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Well, I’m not sure I can say I enjoyed it. You don’t look at a dumpster fire and enjoy the smell. I do greatly respect the comprehensiveness of the reporting. Intensely detailed and illuminating, this book will undoubtedly be invaluable to historians and economists in 30, 60, 100 years, the same way our scholars today study the Great Depression. These are the folks who earnestly want an answer to the question, “What the heck were they thinking?” For the rest of us, that question is rhetorical. I’d rather know what happened, with an aim to understand how we got here so we can avoid it in the future - which made the epilogue and afterword the most compelling chapters. I could have done without the blow-by-blow.
You'd think you were reading a thriller. ARS has done anyone interested a big favor in documenting these events. Not too late to educate oneself or review if you are more economically literate.
Sorkin’s book is a compelling and insightful account of the central events in 2008’s economic meltdown as they unfolded inside the Wall St. banks and the offices of the Federal Reserve and Treasury. In that respect, it’s far more rewarding than William Cohan’s House of Cards, which is often more interested in personal quirks and lifestyles. And while Cohan’s focus on Bear Sterns places it at the front end of the drama, Sorkin’s focus on Lehman’s collapse places it more at the center of the tsunami. As well, Sorkin takes into account a wider range of Wall St. institutions and their interrelationships.
A few caveats. First, I read this after having already immersed myself in the ongoing details of the crisis and its unfolding. While Sorkin’s language isn’t mystifying, the subject matter and wide array of players and terminology of “high finance” can be, so for that reason I wouldn’t recommend this unless you’re already comfortable with the basics. Second, Sorkin doesn’t attempt an explanation of how we arrived at the crisis and why. For that you’re better off with Les Leopold. That said, it’s a very well told insider account of the decisions that the major players were confronted with, how they came to those decisions, and what some of the consequences were.
A few caveats. First, I read this after having already immersed myself in the ongoing details of the crisis and its unfolding. While Sorkin’s language isn’t mystifying, the subject matter and wide array of players and terminology of “high finance” can be, so for that reason I wouldn’t recommend this unless you’re already comfortable with the basics. Second, Sorkin doesn’t attempt an explanation of how we arrived at the crisis and why. For that you’re better off with Les Leopold. That said, it’s a very well told insider account of the decisions that the major players were confronted with, how they came to those decisions, and what some of the consequences were.
This was a very dense play-by-play of the financial meltdown. I listened to it as an audiobook and it was 21 hours long or as someone else has commented almost Too Big to Read. However, the degree of detail is what made the book so fascinating. I was particularly intrigued by the glimpse a reader gets into big bank CEO lifestyles. For example, they all had drivers zipping them around the city, but in many of these meetings, they are ordering in pizza and Dunkin Donuts. The classy and aloof was mixed pretty evenly with the casual and mundane.
I was also shocked at the decision making processes of both the bankers and the politicians. There are some factors we know lead to poor decision making such as a lack of sleep and time pressure. As professional decision makers, they were setting themselves up to fail.
The people who organized the buying and bailing out of these institutions were undoubtedly very clever people. They were able to devise financial products so complex that only a select few understood their inner-workings. And that meant that they were also able to construct a political product to benefit themselves that made if past government review.
If you can't get through the whole book, I recommend the epilogue. Here the author gives you his highly educated summary of what happened, what could have happened, and what should have happened.
I was also shocked at the decision making processes of both the bankers and the politicians. There are some factors we know lead to poor decision making such as a lack of sleep and time pressure. As professional decision makers, they were setting themselves up to fail.
The people who organized the buying and bailing out of these institutions were undoubtedly very clever people. They were able to devise financial products so complex that only a select few understood their inner-workings. And that meant that they were also able to construct a political product to benefit themselves that made if past government review.
If you can't get through the whole book, I recommend the epilogue. Here the author gives you his highly educated summary of what happened, what could have happened, and what should have happened.
Extremely detailed narrative of the 2007-2009 financial crash. I found it interesting.
Couldn't put it down for the first 350 pages, couldn't force myself to read anymore after that. the quality of the sourcing just plummeted after Lehman's failure (spoiler alert lol). Couldn't force myself to finish it.
Interesting take on the financial crisis of 07' -- from the perspective of the those within the 'eye of the storm'. Worth a read.
informative
slow-paced