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culuriel's review against another edition
5.0
Must read. Especially with the ever-evolving Goldman Sachs blowout on CSPAN and in the papers. A story of how Wall Street willfully ignored reality, common sense and common decency.
batrock's review against another edition
4.0
It took a long time and it’s hard to say why, because The Big Short may be hard to understand but it’s relatively easy to read. The reason The Big Short makes no sense is by design: the way that Wall Street was engineered to explode is basically a bizarre confluence that should probably (/definitely) never have been allowed to happen.
Lewis writes vivid characters because the real life figures he had access to are large personalities who knew what they were talking about and their part in the whole process. The book is almost as depressing as it is informative, but it is (presumably) a valuable insight into one of the many catastrophes that informs modern economic life.
Lewis writes vivid characters because the real life figures he had access to are large personalities who knew what they were talking about and their part in the whole process. The book is almost as depressing as it is informative, but it is (presumably) a valuable insight into one of the many catastrophes that informs modern economic life.
gbweeks's review against another edition
4.0
From http://weeksnotice.blogspot.com/2010/07/michael-lewis-big-short.html
I read Michael Lewis' The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (by the way, what kind of terrible subtitle is that?) and highly recommend it as a perversely entertaining and straightforward narrative of how subprime mortgages were bundled into bonds few people understood, given too-high ratings, and then traded for enormous sums of money on the assumption that the booming housing market would go on forever. The book focuses on the handful of people who realized it was all bogus and absolutely could not last. As I read it, I kept thinking about Kurt Eichenwald's Conspiracy of Fools, another good book that tells the story of the bizarre and complex pyramid schemes dreamed up by Enron executives. Everyone thinks they can make money by creating nothing, and indeed even having companies sell their own bad investments to themselves.
And the bonds that had been most ineptly rated were the bonds that Wall Street firms had tricked the ratings agencies into rating most ineptly. "I cannot fucking believe this is allowed," said Eisman. "I must have said that one thousand times" (p. 101).
Indeed, it was the bundling that helps accounts for the disaster. Good mortgages were bundled with bad, and then sold as if they were all good. Further, even different types of bad mortgages could be made to look good.
By assuming that one pile of subprime mortgage loans wasn't exposed to the same forces as another--that a subprime mortgage bond with loans heavily concentrated in Florida wasn't very much like a subprime mortgage bond more concentrated in California--the engineers created the illusion of security (p. 74).
We all know the outcome, and the story of greed and stupidity is not exactly uplifting.
With its personality-driven style, the book only touches on the broader structural issue of how regulation and deregulation created the environment in the first place, though it does not claim to do so. What it also does not delve into is the fact that the "heroes" of the story, that is, the Steve Eismans of Wall Street who spoke out about how it was all a lie, made money only because of massive collapse. Yes, Lewis does bring it up, but there is a broader point to be made about how in many ways these guys aren't heroes at all. They were very smart, but they got rich only because many Americans got screwed. At least Lewis does make the point that nothing has really changed. Once the economy picks up again, something like this will definitely reoccur.
I read Michael Lewis' The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (by the way, what kind of terrible subtitle is that?) and highly recommend it as a perversely entertaining and straightforward narrative of how subprime mortgages were bundled into bonds few people understood, given too-high ratings, and then traded for enormous sums of money on the assumption that the booming housing market would go on forever. The book focuses on the handful of people who realized it was all bogus and absolutely could not last. As I read it, I kept thinking about Kurt Eichenwald's Conspiracy of Fools, another good book that tells the story of the bizarre and complex pyramid schemes dreamed up by Enron executives. Everyone thinks they can make money by creating nothing, and indeed even having companies sell their own bad investments to themselves.
And the bonds that had been most ineptly rated were the bonds that Wall Street firms had tricked the ratings agencies into rating most ineptly. "I cannot fucking believe this is allowed," said Eisman. "I must have said that one thousand times" (p. 101).
Indeed, it was the bundling that helps accounts for the disaster. Good mortgages were bundled with bad, and then sold as if they were all good. Further, even different types of bad mortgages could be made to look good.
By assuming that one pile of subprime mortgage loans wasn't exposed to the same forces as another--that a subprime mortgage bond with loans heavily concentrated in Florida wasn't very much like a subprime mortgage bond more concentrated in California--the engineers created the illusion of security (p. 74).
We all know the outcome, and the story of greed and stupidity is not exactly uplifting.
With its personality-driven style, the book only touches on the broader structural issue of how regulation and deregulation created the environment in the first place, though it does not claim to do so. What it also does not delve into is the fact that the "heroes" of the story, that is, the Steve Eismans of Wall Street who spoke out about how it was all a lie, made money only because of massive collapse. Yes, Lewis does bring it up, but there is a broader point to be made about how in many ways these guys aren't heroes at all. They were very smart, but they got rich only because many Americans got screwed. At least Lewis does make the point that nothing has really changed. Once the economy picks up again, something like this will definitely reoccur.
patrick_gus's review against another edition
4.0
Michael Lewis has an extreme talent for breaking down complex and deliberately opaque topics to be easily understood and digestible to someone with no expertise. He writes what could be very dry and laborious into a compelling narrative.
The book is more effective than the film of telling this story and making the world of MBS, CDO's, subprime mortgages, etc very easily understood.
It loses some effectiveness because it focuses very little on the ripple effects of the economic meltdown into the lives of regular people or the economy. I do recognize that it's not the goal of the book and wouldve made it 78 times as long.
The book is more effective than the film of telling this story and making the world of MBS, CDO's, subprime mortgages, etc very easily understood.
It loses some effectiveness because it focuses very little on the ripple effects of the economic meltdown into the lives of regular people or the economy. I do recognize that it's not the goal of the book and wouldve made it 78 times as long.
trentjonas's review against another edition
5.0
Already saw the movie, but was still gripped by the book. Read it on my phone in 3 days -- couldn't put it down!
crass_mann's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
tense
medium-paced
4.5
bookfrogcc's review against another edition
4.0
This book was an excellent look at some of the practices that led to the financial crisis. One of the best features of the book was that as a non-finance person, I had no trouble following the story. Everything from Credit Default Swaps to tranches was explained in a clear and concise way. And on top of all the information, Lewis weaves a story out of several compelling and disparate characters. Even knowing the ending, there are moments in the story where you want to say, "no! don't do it!!" as if somehow the follies of the past decade could be undone.
If you have even the vaguest interest in what happened in 2007-2008, I highly recommend this book!
If you have even the vaguest interest in what happened in 2007-2008, I highly recommend this book!
cyberhiker's review against another edition
5.0
It was a great read. I watched the movie and wanted to learn more about the people themselves so I decided to read the book. It held my interest and gave some insight as to why some of the people were anti-establishment or so pessimistic.
So I would say it is interesting if interested.
So I would say it is interesting if interested.