The Big Short

Inside the Doomsday Machine

By: Michael Lewis

Narrated by: Jesse Boggs

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Featuring an exclusive audio interview with Michael Lewis

When the crash of the U.S. stock market became public knowledge in the fall of 2008, it was already old news. The real crash, the silent crash, had taken place over the previous year, in bizarre feeder markets where the sun doesn’t shine, and the SEC doesn’t dare, or bother, to tread: the bond and real-estate derivative markets, where geeks invent impenetrable securities to profit from the misery of lower- and middle-class Americans who can’t pay their debts. The smart people who understood what was or might be happening were paralyzed by hope and fear; in any case, they weren’t talking.

The crucial question is this: Who understood the risk inherent in the assumption of ever-rising real-estate prices, a risk compounded daily by the creation of those arcane, artificial securities loosely based on piles of doubtful mortgages?

Michael Lewis turns the inquiry on its head to create a fresh, character-driven narrative brimming with indignation and dark humor, a fitting sequel to his number-one best-selling Liar’s Poker. "Who got it right?" he asks. Who saw the ever-rising real-estate market for the black hole it would become, and eventually made billions of dollars from that perception? And what qualities of character made those few persist when their peers and colleagues dismissed them as Chicken Littles?

Out of this handful of unlikely—really unlikely—heroes, Lewis fashions a story as compelling and unusual as any of his earlier best sellers, proving yet again that he is the finest and funniest chronicler of our times.

©2010 Michael Lewis (P)2010 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

“No one writes with more narrative panache about money and finance than Mr. Lewis....[he] does a nimble job of using his subjects’ stories to explicate the greed, idiocies and hypocrisies of a system notably lacking in grown-up supervision....Writing in faintly Tom Wolfe-ian prose, Mr. Lewis does a colorful job of introducing the lay reader to the Darwinian world of the bond market.” (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times)

“Superb: Michael Lewis doing what he does best, illuminating the idiocy, madness and greed of modern finance. . . . Lewis achieves what I previously imagined impossible: He makes subprime sexy all over again.” (Andrew Leonard, Salon.com)

"[Michael Lewis] is the finest storyteller of our generation.” (Malcolm Gladwell)

Fascinating and infuriating

Michael Lewis once again takes a complicated topic and make's it understandable and interesting by humanizing it. The problem is the people responsible for it got away with it and made millions. And the people who were supposed to police it were just as corrupt. Then our government bailed the banks out with taxpayer money.

Very Entertaining Look Inside the Mortgage Crisis

An entertaining, character driven look inside the subprime mortgage crisis. Lewis does a great job explaining the underlying causes of the crisis in simple terms and his characterization of those "shorting" the crisis is incredible. Boggs has a wry intonation that matches the wit and humor of the book.

now how do I get my underwater mortgage reduced du

I knew this was bad after reading "The quants" but now it's I'm sure it's criminal. liked the presentation.

Know what happen!

Would you listen to The Big Short again? Why?

If you want to understand what & why happen 2008 financial crisis, this is the one!

Good but not great

Slow in parts but engaging in most. Presents a small piece of the history of the financial collapse.

Very, very enjoyable.

Wow. What a story, one that I was in the middle of, at the time, and didn't know it. Great "education" about all things financial, and the way things work, or don't work. What a great read.

Real Good

Would you consider the audio edition of The Big Short to be better than the print version?

Didnt read the book, but enjoyed the audio and watched the movie, learned a few things for sure, I wonder what the next big short will be... 401ks.. Goverment bonds...

amazing

this is tough material to comprehend and yet I loved the book better than the movie it brought in sight to a tough time in the US economy. I loved this Reed kept me interested the entire way I listen to it while I was at the gym and found it motivating even though I'm sure it wasn't meant to be

Excellent

Great book and performance. If you’ve seen the movie there’s way more insight to each trader and thought process of how they came to bet on the crash. Quick read

Great companion to the film

Adds additional background and color to the film and explains clearly the situation the world found it self in 10 years ago
The deliver and performance is pretty standard though