Thursday, June 3, 2010

The Big Short

I recently finished Michael Lewis' "The Big Short" and wanted to pass on the recommendation to you all. Probably the best book I've read in the last 2-3 years.

I know many a reader of this blog has read Lewis' "Moneyball", or perhaps his book "The Blind Side" on which the movie was based. One of Lewis' greatest talents is his ability to break down complicated subjects into simple, compelling stories. You didn't have to be a baseball geek to understand "Moneyball", a mortgage-bond expert to enjoy "Liar's Poker", or a Sandra Bullock fan to love "The Blind Side" (I actually haven't read/seen the last one, but have only heard good things).

The Big Short covers not only how and why the sub-prime mortgage market tanked (and took everthing else down with it), but how three separate, small-time investment shops saw it coming, and bet BIG against it. This is about as close as any book about the sub-prime mortgage market can be to being a page-turner. The further I got into it, the harder I found to put it down.

It's an entertaining read, requires little prerequisite expertise of Wall Street and bond markets, and on top of all that, it's pretty educational.

Has anyone else read this book, or have another book they want to recommend?

4 comments:

Ryan said...

Rollz, does that author offer an suggestions or advice? I think that is what I'd like the most to know, not what happened, but what should we (the little guys) do?

Saw this and thought of your post:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOzR3UAyXao&feature=player_embedded

Sorry, no books to recommend at this time. Too busy blogging about socialism.

Roller said...

The book doesn't really offer direct advice, or formulas for investment success on an individual basis. But you can take some lessons away from it, and it does reveal some of what's behind Wall Street's curtains.

I'm sure there are better books for how the little guy can become a better investor. But besides being a book of compelling, true stories, this book will give you a better understanding of the Wall Street money machines. And that will help investors of all sizes.

Roller said...

Just watched the video you linked. Awesome, hilarious, sad & true.

Roller said...

Also... in the original post I linked to Amazon's page for the book. I could (should) have linked to a library's page!

You're already paying for the library to have a copy, you might as well go borrow that one!