Moneyball

The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

By: Michael Lewis

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Moneyball reveals 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 giant 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.

In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, 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?

©2004 Michael Lewis (P)2011 Random House

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)

Michael Lewis is a great author.

Mr Lewis always makes the reader feel that they are in the middle of story. Love his work!

Truly enjoyable

An amazing underdog story. Best of all, it’s true! I lived in the Oakland area in the early 2000s. We felt like we were watching a miracle every day! Thanks Billy and go As!!

Great Story

As a fan of baseball this is just another great story. From start to finish it was amazing to see what goes on during a season.

win the game / lose your soul

smart aleck michael lewis turns his anglo eye to baseball
what happens when wall street smarts meets main street's game ?
to know the bill james paradigm is the equivalent of insider trading

jokes are easily had in the profane world of the male pecking order
" i know something you don't know " makes for a lot of arrogant jerks
gutsy billy beane hangs on long enough to show them all he was right

on reflection however both beane and lewis seem a bit soulless
in the end it's probably a good fit of story and storyteller
the loneliness and ennui seep up through the story's cracks

we won - HOORAY ! / i proved them all wrong - WONDERFUL !
but that nagging voice asks " who gives a damn if i live or die ? "
it's an athletic meditation on success and its' many prices

Inspirational story on how to find value with limited cash

Great story. Great movie. The audiobook is very well read. Highly recommended for any baseball fan or someone who is looking for a good financial story.

The best sports and business book I've read.

By now I'm sure most of you have seen the movie, which was excellent. I read this book maybe 5 times before the movie came out and at least 3 time since. So what's my point...

First, it is written by Michael Lewis, perhaps the best nonfiction author of this century. He is the master of finding remarkably entertaining true life stories, whether the subject is sports or business. He reminds me a bit of Andrew Tobias with his wit and irony.

Second, despite the undeniable success of the moneyball revolution in baseball, the book and the methods it reveals is still scoffed at by the majority of Major League Baseball and virtually ignored by virtually all of ameture baseball. It was a David versus Goliath story in 2000 and remarkably, it remains so today.

Thirdly, it is a masterpiece about business, how we evaluate success and how we should always be thinking outside the box.

Old School vs. New School

"Someone in the Kansas City Royals front office, please read this book!!!!

As for the rest of us, this book is primarily about baseball, but also about how observant outsiders can provide insight that the insiders are blind to. Or in other words, how the old school resists the new school despite the proof the latter demonstrates and the former lacks."

Outstanding book

This is one of the best books about baseball ever and is a "must read" for anyone wishing to understand the game better. It takes the reader/listener into what is actually happening during the games and the season (hint: it is not what most broadcasters blather on about). Michael Lewis manages to make even the most mundane parts of baseball interesting and the interesting parts are riveting! As one reviewer I read put it, it is "bad news bears for MBAs."

With all that said though, the production was disappointing. As others have pointed out it does occasionally repeat sentences (an odd experience that is distracting when you are listening closely). The other problem I had was his mispronunciation of names of baseball players. The names of people are integral to the book and I think it does not do the individuals justice to mispronounce their names. I usually enjoy Scott Brick's narrations but this one was somewhat disappointing.

Overall, though, it is well worth it to listen to or read this book. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in baseball, business or life.

The Necessary Prelude to the 2004 Boston Red Sox

As a Red Sox fan, how did I go so long without reading this title? Certainly everyone knows about Moneyball as "The Oakland A's Book," but its impact to the Red Sox championship run and the state of baseball from this day forward cannot be understated.

At a higher level, this book is a classic conflict between reason/innovation and the old guard/emotions/status quo. We see these conflicts play out in stadiums of all sorts: parenting (vaccinations), politics (global warming), and the like. Author Michael Lewis captures the romance of baseball worderfully with the tales of Jeremy Brown, Chad Bradford and Scott Hatteberg. Brick's narration carries the story well.

After reading, I'm left wondering about my personal sabermetrics: under what conditions does my daughter go to bed early and happy? When am I my most productive at work? When are my wife and I our most content? etc. Perhaps the closest I've read to this type of work is Daniel Kahneman's 'Thinking Fast and Slow.' Ultimately, short of my hiring a team of statisticans to operationalize and analyse my every waking moment, the answers to my wonderings are up in the stars. Thanks Bill James for publishing your Baseball Abstracts. Thanks Billy Beane for not going to work for John Henry. And thanks Michael Lewis for publishing a terrific story.

Riveting!

This book, about baseball and numbers and outside the box thinking, is a must read for anyone but especially anyone intrigued by the game.