4.46/5
Author: Michael Lewis
Publication Date: Feb 1, 2011
Formats: PDF,Paperback,Kindle,Audible Audiobook,Hardcover,Audio CD
Rating: 4.46/5 out of 125803
Publisher: W. W. Norton
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The #1 New York Times bestseller: "It is
the work of our greatest financial journalist, at the top of his game.
And it's essential reading."―Graydon Carter, Vanity
Fair
The real story of the crash began 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.
Michael Lewis creates
a fresh, character-driven narrative brimming with indignation and dark
humor, a fitting sequel to his #1 bestseller Liar's Poker. Out
of a handful of unlikely-really unlikely-heroes, Lewis fashions a story
as compelling and unusual as any of his earlier bestsellers, proving yet
again that he is the finest and funniest chronicler of our time.
Jan 29, 2016
â€The ability of Wall Street traders to see themselves in their success and their management in their failure would later be echoed, when their firms, which disdained the need for government regulation in good times, insisted on being rescued by government in bad times. Success was an individual achievement; failure was a social problem.â€Sep 21, 2010
Jun 03, 2010
Michael Lewis looks at a handful of people who saw what was happening in the US economy, tried to sound an alarm, but also used their knowledge to make barrels of cash.Apr 24, 2017
...there's a difference between an old-fashioned financial panic and what had happened on Wall Street in 2008. In an old-fashioned panic, perception creates its own reality: Someone shouts "Fire!" in a crowded theater and the audience crushes each other to death in its rush for the exits. On Wall Street in 2008 the reality finally overwhelmed perceptions: A crowded theater burned down with a lot of people still in their seats. Every major firm on Wall Street was either bankrupt or fatally ...there's a difference between an old-fashioned financial panic and what had happened on Wall Street in 2008. In an old-fashioned panic, perception creates its own reality: Someone shouts "Fire!" in a crowded theater and the audience crushes each other to death in its rush for the exits. On Wall Street in 2008 the reality finally overwhelmed perceptions: A crowded theater burned down with a lot of people still in their seats. Every major firm on Wall Street was either bankrupt or fatally intertwined with a bankrupt system. The problem wasn't that [they] had been allowed to fail. The problem was that [they] had been allowed to succeed.May 04, 2010
Original review: May 4, 2010Nov 17, 2015
May 03, 2010
Remember that point, in recent years, when we all started to notice something strange? Houses were getting more and more expensive, interest rates were dropping more and more, and most of us knew someone who had no money, but was able to get a huge mortgage. And then there were all the stories of people buying houses with no money down and interest-only payments for three years. How exactly were these people expecting to make principal payments in three years? And why was anyone lending them Remember that point, in recent years, when we all started to notice something strange? Houses were getting more and more expensive, interest rates were dropping more and more, and most of us knew someone who had no money, but was able to get a huge mortgage. And then there were all the stories of people buying houses with no money down and interest-only payments for three years. How exactly were these people expecting to make principal payments in three years? And why was anyone lending them money?Apr 23, 2010
Update: Christmas greetings to those of you who celebrate!Aug 07, 2017
Wall Street is probably best known for the movie quote "Greed is good."Sep 29, 2010
This book made me want to vomit, then take a bath in a tub of bleach. Not because it's not well-written, but because the story is so repugnant and grotesque.Mar 22, 2010
It was a good book, but it disappointed. I will tell you what let me down:Feb 04, 2016
This book propelled me back to a conversation from the fall of 2005. I was at my son’s junior peewee football game on a warm autumn day talking to some other dads at halftime. The conversation was on how people were refinancing their homes at unheard of values and next to nothing interest rates. The group was a mix of men, some in real estate, a few newly minted mortgage brokers and some others of various professions and income levels. I recall, as the game resumed and the conversation wound This book propelled me back to a conversation from the fall of 2005. I was at my son’s junior peewee football game on a warm autumn day talking to some other dads at halftime. The conversation was on how people were refinancing their homes at unheard of values and next to nothing interest rates. The group was a mix of men, some in real estate, a few newly minted mortgage brokers and some others of various professions and income levels. I recall, as the game resumed and the conversation wound down, speculating with one of the guys on what would happen in a couple – three years when these adjustable rates all reset.Apr 15, 2010
I have to SHOUT during this review. Now I finally know the sleaziest, oily, untruthful, and arrogant class of people in the US--financial brokers at the big Wall Street investment banks. The Big Short is a rare look deep inside the machinery that broke the spine of our real estate industry. This is not the more common bottom-up look at the mortgage loan sweatshop industry; instead, this is a top-down view from the rarefied air above 20 stories at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merryl Lynch, JP I have to SHOUT during this review. Now I finally know the sleaziest, oily, untruthful, and arrogant class of people in the US--financial brokers at the big Wall Street investment banks. The Big Short is a rare look deep inside the machinery that broke the spine of our real estate industry. This is not the more common bottom-up look at the mortgage loan sweatshop industry; instead, this is a top-down view from the rarefied air above 20 stories at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merryl Lynch, JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns, Citigroup, and the other fu**ing RAPISTS in south Manhattan.Mar 21, 2010
Lawd. This book took my breath away. I remember what I was doing at several critical moments described in the book and to have been so unaware makes me breathless. I learned things and feel oddly vindicated and cheated at the same time. I knew dumb people were making money with my money: vindicated. I thought some people in the government might be smart enough to realize what happened and know what to do: cheated.Jul 08, 2010
An extremely well-written account of the 2008 financial collapse. It explained complex ideas like subprime mortgage bonds and CDO's in a clear way, and almost read like a fast paced thriller.Jan 02, 2019
I think most are aware of the role subprime mortgages played in the 2007 banking crisis and the resulting worldwide financial crisis that followed in 2008. The subprime market was made up of house purchase loans and secondary (often re-finance) loans which were also secured against the property. This book walks us through the timeline following the rise in the popularity of these loans, how and when they began to get batched together and sold off in packages and the resultant collapse of the I think most are aware of the role subprime mortgages played in the 2007 banking crisis and the resulting worldwide financial crisis that followed in 2008. The subprime market was made up of house purchase loans and secondary (often re-finance) loans which were also secured against the property. This book walks us through the timeline following the rise in the popularity of these loans, how and when they began to get batched together and sold off in packages and the resultant collapse of the market. It also follows a few bright people who had nous to predict the fall of the market and take steps to enrich themselves on the back of it.May 13, 2016
Achievement unlocked: I finally understand what the term "shorting" actually means.Oct 11, 2011
Michael Lewis turns the 2008 financial meltdown into a compelling narrative about two very smart, very abrasive skeptics who realized the juggernaut Wall Street had created was doomed to self-destruct, and worked out how to cash in big — the big short.May 08, 2010
In The Big Short, Michael Lewis outlines the causes of the housing crisis (which led to the larger Financial Crisis of 2007-2010), and tells the story of three small investment companies (basically four different investors) who saw it coming, bet against it, and made millions of dollars in the process. I really enjoyed reading about these individuals who foresaw the coming doom. Great human interest stories.May 01, 2010
This is the best description so far of the inside story about the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Reading this book is like riding a time machine back a couple years, walking into the Wall Street offices and asking them, "What in the world were you thinking?" The story is told from the view point of several investors who were betting against the sub-prime mortgage industry. But there were so few other people who saw it their way that they kept second guessing their position because they couldn't This is the best description so far of the inside story about the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Reading this book is like riding a time machine back a couple years, walking into the Wall Street offices and asking them, "What in the world were you thinking?" The story is told from the view point of several investors who were betting against the sub-prime mortgage industry. But there were so few other people who saw it their way that they kept second guessing their position because they couldn't understand why so few other people agreed with them. It's apparent that the vast majority of "experts" were totally oblivious to impending doom.Jul 16, 2016
This was a really captivating read. It's a good intro to what occurred in 2008 and who were involved that led up to the failure of the banks. Makes one really wonder how oblivious they all were to their impact to the general population. Banks are pretty soulless and detached from reality.May 28, 2019
The Big Short. Remember that movie? We all should, and never forget...Jul 11, 2011
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine is more than 5 stars. It deserves the highest rank for the clear explanation of how to answer this question: “How do you explain to an innocent citizen of the free world the importance of a credit default swap on a double-A tranche of a subprime-backed collateralized debt obligation?†Not only will you be able to understand that arcane financial question, you will be riveted in the story Michael Lewis tells while you learn. Look, it is only 3 years to The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine is more than 5 stars. It deserves the highest rank for the clear explanation of how to answer this question: “How do you explain to an innocent citizen of the free world the importance of a credit default swap on a double-A tranche of a subprime-backed collateralized debt obligation?†Not only will you be able to understand that arcane financial question, you will be riveted in the story Michael Lewis tells while you learn. Look, it is only 3 years to the month that we were told the financial system of the world was about to collapse. This book shows you how we got to that point through the subprime mortgage loan process. Yes you will be exposed to terms like CDO, credit default swaps, mortgage bond tranches, etc. The writing is superb, it reads like a novel but the stories are true. Why should you read this? Because we still live with, and will for some time, the consequence of what this book chronicles—absolute financial imbecility and corruption. This book will make a lot of the chicanery understandable and, even better, interesting.Aug 23, 2010
This book provides an interesting and enjoyable glimpse into the world of the Wall Street financiers who helped to create the recent financial crisis and the savvy few who recognized the bubble before it had burst.Jan 30, 2016
This non-fiction account of the players and events behind the financial crisis of 2008, specifically banks spinning out derivatives whose risk they themselves didn't understand, was for me scarier than any horror movie.Take your time and choose the perfect book.
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