ssmcclay 's review for:

When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein

5.0

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One of my favorite books of all time, one I have re-read at least once, if not twice. An extremely prescient account of the failure of LTCM in the 90s, it includes many of the key players in the GFC of 2008, with many similar themes. A warning against overconfidence in one's own models and assumptions, and of failing to recognize when you're the only one in a market. I find I think about it often during other periods of financial institution failure or trouble. Perhaps 10 years from now someone will end up writing a similar book about synthetic risk transfers, private credit or the byzantine ways that PE funds seek to ensure returns to investors...