Moneyball

The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

By: Michael Lewis

Narrated by: Michael Lewis

Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

"I wrote this book because I fell in love with a story." But the idea for the book came well before I had good reason to write it - before I had a story to fall in love with. It began, really, with an innocent question: how did one of the poorest teams in baseball, the Oakland Athletics, win so many games?

With these words Michael Lewis launches us into the funniest, smartest, and most contrarian book since, well, since Liar's Poker. Moneyball is a quest for something as elusive as the Holy Grail, something that money apparently can't buy: the secret of success in baseball. The logical places to look would be the front offices of major league teams, and the dugouts. But the real jackpot is a cache of numbers collected over the years by a strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts: software engineers, statisticians, Wall Street analysts, lawyers and physics professors.

These numbers prove that the traditional yardsticks of success for players and teams are fatally flawed. This information has been around for years, and nobody paid it any mind. And then came Billy Beane, General Manager of the Oakland Athletics. Billy paid attention to those numbers, and this book records his astonishing experiment in finding and fielding a team that nobody else wanted.

In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Michael Lewis shows us how and why the new baseball knowledge works. He also sets up a sly and hilarious morality tale: Big Money, like Goliath, is always supposed to win...how can we not cheer for David?

©2003 Michael Lewis (P)2002 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The single most influential baseball book ever." (Rob Neyer, Slate)

"Another journalistic tour de force." (Wall Street Journal)

"Engaging, informative, and deliciously contrarian." (Washington Post)

"Lewis's reading is excellent....Not just for baseball fans, this story will impress anyone who understands that the way things are done can always be improved." (AudioFile)

Abridged version

It’s my mistake but… Audible why not mention in the description that this is the abridged version. Not looking closely at the cover I went with the one narrated by the author.

Excellent book but it is

This book has got me interested in Baseball again! If you find different management styles interesting, if you enjoy the success of the unconventional, if you like thinking outside of the box this is a must read. The narrator who is also the author is very good. The only problem I found with this listen is that it is abridged! Why cant Audible's default format be unabridged as opposed to abridged? Because this was such a good listen I feel a bit cheated. Hopefully the author/narrator did a good job in abridging the book, but how do you know? Problem is that now I have to go buy the book to see what I missed. The whole idea of listening to the book is to save time...come on Audible do what is right.

A fantastic book about a not-so-perfect game

Being a huge baseball fan I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It gave me a great insight into the business of baseball. In fact I am planning to make this book a topic of discussion in our next TM club meeting. Also as an A's fan I am so glad that we have Beane as the general manager. If only his machinations could get the A's deep into the playoffs.

Grand Slammer

This book rocks: a well-narrated, fascinating story. It's funny, insightful, and captivating. Baseball is the context, but it's about seeing value in the underappreciated; it's about fearlessness and following your instincts; it's about recognizing and appreciating the imperfect; and it's also about five hours too short.

Over the top

What a romp! A simply wonderful story of a man who totally rethought baseball.

Period Piece but compelling.

This is an interesting listen, although the concept behind "Moneyball" hasn't stood the test of time as the Oakland A's are no longer winning much these days. Nevertheless, the story is interesting and delivered brilliantly by Michael Lewis.

Exceptional

It doesn't take long to realize Michael Lewis has a gift. Or more accurately, he has a number of them. He is a fantastic writer, with the exceptional ability to tell a story. His writing is so good that it no longer matters what the topic is--he's that good. Because whether Lewis writes about Wall Street or Baseball, what he brings to life are the personalities behind the headlines. Any time you get a chance to read anything by Michael Lewis, you're doing yourself a disservice by doing anything other than devouring his work. And as an audiobook, the fact that it is read by the author only makes it better.

genio13

i learned more aabout baseball,and how it should be played correctly.the s.f. giants could learn about how to play correctly,right now they don't have a clue,a die hard giant fan.

And I don't even like baseball.

Became an instant fan of Lewis' in the 1980s with Liar's Poker. It was about mortgage bonds (snore) so when I learned this one was about baseball (louder snore), I wasn't put off at all. Lewis could write about vanilla pudding and I'd read it.

Get into the mind of a baseball team.

What did you love best about Moneyball?

The story brings you into the psychological part of the game that you never see. I will never look at baseball the same way again. My only regret is that I didn't buy the unabridged version, I never wanted the book to end