Flash Boys

A Wall Street Revolt

By: Michael Lewis

Narrated by: Dylan Baker

Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

2015 Audie Award Finalist for Non-Fiction

From the number-one New York Times best-selling author of Liar's Poker and "one of the country's most popular business journalists" (The New York Times) Michael Lewis, comes an engaging new book about Wall Street.

Michael Lewis, the best-selling author of Boomerang, The Big Short, The Blind Side, Moneyball, and many others, returns to the financial world to give listeners a ringside seat as the biggest news story in years prepares to hit Wall Street.

©2014 Michael Lewis (P)2014 Simon & Schuster

The difficult made understandable

I love everything that ML writes, and this one was no exception. He makes these difficult to understand topics understandable and interesting. He weaves in personal narratives that make the technical parts interesting.
An excellent read about a topic that every American should have a basic understanding of.

Enlightening, but...

it fels like an advertisement for IEX who recently changed their terms of service to what many interpret as a less investor-friendly cost model.

This casts some shade on IEX from my perspective, but with more infrastructure comes more overhead; hopefully not just a well-orchestrated money grab.

Great reader for this somewhat complicated story

Where does Flash Boys rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This was the first michael lewis book I read and was really impressed that he was able to find narratives that made high frequency trading much more interesting than it is when business papers cover it. This was high on my list - I basically wanted to listen to it almost all the time. The writing was great and entertaining

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

It is a story of something so complex that I wouldn't be able to figure it out from one article, but Lewis takes the time to explain it.

Which character – as performed by Dylan Baker – was your favorite?

I thought dylan was great - his voice really had the no nonsense feel that the writing conveyed as well.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

not really that kind of book!

Five stars isn't enough!

Any additional comments?

This is a great book. Michael Lewis has done an amazing job in describing the way that high frequency traders make their money and the way the rules and regulations have accommodated them. At certain points, you'll lose all faith in humanity because of the way greed dictates the way big banks and HF traders operate. But the main characters will also restore the faith, since most of them walked away from highpaying wallstreet jobs to try and sabotage the HFT business with their new index IEX.

This book deserves more then the five stars that I can award to it.

The Decline and Fall of America. Chapter One.

How can this systemic corruption and greed and existential threat to capitalism be ignored. Most ironically, the way Wall Street and banks have scalped americans out of trillions is the worst crime since the World Trade Center collapse. And evidently the only person who did any time was a stooge of Goldman Sachs. This will be one chapter in the history books about the decline of America. And most tragically, these crimes are still being perpetrated by those too big to fail, while the rest of the 90% + unwashed masses pay the tab. This is worse than anything the British did before the colonies revolted.

The reason for 1.5X speed

The book is great. The narrator is pleasing. But I listened to the whole book on 1.25X speed and STILL wondered why it was taking so long. Otherwise highly recommended.

Amazing book

Just buy it already it's really good!
You'll be very well entertained and you will learn a lot almost by accident.

another great book by Michael Lewis

incredible detail and a captivating story. It us as good as the big short

Good overall

I got through this book in a week. Fun story and not to gloomy like some of the reviews I read for this book said. It's not a HFT witch hunt but rather more informative about HFT companies than anyone else has ever been.

Technical topic transformed to enthralling story

Would you listen to Flash Boys again? Why?

I am not a "re-listener" type so the better question is would I recomend it to others. Absolutely. Yes. I typically alternate between fiction, to enjoy and pass the time during arduous tasks, and nonfiction, to keep informed on important and relevant issues. Here you get the important information of the latter with all the enjoyment of the former. Wonderfully written and preformed.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

It is great to follow people whose main motivation is simply the desire to understand. People willing to say they don't understand and unwilling to tolerate those who pretend to know that which they clearly do not.

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

This is my first, but I will be on the lookout for him in the future.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I particularly enjoyed the idea that when working with those that are unprincipled, one must often obscure their actual altruistic motivations with greed or the desire for power to be believed.

Any additional comments?

More important that the entertainment, I thank the author for laying out this issue so clearly, consciously, and interestingly that fact are undeniable to those wishing to obfuscate the truth for their personal gain at the cost of everyone else. I imagine corrupt politicians everywhere waiting for their next HFT kickback cursing your name. Excellent work.