Michael Lewis

The #1 New York Times bestseller—Now a Major Motion Picture from Paramount Pictures From the author of The Blind Side and Moneyball, The Big Short tells the story of four outsiders in the world of high-finance who predict the credit and housing bubble collapse before anyone else. The film adaptation by Adam McKay (Anchorman I and II, The Other Guys) features Academy Award® winners Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Melissa Leo and Marisa Tomei; Academy Award® nominees Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling. 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. 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? In this fitting sequel to Liar’s Poker, Michael Lewis answers that question in a narrative brimming with indignation and dark humor.

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (movie tie-in)

Lord Aragorn

Michael Lewis is always interesting to read. This book was no different and it was hard to put down.

Jayme Bosio

To be honest, I do not totally understand how credit default swaps work. I'm fine with that. I'm a librarian, not an economist. The thing that bothers me is that the people dealing in these credit default swaps didn't seem to truly understand them either. So the smart people out there who saw the collapse of the housing market, found a way to get stinkin' mother****ing rich off of this misfortune. Again, that doesn't bother me. The thing that bothers me is that the idiots who didn't see it coming also got stinkin' mother***ing rich. I think Michael Lewis makes an excellent point when he writes, "Why should these people make smart money choices when they get rewarded for making stupid money choices?" (or something along those lines). 

As a librarian, I would be interested in studying the information retrieval methods of financial professionals. Does that make me a huge nerd? Yes. But I'm fascinated with information. The rating agencies got it wrong. The math wizards got it wrong. Bad information leads to bad decisions which leads to a total collapse of our economy. Fascinating. Really. 

Excellent book. Highly recommend it.

Barry Hess

I set out to read a MIchael Lewis book. Expecting it to flow from here to there. The Big Short (I have not read Liar's Poker) is much more meaty, however, and it took me quite a while to finish it up. A very detailed look at those who recognized the impending subprime mortgage market failure and couldn't believe they were the only ones.

Lisa Miller

Watched the movie on netflix which was very good and prompted me to buy the audio book which was also great. I was in my mid-twenties during the GFC and not from or living in the US so my awareness of what was actually happening was sketchy. It's fascinating to learn about it now. I also assumed I would watch/read this and be disgusted at those who are at the centre of this book who ended up making millions out of the crises - but they were the Cassandra's that saw and predicted the crash and were ignored or ridiculed and then disliked for being right.

The author examines the causes of the U.S. stock market crash of 2008 and its relation to overpriced real estate, bad mortgages, shareholder demand for excessive profits, and the growth of toxic derivatives.

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

Rachel

A bit confusing and I even learned about the great recession and its causes when I was in business school, but from what I gather from this book, many professionals in trading and finance don't even understand the market all that well. So I feel better. Entertaining to learn about a handful of people who were being dismissed for thinking Wall Street was wrong and decided to go against what everyone else was doing. Michael Lewis explains the math and industries behind the "bets" but little reminders of what certain aspects were again once it has been awhile and it comes back up would of helped.

Bryan Alexander

A fine history of the financial crisis, brilliant on several levels. First, The Big Short explains very complex stuff really well. Second, very good characters. Third, a good sense of humor. OK, perhaps that's black humor, or Russian humor, laughing in a disaster, but still.

I've been reading into some Great Recession books of late, and this stands out.

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (movie tie-in)

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