- By Peter G on 2021-05-07
Written by: Michael Lewis
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Liar's Poker
- RIsing Through the Wreckage on Wall Street
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1986, before Michael Lewis became the best-selling author of The Big Short, Moneyball, and Flash Boys, he landed a job at Salomon Brothers, one of Wall Street’s premier investment firms. During the next three years, Lewis rose from callow trainee to New York- and London-based bond salesman, raking in millions for the firm and cashing in on a modern-day gold rush. Liar’s Poker is the culmination of those heady, frenzied years - a behind-the-scenes look at a unique and turbulent time in American business.
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A very engaging story!
- By jack on 2023-08-30
Written by: Michael Lewis
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Flash Boys
- A Wall Street Revolt
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Dylan Baker
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Michael Lewis returns to the financial world to give listeners a ringside seat as the biggest news story in years prepares to hit Wall Street....
-
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Don't sleep on this story.
- By TK on 2021-04-28
Written by: Michael Lewis
-
Boomerang
- Travels in the New Third World
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Dylan Baker
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The tsunami of cheap credit that rolled across the planet between 2002 and 2008 was more than a simple financial phenomenon: it was temptation, offering entire societies the chance to reveal aspects of their characters they could not normally afford to indulge. The Greeks wanted to turn their country into a pinata stuffed with cash and allow as many citizens as possible to take a whack at it. The Germans wanted to be even more German; the Irish wanted to stop being Irish.
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Great book!
- By Colin Ferguson on 2018-07-21
Written by: Michael Lewis
-
Panic!
- The Story of Modern Financial Insanity
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Blair Hardman, Jesse Boggs
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A masterful account of today's money culture, showing how the underpricing of risk leads to catastrophe. With his trademark humor and brilliant anecdotes, Michael Lewis paints the mood and market factors leading up to each event, weaves contemporary accounts to show what people thought was happening at the time, and then, with the luxury of hindsight, analyzes what actually happened and what we should have learned from experience.
Written by: Michael Lewis
-
Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side? In Going Infinite Lewis sets out to answer this question, taking listeners into the mind of Bankman-Fried.
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He loves SBF too much
- By Samuel Carvalho on 2023-10-07
Written by: Michael Lewis
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The Premonition
- A Pandemic Story
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about. Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at worst-case scenarios. Michael Lewis’ taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19.
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Poor narration
- By Peter G on 2021-05-07
Written by: Michael Lewis
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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
- Unabridged
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The definitive volume on Enron's amazing rise and scandalous fall, from an award-winning team of Fortune investigative reporters.
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exhaustive account of the Enron scandal
- By Sam on 2019-10-07
Written by: Bethany McLean
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Too Big to Fail
- The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System---and Themselves
- Written by: Andrew Ross Sorkin
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 21 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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A real-life thriller about the most tumultuous period in America's financial history by an acclaimed New York Times reporter. Andrew Ross Sorkin delivers the first true, behind-the-scenes, moment-by-moment account of how the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression developed into a global tsunami.
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- By R on 2018-12-15
Written by: Andrew Ross Sorkin
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The Undoing Project
- A Friendship That Changed Our Minds
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Forty years ago Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky wrote a series of breathtakingly original studies undoing our assumptions about the decision-making process. Their papers showed the ways in which the human mind erred systematically when forced to make judgments about uncertain situations. Their work created the field of behavioral economics, revolutionized Big Data studies, advanced evidence-based medicine, led to a new approach to government regulation, and made Michael Lewis' work possible.
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Probably Lewis’s worst book
- By Frederic Dion on 2020-02-04
Written by: Michael Lewis
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When Genius Failed
- The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management
- Written by: Roger Lowenstein
- Narrated by: Roger Lowenstein
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Abridged
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Roger Lowenstein, the bestselling author of Buffett, captures Long-Term's roller-coaster ride in gripping detail. Drawing on confidential internal memos and interviews with dozens of key players, Lowenstein crafts a story that reads like a first-rate thriller from beginning to end. He explains not just how the fund made and lost its money, but what it was about the personalities of Long-Term's partners, the arrogance of their mathematical certainties, and the late-nineties culture of Wall Street that made it all possible.
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A bit too dry for my liking
- By Rupert on 2019-04-29
Written by: Roger Lowenstein
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The New New Thing
- A Silicon Valley Story
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Bruce Reizen
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In the weird glow of the dying millennium, Michael Lewis sets out on a safari through Silicon Valley to find the world's most important technology entrepreneur, the man who embodies the spirit of the coming age. He finds him in Jim Clark, who is about to create his third, separate, billion-dollar company: first Silicon Graphics, then Netscape - which launched the Information Age - and now Healtheon, a startup that may turn the $1 trillion healthcare industry on its head.
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...
- By Anis on 2020-12-20
Written by: Michael Lewis
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The Fifth Risk
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
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What happens when the President of the United States governs one Tweet at a time? When the elected leader of the free world may not have a firm grasp on the names of government agencies, much less an understanding of their intricate inner-workings? In the days following the 2016 inauguration, government personnel searched for answers that didn’t exist, while White House staff scoured halls for employees who would never be appointed.
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Elections have consequences
- By Amazon Customer on 2019-01-09
Written by: Michael Lewis
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The Blind Side
- Evolution of a Game
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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When we first meet the young man at the center of this extraordinary and moving story, he is one of 13 children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or any of the things a child might learn in school. And he has no serious experience playing organized football.
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Kinda Disjointed
- By Jennifer Campbell on 2021-05-10
Written by: Michael Lewis
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All the Devils Are Here
- The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis
- Written by: Bethany McLean, Joe Nocera
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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As soon as the financial crisis erupted, the finger-pointing began. Should the blame fall on Wall Street, Main Street, or Pennsylvania Avenue? On greedy traders, misguided regulators, sleazy subprime companies, cowardly legislators, or clueless home buyers? According to Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera, two of America's most acclaimed business journalists, the real answer is all of the above-and more. Many devils helped bring hell to the economy.
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Ok
- By TemperPolk on 2021-02-13
Written by: Bethany McLean, and others
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Barbarians at the Gate
- The Fall of RJR Nabisco
- Written by: Bryan Burrough, John Helyar
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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A number-one New York Times best seller and arguably the best business narrative ever written, Barbarians at the Gate is the classic account of the fall of RJR Nabisco. An enduring masterpiece of investigative journalism by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, it includes a new afterword by the authors that brings this remarkable story of greed and double-dealings up to date 20 years after the famed deal.
Written by: Bryan Burrough, and others
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Den of Thieves
- Written by: James B. Stewart
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 19 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Pulitzer Prize winner James B. Stewart shows for the first time how four of the biggest names on Wall Street - Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky, Martin Siegel, and Dennis Levine - created the greatest insider-trading ring in financial history and almost walked away with billions - until a team of downtrodden detectives triumphed over some of America's most expensive lawyers to bring this powerful quartet to justice.
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Incredible Narration
- By Nadège on 2019-02-08
Written by: James B. Stewart
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The Accidental Billionaires
- The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal
- Written by: Ben Mezrich
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The high-energy tale of how two socially awkward Ivy Leaguers, trying to increase their chances with the opposite sex, ended up creating Facebook. Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg were Harvard undergraduates and best friends - outsiders at a school filled with polished prep-school grads and long-time legacies. They shared both academic brilliance in math and a geeky awkwardness with women. The Accidental Billionaires is a compulsively listenable story of innocence lost - and of the unusual creation of a company that has revolutionized the way people relate to one another.
Written by: Ben Mezrich
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The Wizard of Lies
- Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust
- Written by: Diana B. Henriques
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
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Who is Bernie Madoff, and how did he pull off the biggest Ponzi scheme in history? These questions have fascinated people ever since the news broke about the respected New York financier who swindled his friends, relatives, and other investors out of $65 billion. Many have speculated about what must have happened, but no reporter has been able to get the full story - until now. Diana B. Henriques of the New York Times has written the definitive book on the man and his scheme.
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Taut and Well Written
- By Fatehia Saleh on 2023-01-26
Written by: Diana B. Henriques
Publisher's Summary
Featuring an exclusive audio interview with Michael Lewis
When the crash of the U.S. stock market became public knowledge in the fall of 2008, it was already old news. The real crash, the silent crash, had taken place over the previous year, in bizarre feeder markets where the sun doesn’t shine, and the SEC doesn’t dare, or bother, to tread: the bond and real-estate derivative markets, where geeks invent impenetrable securities to profit from the misery of lower- and middle-class Americans who can’t pay their debts. The smart people who understood what was or might be happening were paralyzed by hope and fear; in any case, they weren’t talking.
The crucial question is this: Who understood the risk inherent in the assumption of ever-rising real-estate prices, a risk compounded daily by the creation of those arcane, artificial securities loosely based on piles of doubtful mortgages?
Michael Lewis turns the inquiry on its head to create a fresh, character-driven narrative brimming with indignation and dark humor, a fitting sequel to his number-one best-selling Liar’s Poker. "Who got it right?" he asks. Who saw the ever-rising real-estate market for the black hole it would become, and eventually made billions of dollars from that perception? And what qualities of character made those few persist when their peers and colleagues dismissed them as Chicken Littles?
Out of this handful of unlikely—really unlikely—heroes, Lewis fashions a story as compelling and unusual as any of his earlier best sellers, proving yet again that he is the finest and funniest chronicler of our times.
What the critics say
“No one writes with more narrative panache about money and finance than Mr. Lewis....[he] does a nimble job of using his subjects’ stories to explicate the greed, idiocies and hypocrisies of a system notably lacking in grown-up supervision....Writing in faintly Tom Wolfe-ian prose, Mr. Lewis does a colorful job of introducing the lay reader to the Darwinian world of the bond market.” (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times)
“Superb: Michael Lewis doing what he does best, illuminating the idiocy, madness and greed of modern finance. . . . Lewis achieves what I previously imagined impossible: He makes subprime sexy all over again.” (Andrew Leonard, Salon.com)
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What listeners say about The Big Short
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Lucas
- 2021-05-25
Very detailed example of what happened in 2008
This is a fantastic listen. It goes into much greater detail about what happened during the big crash in 08. I recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the movie and is looking for a deeper dive into the background of the details.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Louai Munajim
- 2022-07-26
great story, timeless wisdom
excellent character snippets, story of hubris and self talk that meant to obfuscate and delude regulators, ended up deluding even the smart money people who believed the lies that others created out of their false, bound to fail, debt portfolios.
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- Sam
- 2021-12-31
Unbiased and reflective book on financial crisis
Enjoyed the book and the stories that produced heroes and villains in the lead-up to the financial crisis. The narrator was also good.
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- Cal
- 2021-01-26
A great book overall
Great story line, very interesting and an enjoyable listen. The narrator does a great job also.
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- caleb williamson
- 2020-07-14
As Entertaining as the film!
A great book!! If you loved the movie, you will love the book! I will certainly listen to it again.
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- BHRamsay
- 2020-01-11
Better than the movie
Like many I found this book because of the 2015 movie it spawned but the storyline behind the scenes is occasionally much more terrifying. I can't tell you how often I found myself muttering"Why didn't they leave such-&-such a scene as it actually happened. Though I'm shocked by how often I found they didn't change anything and scenes played out exactly as depicted with all the black humor and terrible implications unchecked.
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- Amazon Customer
- 2019-07-09
Amazing read. Time well spent.
Aside from the incredibly engaging story, I found this book to be an educational masterpiece in the context of a lay-person’s intro to the bond, lending, and equity market on Wall Street. A must read for anyone who wants to understand what happened in 2007/2008 during the financial crisis.
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- Agnostic Trader
- 2018-09-13
Lewis is the boss
Lewis has a unique ability to make the complex into the simple, especially when it come to financial matters. He's a real treasure and I'm so glad he gave up bond trading to write books for us. The narration is well done here. No complaints.
#Audible1
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- Kindle Customer
- 2018-06-09
Terrific
Too bad what happens but the story is explained in an amazing fashion. Loved it.
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Overall

- Jay
- 2010-03-23
Informative and Engaging
Lewis should be heralded for the way he takes a very complex idea (sub-prime mortgage default swap collateral debt obligations) and breaks it down into easy-to-understand language. If you were at all confused about how the financial system tanked in 2008, you'll be glad you read this book and also pretty disgusted at the kind of magical thinking that went on on Wall Street. But what makes this book readable is his characterization of three oracular entities (Mike Burry, Steve Eisman, and the Cornwall Capital Group) that foresaw the collapse before anyone else ever did. The characters come across as misanthropic, boisterous, and naive respectively and allow the reader to see the tragedy through three very different perspectives. A read you won't want to put down (...or turn off).
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68 people found this helpful
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Overall

- A reader
- 2010-03-21
Very good, very infuriating, but a little narrow
First off, this book tells its story well - its a story of the traders who saw the subprime crisis coming, and, by examining how they managed to bet against the market, the book also illuminates exactly how the subprime debacle occurred. Lewis does a wonderful job showing how so many very smart people made so many stupid assumptions, based on a mix of bad data, bad organizations ("its not my job to worry"), and the most infuriating forms of cheating, lying, and bad-dealing.
My problem with the book, and it is a minor one, is that by staying so narrowly focused on this topic, it tends to follow the progression of a few traders and managers throughout the book, often in great detail. This can make it hard to follow the larger story of the context and economic dealings that surround "The Big Short", especially in audiobook format. Also, since not all of the characters are equally interesting, attention can also wander during parts. Additionally, I suspect that the truly uninitiated will be somewhat confused by terminology - the book assumes you know what "hedging" is and how it works from near the beginning, for example.
While the reader is good, but not great, Lewis is still a great writer, and the story is compact, fascinating, and important. I recommend it, but perhaps only to those who know a little about the subprime crisis to begin with.
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68 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Jillie
- 2010-03-31
Finally, I understand what happened!
I could not believe how captivated I was by this book from start to finish. I have no interest in Wall Street, stocks, bonds etc, but this book brought that world to life for me. If you have ever wondered what caused the meltdown in our economy this book will answer that question and then some. It was scary, entertaining and most of all a cautionary education about the true nature of our economy and it's fragility. Download it and listen... you will never look at your investments the same way again.
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61 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Paul
- 2010-06-17
Social Engineering?
Very good on the financial sector explanation. Very bad to the extent to which Lewis explains our government's involvement in helping create this mess. Maybe the government had a big hand in it, maybe not. Regardless, the static about social engineering by elected officials should have been at least touched upon.
The best thing I got from listening to this book was the affirmation that these super-rich incompetent baboons in the financial sector don't give a s**t about this country.
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28 people found this helpful
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Overall

- TLang
- 2010-06-02
Horrible
I have had this book for months and can't get through it because it is so boring.
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28 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Al
- 2010-05-26
Predictable
Bankers got rich, regular folks got poor,central bankers were sleeping, and we also get to know how these hedge fund managers talk to each other in a frank way...
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28 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Michael Moore
- 2010-04-01
Explaining the Inexplicable
How could the world's most advanced and enlightened economy allow an irresponsible, greedy and self-deluded congregation of Wall Street bankers to accumulate such gargantuan financial losses that the whole country was imperiled? For, as Churchill might have put it, never in the realm of economic activity have so many suffered so much at the hands of so irresponsible a group of bankers.
Michael Lewis attempts to answer this question through the stories of the relatively few professional investors who took the time to dig into the subprime mortgage market and perform careful credit analysis of the loan quality underpinning the whole market. What they found was not surprising. It was a credit disaster waiting to happen. What is revealing is the reception they received from mainline Wall Street firms, their own investors, and the credit rating agencies. In nearly all cases their views were discounted ("it could never happen in the US housing market;" "subprime loan losses will not all happen at the same time") and they were dismissed as misfits. The Wall Street money machine, fueled by huge financial rewards, animal spirits and a "we know better" culture, simply moved on heedlessly to even greater risks and excess. Well worth the read, but I would start with David Faber's book ("Then the Roof Caved In") if you are new to the mortgage-backed security world of Wall Street.
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26 people found this helpful
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- Michael
- 2013-11-21
One of My Favorite Analysis
I have read a bunch of books about the 2007 financial crash. By focusing on the people that made a lot of money from the crash, this book explains quite clearly the underlying causes of the crash. Unfortunately this book requires a bit of understanding of how markets and financial products work. If you have these basic understandings, this is the best of the bunch of books examining the 2007 crisis. Not only were the characters quite fun to read about, but the story helped explain the underlying causes of the crisis in an interesting and compelling way. I generally recommend this as a great place to start if you want to understand the mechanics of what happened in the financial crisis of 2007.
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24 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Josh
- 2010-05-11
Bit dry for me
Perhaps because I've read SO much good journalism about this and heard Michael Lewis speak on it so eloquently on radio & TV, the pace of this account was hard for me to get into. I found it slow, with explanations of default swaps and collateralized debt obligations and short sells that I've become bored of since the crash. I suspect the written book trumps the audio because you can skim dry economic explanations whereas the narrator has to plod through them slowly. You'll need to be willing to put in time and effort for this one. I'm not.
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20 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Joel D Offenberg
- 2010-04-18
Interesting, informative with a sense of doom...
In 2007-8, defaults on low-cost loans to risky (sub-prime) borrowers nearly took the entire financial edifice down. What happened?
Michael Lewis' book goes a long way to explaining how a few bad mortgages caused the near-implosion of the entire American financial system in 2007-8. He goes into the nature of the individuals and players who were making these investments (bets), how they made the decisions they made and what the implications were.
In addition to studying characters and events, Lewis provides a good explanation of the underlying nature of the investments...mortgage-backed bonds, Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO's) and Credit Default Swaps (CDS's) that led to the investment crisis, and how they came to become such a large part of various investment strategies. If you wanted to know how these items worked and how they evolved into such a major part of the economy, this is a good place. A deep understanding of Wall Street is not needed.
The book is well-written. The characters are engaging and there is enough dark humor to keep it from getting boring. It's perhaps more of a story and a little less academic than one might expect. There are a few omissions...for example, I would have like to have learned more about the rating companies' surprising willingness to give high ratings to questionable securities (Lewis talked about it, but I was left wondering about more of the details of that aspect of the story).
Jesse Boggs's reading is great. He really seems connected with the author's content.
In conclusion, "The Big Short" is somewhat like Greek tragedy...the story is compelling, but the gods are toying with everyone and the listener knows the unhappy ending before the book even starts.
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