[books] The Big Short

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Extremely well written story of the financial crisis, from the insider's point of view. There is a bit of selection bias since all the "insiders" that Lewis interviews actually saw the crash coming and shorted the market. But don't let that detract from the book - its really well done and hard to put down. Lewis explains the various products and terms (CDOs, CDSs, tranches) quite well - most of which are different names for common sensical products anyway - and then goes on to explain how the mess was created, why it was very hard to value and where there was fraud versus bad judgement. He explains the greed factor - and the process of duping the rating agencies (S&P and Moody's).

The book reads like a fiction novel. Its fast, characters (all real people) are the kind you can relate to (like or hate). I loved this book and would strongly recommend it to anyone, regardless of your interest in finance.


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