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sunset8305's review against another edition
5.0
A FANTASTIC audiobook that breaks down the 2008 financial crisis in layman’s terms… or close enough. I was still confused about the various financial instruments and terms being referenced, but the author makes clear that even the big banks had no clue. The movie is equally as good.
oceansky's review against another edition
4.0
There's no one better than Lewis at making the arcane understandable. After reading this I'm filled with shock and disgust about the appalling subprime mortgage trading and especially the asleep-at-the-wheel credit rating agencies who helped fuel it.
kirsten0929's review against another edition
4.0
Didn't understand everything perfectly (through no fault of the author), but didn't need to, which is a great credit to the author. Could still feel the rhythms of the story, the flow, emotions, the tension, the thrills. Great telling of a fascinating piece of history, compelling character descriptions. Looking forward to seeing the movie.
bantwalkers's review against another edition
4.0
I can't tell you what this book is about, except that capitalism is a shady business. Mostly, it's about a group of guys and girls, who are all funny, quirky and honest, who foresaw the subprime lending crash coming, along with the big banks and everything failing. No one would listen to them, and they got rich betting against what they saw as scams about to fall apart.
It is pretty confusing, all the asset-trading, betting, Wall Street talk, but Lewis tries his best to explain everything as well as he can. For most people, there will be a point when all the jargon is just too much. That part of it is dense and hard to decipher. However, he follows a group of characters throughout his narrative that make it a funny and interesting read.
Mostly what I came away with was this: the economic crisis was caused by a bunch of d-bags who were trying to make a buck by being seedy jags who take advantage of the poor and lower middle class. And then instead of being punished, the government bailed them out so they could keep being a bunch of jags.
It is pretty confusing, all the asset-trading, betting, Wall Street talk, but Lewis tries his best to explain everything as well as he can. For most people, there will be a point when all the jargon is just too much. That part of it is dense and hard to decipher. However, he follows a group of characters throughout his narrative that make it a funny and interesting read.
Mostly what I came away with was this: the economic crisis was caused by a bunch of d-bags who were trying to make a buck by being seedy jags who take advantage of the poor and lower middle class. And then instead of being punished, the government bailed them out so they could keep being a bunch of jags.