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)

Better than the movie.

If you want to really know what happened, read this book. It took time to understand the time sequence difference between the two.

Compelling

Adds more information to the info in the movie.
My only problem : it's harder to keep the characters straight in the Audible version than in the movie.

Strength in character descriptions

Would you listen to The Big Short again? Why?

Maybe, but not anytime soon.

Would you recommend The Big Short to your friends? Why or why not?

Yes. Bought a copy for my father for Christmas.

Have you listened to any of Jesse Boggs’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

Michael Lewis is an excellent story-teller. So much more than financial information in this text.

Awesome book, but pay attention!

I loved it, and loved doing research along the way! Powerful, insightful and VERY educational!

Clear, interesting explanation of CDS & CDO Mess

Where does The Big Short rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Excellent

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Big Short?

The Aha-moment when the need for CDO's by Wall Street drove pressure to lend sub-prime borrowers, like an immigrant with 14K income getting 750K loan. Its not just about personal irresponsibility by the borrowers.

What does Jesse Boggs bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

N/a

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

clear explanation of CDO market

Any additional comments?

N/a

Fascinating.

In typical Lewis fashion, this book is very well written, very engaging. A complex, somewhat dry topic becomes a fascinating story. By the end, the listner is informed, yet will want more.

An extraordinarylly eloquent account.

The storytelling is gripping. The book also gives a tremendous amount of detail on the 2008 financial crise that is lost in the film.

An Important Story- but narrator is boring

As a person who works in the banking/mortgage industry, I listened to this book as to understand the events that precipitated the 08 crash. It definitely did that, however after listening to the intro and epilogue recorded by the author, I wish he was the one to narrate it. It’s clear he is passionate about the subject material and the narrator selected for this program was kind of monotone and boring. For such a dense and complicated topic, someone who understands the material and is passionate about it, makes it easier to digest, understand and frankly pay attention to. I’d probably recommend reading the print version of the book.

Complex but learned a ton

Really learned a ton. Just as I had hoped. Every bit as relevant today as back then.

Incredible

Great to be able to know what happened behind the scenes.
Michael Lewis explains things
so they are easily understood and keeps it quite interesting.
I’ve seen the movie several times and listened to this book twice. I am obsessed with this part of history. Thank you Michael Lewis for telling this story. I was never bored in the least. The cliché “truth is stranger than fiction” certainly
applies here. And also “you can’t make this stuff up”
Thanks for writing because
Americans have short attention spans and many are starting to forget this or have already forgotten. I am really impressed at how a non-fiction book about
banks and the stock market stays fresh and interesting.
Also, Jesse Boggs narration was
enjoyable. Great book all around. Highly recommend.