vange123's review against another edition
3.0
A mostly well written book that often spent too much time on the backstories of ‘side-characters’. Pacing was too slow in the middle third, but the last third was very enjoyable. As a stand-alone book on trading the sub-prime crisis, it was an interesting read, but a tad disappointing given the author also wrote the excellent book ‘The man who solved the market’.
remocpi's review against another edition
4.0
Completísima historia sobre el crack de las hipotecas subprime, centrada en los que apostaron contra ellas y ganaron. Se parece mucho a The Big Short, de Michael Lewis, aunque es a la vez más completo y menos ágil en su estilo de escritura. Aún así es muy interesante.
vaderbird's review against another edition
3.0
One of the few books I had a hard time understanding how to review.
1 - he did a great job explaining everything.
2 - written by an investigative reporter so way to much info on items perhaps i considered superfluous.
3 - Still educational, enlightening and I was able to read it all.
1 - he did a great job explaining everything.
2 - written by an investigative reporter so way to much info on items perhaps i considered superfluous.
3 - Still educational, enlightening and I was able to read it all.
kagedbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Zuckerman does a good job of taking a modern history lesson and turning into an interesting narrative. While the book could use some trimming due to some scenes that do not really drive the plot anywhere and therefore unnecessary, i suspect they are there to illustrate the level of research the author conducted in order to weave an accurate yet entertaining story. This is another book I would not have read if it had not been assigned to me, yet I found it engaging and entertaining providing pertinent information of the mortgage crisis of the late 2000s without seeming dry and hard to follow.
milandeep's review against another edition
4.0
The Greatest Trade Ever is very well written and easy to follow book which describes the trades of John Paulson, Michael Burry and a few others who could see that the housing market was a time bomb, just waiting to explode. Most of the people who benefited from the fall of the housing market and the resultant credit crisis were 'outsiders'. That was the reason they were able to see the situation more objectively than the so-called experts. The book is well researched and and gives out the facts of the various traders who took the advantage of the market situation by using complex derivatives. Gregory Zuckerman does not discusses any moral obligations of the trades against the housing market, but leaves the reader to think for himself about the actions of these traders.
remocpi's review
4.0
Completísima historia sobre el crack de las hipotecas subprime, centrada en los que apostaron contra ellas y ganaron. Se parece mucho a The Big Short, de Michael Lewis, aunque es a la vez más completo y menos ágil en su estilo de escritura. Aún así es muy interesante.
theangrylawngnome's review
3.0
If not as entertaining as Michael Lewis's The Big Short it was at least as well researched, and certainly offered more insight into John Paulson, doubtless the biggest winner from the housing collapse. Overall, though, not much new ground broken, and perhaps a bit too heavy on the descriptives regarding Gulfstreams, exotic dinner menus and other errata I found on the tedious side.
Curiously, I recall no direct statement by Cashman that he had actually interviewed Paulson in the creation of this book. Yet he often presents as though he's inside Paulson's head, watching his synapses fire. Perhaps such a statement was made and I missed it -- such is the curse of listening to audiobooks while driving -- but given Paulson's central role in this tale you'd think such a fact would have been repeated several times. If so, I missed 'em all.
Curiously, I recall no direct statement by Cashman that he had actually interviewed Paulson in the creation of this book. Yet he often presents as though he's inside Paulson's head, watching his synapses fire. Perhaps such a statement was made and I missed it -- such is the curse of listening to audiobooks while driving -- but given Paulson's central role in this tale you'd think such a fact would have been repeated several times. If so, I missed 'em all.
clarel's review
3.0
This book covers essentially the same ground as The Big Short by Michael Lewis. It's not as entertaining, and the characters are decidedly less likable (except for the ones that overlap, obviously) and the tone is quite depressing. I'd read [b:The Big Short|6463967|The Big Short Inside the Doomsday Machine|Michael Lewis|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275776146s/6463967.jpg|6654434] instead, unless you have an insatiable hunger for this genre (which I apparently do, at the moment).
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