Reviews

La Gran Apuesta / The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis

eiridium's review against another edition

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5.0

A superb read. Thick, think novel like form, but gripping and approachable. The three interspersed biographical narratives blend well and approach collapse from unique perspectives. Michael Lewis is a skillful writer and now must put his two other books on my must read list.

redowns1022's review against another edition

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5.0

Rage inducing - I devoured in a day.

supermdguy's review against another edition

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funny informative fast-paced

4.0

Great read, made a complex news item very understandable

jsilverman84's review against another edition

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4.0

This was a fun read. I learned a lot, however, I am left feeling that it is missing some of the wonkish rigor that a first pass at the economic history of the 2008 recession might include. I would love to follow up with a drier version of the same story with more historical context.

njdarkish's review against another edition

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4.0

Very informative, but the reality of all that happened is infuriating.

gayatriii's review against another edition

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4.0

Super compelling read, even for someone who didn't quite understand it all. I had to google a lot of terms for the book to make sense, and often just skipped over a few concepts altogether hoping they wouldn't be crucial to the narrative. Despite all that, it is deeply insightful and shocks you into realising that the great recession wasn't just the making of a few million greedy American home-owners (which is what I believed until now). Must read for everyone, definite must read if you understand financial jargon.

gemblebeeb's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.25

Did I enjoy it? Yes! 
Did I understand it? Almost! 
Will have to re-listen again soon. See if I get more second time around. 

kivt's review against another edition

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5.0

this is some of the best writing i’ve read in a long time.

hghallgren's review against another edition

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funny informative sad fast-paced

3.5

j_m_alexander's review against another edition

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informative reflective fast-paced

4.25

 I am real late to this read and doubt I have any new insights to really add - so, simply: A well-told, quick-paced deep dive into what lead up to the housing market crash/financial crisis/great recession by focusing on a few individuals that saw the shenanigans in the market for what it was and what it would inevitably lead to before everyone else and figured out how to make a smart bet against the house before the whole Jenga tower of bad debt came crashing down.

It was interesting to look back at an event that seemed so calamitous at the time and directly or indirectly had a real impact on all of our lives, but it generally feels like we moved on from... probably because there have been other calamitous crises since + short attention spans and all that.

Very consumable. Excellent portraits of people at the center of the story. Makes you feel smarter.