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)

Awesome!

Outstanding! Could. not stop listening! Highly recommend this. book. Well written intriguing captivatiing story. try it.

What do you think of TARP program now?

Goliath vs the simple ants. This was a painful recounting of the deep waters below the turbulence above.

a piece of the puzzle...

Well written and narrated. Puts the pieces of the complicated financial puzzle together and makes it easier to understand. Also the excellent character development shows that truth is stranger than fiction.
Michael Lewis was great in Money Ball and he continues his fine work as an outstanding author.

Great book!

Fun to read even 10+ years later. Still don't know if Burry was as right as the book makes out.

Very good, very infuriating, but a little narrow

First off, this book tells its story well - its a story of the traders who saw the subprime crisis coming, and, by examining how they managed to bet against the market, the book also illuminates exactly how the subprime debacle occurred. Lewis does a wonderful job showing how so many very smart people made so many stupid assumptions, based on a mix of bad data, bad organizations ("its not my job to worry"), and the most infuriating forms of cheating, lying, and bad-dealing.

My problem with the book, and it is a minor one, is that by staying so narrowly focused on this topic, it tends to follow the progression of a few traders and managers throughout the book, often in great detail. This can make it hard to follow the larger story of the context and economic dealings that surround "The Big Short", especially in audiobook format. Also, since not all of the characters are equally interesting, attention can also wander during parts. Additionally, I suspect that the truly uninitiated will be somewhat confused by terminology - the book assumes you know what "hedging" is and how it works from near the beginning, for example.

While the reader is good, but not great, Lewis is still a great writer, and the story is compact, fascinating, and important. I recommend it, but perhaps only to those who know a little about the subprime crisis to begin with.

classic lewis

great listen ..... except that the narrator does not know how to pronounce a few terms and firm names which is distracting otherwise another classic lewis

Must Listen

I have listened to most of the books written on the recent recession, and this is my favorite. I really liked 'The Greatest Trade Ever' as well, which is on the same subject, but this one was a little easier to follow, and was written in a more personal manner. If I could give it 100 stars I would.

Required Reading

This should be required reading in business schools and for anyone who wants to buy a house, invest, or just save money.

The Big Short

This book is a brilliant and unbiased account of the Wall street Meltdown, and the seeds of destruction (planted many years previous) that provided the basis for the ensuing carnage. Rarely do I have the pleasure of listening to a book this insightful!! The research, writing, and unbiased reporting in this book should make the author a Pulitzer Prize candidate!!!

Absolutely Fascinating

What did you love best about The Big Short?

Aside from the fact that Michael Lewis is one of my all-time favorite writers, this book was particularly page-turningly fascinating. I have listened to this book probably 7 times in its entirety and I have learned something new every time I listen. The characters he chose to write about were captivating and I definitely spent an afternoon Googling them to try and get the after story! I would (and shamelessly do) recommend this book to absolutely everyone who will listen.