The Big Short
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.
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Community Reviews
Review
You need to be aware of what type of book this is. It won't be for everyone. Not because it's not a good book with good writing and lots of great anecdotes, but because it's so long and has so many names and stories in it that you may lose track of a few things. It's something readers do need to keep in mind before reading it or listening to it like I did. It's a ton of info on stock trading, people involved in stock trading and companies. It's informative and engaging but at many times I felt like things were not made clear enough. Most likely because these stock trades are very hard to explain as companies created them in a way that made them hard to figure out and avoid. Even the biggest companies in the world still don't fully understand what happened, how it could happen or if it's happening again. I do recommend a documentary over this book as an intro as documentaries often explain the topic clearly in slow visual details. PBS has some good ones on the crash.
It's a very impressive book indeed. For anyone interested in specific details and names it's a must-read. A lot of regular people will enjoy it too. I just also felt very much confused. I need to rewatch the movie now just to get some faces on the names even though the shaky-cam in the movie is a hell to get through.
It's just a lot of short anecdotes inside a greater story about stock prices falling fast and a big short on the stocks by a few cynical people. It's a lot of anecdotes that are nearly always interesting but also often just adding new stories to an already huge story. What I, and many other readers, would want to see is a clear and strong story with one clear point. So a story where the whistleblowers slowly uncover the truth and warn the government without any reaction. Then they can meet all these people along the way or maybe we could meet the people when they are influencing the leads in some way via stock prices or sales. That could be a 250 pages book just presenting the basics month by month. I think the problem with the current format is that it's a super complicated story that needs to be presented more clearly and then on top of that there are 30 other cool small stories that all add to the complexity.
I liked Michael Lewis' other books more because they felt more to the point and remained focused on the main story. His writing is ideal for complicated concepts and long books as he tackles complicated real life matters in detail. I just need to know more about the topic beforehand too to fully enjoy his books.
Conclusion
As always Michael Lewis writes a good book. This one is long which is great for the level of details. But it's a topic my mind just does not intuitively get as easily as most softer social science. It's still a fascinating read and I'll read everything else by Michael Lewis too. He seems unable to not write a good book.
You need to be aware of what type of book this is. It won't be for everyone. Not because it's not a good book with good writing and lots of great anecdotes, but because it's so long and has so many names and stories in it that you may lose track of a few things. It's something readers do need to keep in mind before reading it or listening to it like I did. It's a ton of info on stock trading, people involved in stock trading and companies. It's informative and engaging but at many times I felt like things were not made clear enough. Most likely because these stock trades are very hard to explain as companies created them in a way that made them hard to figure out and avoid. Even the biggest companies in the world still don't fully understand what happened, how it could happen or if it's happening again. I do recommend a documentary over this book as an intro as documentaries often explain the topic clearly in slow visual details. PBS has some good ones on the crash.
It's a very impressive book indeed. For anyone interested in specific details and names it's a must-read. A lot of regular people will enjoy it too. I just also felt very much confused. I need to rewatch the movie now just to get some faces on the names even though the shaky-cam in the movie is a hell to get through.
It's just a lot of short anecdotes inside a greater story about stock prices falling fast and a big short on the stocks by a few cynical people. It's a lot of anecdotes that are nearly always interesting but also often just adding new stories to an already huge story. What I, and many other readers, would want to see is a clear and strong story with one clear point. So a story where the whistleblowers slowly uncover the truth and warn the government without any reaction. Then they can meet all these people along the way or maybe we could meet the people when they are influencing the leads in some way via stock prices or sales. That could be a 250 pages book just presenting the basics month by month. I think the problem with the current format is that it's a super complicated story that needs to be presented more clearly and then on top of that there are 30 other cool small stories that all add to the complexity.
I liked Michael Lewis' other books more because they felt more to the point and remained focused on the main story. His writing is ideal for complicated concepts and long books as he tackles complicated real life matters in detail. I just need to know more about the topic beforehand too to fully enjoy his books.
Conclusion
As always Michael Lewis writes a good book. This one is long which is great for the level of details. But it's a topic my mind just does not intuitively get as easily as most softer social science. It's still a fascinating read and I'll read everything else by Michael Lewis too. He seems unable to not write a good book.
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