carolinesreadingera's review against another edition
5.0
Michael Lewis has a great gift for making complex narratives and technical elements into something accessible and interesting. I understand why this novel launched him to stardom. Mostly, it was fascinating to see how this book holds up even ~40 years later.
x_z's review against another edition
5.0
Liar's Poker - 5*
Captures a unique time in Wall St madness and also just lots of brilliant first-person takeaways from being at such an exciting place in its apex in cultural significance.
Really liked his epilogue and his decision to leave and considering that as a risk. His job's main teaching for him was he became comfortable with risk, and that's what led him to no longer be motivated by money and to take a risk to look for more than just to become a millionaire.
Liars poker takeaways
Work v school: Salomon was not looking for curious minds but cult followers
The market is like a sea - some days are tough to sail.
“What If” Game - what would happen if earthquake in Japan for example: buy Japanese stocks, buy yen. Considering random scenarios is helpful especially as an asset manager where anticipation and preparation can be lucrative and expensive.
It’s rare everyone wins. Usually someone gets screwed. Not worth winning if it costs a relationship and makes an enemy.
Black Monday: “it was striking how little control we had over the situation given how assiduously we cultivated the appearance of being in charge by smoking cigars and saying ‘Fuck’ all the time.”
I left because I didn’t need to stay any longer.
Belief in making dollars crumbled, which led to less desire to make huge piles of money.
Didn’t learn much, but learned people can be corrupted by corporations.
Disliked lack of adventure
Left for search for risk, which is funny because risk-friendly job. But walking away from clearest shot at millionaire is a risk, and you have to take risk.
Beginner’s mistake of selling at the bottom when leaving, but bought some shares when elaving. People were jealous when he left. People make the best decisions when unsure. All the decisions he made when he was unsure were good ones. -his buddy when he left.
First book, Liar’s Poker, set him up - he never had to work on Wall Street again. Cool to give it a shot and if it works it changes your life.
Captures a unique time in Wall St madness and also just lots of brilliant first-person takeaways from being at such an exciting place in its apex in cultural significance.
Really liked his epilogue and his decision to leave and considering that as a risk. His job's main teaching for him was he became comfortable with risk, and that's what led him to no longer be motivated by money and to take a risk to look for more than just to become a millionaire.
Liars poker takeaways
Work v school: Salomon was not looking for curious minds but cult followers
The market is like a sea - some days are tough to sail.
“What If” Game - what would happen if earthquake in Japan for example: buy Japanese stocks, buy yen. Considering random scenarios is helpful especially as an asset manager where anticipation and preparation can be lucrative and expensive.
It’s rare everyone wins. Usually someone gets screwed. Not worth winning if it costs a relationship and makes an enemy.
Black Monday: “it was striking how little control we had over the situation given how assiduously we cultivated the appearance of being in charge by smoking cigars and saying ‘Fuck’ all the time.”
I left because I didn’t need to stay any longer.
Belief in making dollars crumbled, which led to less desire to make huge piles of money.
Didn’t learn much, but learned people can be corrupted by corporations.
Disliked lack of adventure
Left for search for risk, which is funny because risk-friendly job. But walking away from clearest shot at millionaire is a risk, and you have to take risk.
Beginner’s mistake of selling at the bottom when leaving, but bought some shares when elaving. People were jealous when he left. People make the best decisions when unsure. All the decisions he made when he was unsure were good ones. -his buddy when he left.
First book, Liar’s Poker, set him up - he never had to work on Wall Street again. Cool to give it a shot and if it works it changes your life.
__karen__'s review against another edition
5.0
I enjoyed Liar's Poker. What I didn't know when I picked this up... it's funny! Every office has "that guy" who humorously (or sardonically) describes the people who work there, and I believe Michael Lewis was that guy when working at Salomon Brothers in the 1980s.
pollyroth's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 Stars
A thrilling account of investment banking. The bottom line is don't do it lmao.
A thrilling account of investment banking. The bottom line is don't do it lmao.
zachlzhao's review against another edition
4.0
A true classic about the (modern) financial system and its many ingenious and dangerous innovations.
jackwwang's review against another edition
4.0
Lewis provides a vivid recollection of his four-year stint in the strange world of investment bankers as a bonds salesman with Salomon brothers. After earning an Art History degree from Princeton and a masters in Economics from LSE, Lewis happens onto a job with Salomon through a chance social meeting. The author was placed at the London office but his initial training and orientation in New York allows him to write of the drama and the personalities of the home office. Lewis quickly learns of the paradoxes and rules of the game in a counter-intuitive world of high-stakes trading. In spite of the fact that wall street and the egos and players that make up its minions are driven by money, it is rarely discussed in the open. Although education and intelligence is a prerequisite to being hired, it seems to quickly lose its premium and its application is almost discouraged at times. As one of Lewis' managers at Salomon puts it, "if you guys weren't trading bonds, you'd be driving a truck. don't try to get intellectual in the marketplace. just trade." In its stead, recklessness, arrogance, uninhibited greed, and a scheming mind are worth their weight in gold on the path to becoming a "big swinging dick," the proverbial king of the financial jungle. These character were all present in the remarkable Lewis Ranieri, a crude but skilled mailroom operator who rose through the ranks and built up the mortgage department of Salomon to be the most profitable department on wall street, before seeing it all fall to pieces as a victim to office politics. In his own experience in London, Lewis experienced great success in making money by ironically "blowing up" his investing customers in selling them toxic bonds to assist the company bottom line. Lewis constantly refers to the unorganized free-for-all nature of the Salomon organization, and how it lead to bitter in-fighting, common cases of internal sabotage, and a incoherent management strategy that eventually led to its downfall. Tellingly Lewis also constantly reminds the reader of the remarkable degree of ignorance of those around him who were supposed to be "experts of the market." It seems that the entire financial industry is one big bluff. Lewis finally attributes his decision to leave the trade at the peak of his money-making prowess to his unease with the character of his job which rewards him with grossly disproportionate sums of money for essentially no social contribution and what he judges to be a mindless and repetitive activity that borders on psychotic. Lewis' account was as convincing as it was disconcerting and prophetic. The very financial instruments he he rebuked as empty money-making vessels have led to our current recession. We can only hope that our current government have the sense and wisdom to change the structure of incentives that will reform such an insane industry.
booksbecreads's review against another edition
3.0
"I set out to write this book because I thought it would be better to tell the story than continue to live the story"
I'm not sure how anyone could find this book funny, yet it's stated so in the reviews and Goodreads summary...
I'm not sure how anyone could find this book funny, yet it's stated so in the reviews and Goodreads summary...