Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street | 
so-soOk I‘d give it a pick because the writing was great but I don‘t recommend it to my bestie and I wouldn‘t read it again. However, it did surprise me. I picked it up after I heard someone quote it. Even though it‘s from when I was born, it‘s still relevant and fascinating.
pickThis book is so freaking interesting. The author gives detail of working for Salomon Brothers in the 1980s right as they were at the apex but about to fall apart. My co-op somehow snuck this into her development reading.
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This gem is back to its old tricks (commuting). Seen here with the enormous pile of stuff I "needed" to take to the office today.
Today's book bestie is this gem I took off my co-op. Seems interesting so far.
pickFantastic! I will definitely be reading more Michael Lewis. Factual, humorous, insightful. A great book by an engaging author. If you have any interest in Wall Street, junk bonds, financial markets, larger-than-life characters or traders v salesmen, this book is for you.
so-soI enjoyed the parts of this book that were more memoir-ish, with Lewis discussing his job at Salomon Bros. The chapters actually outlining bond sales and other Wall Street stuff were pretty dry.
so-soI enjoyed the parts of this book that were more memoir-ish, with Lewis discussing his job at Salomon Bros. The chapters actually outlining bond sales and other Wall Street stuff were pretty dry.
pickThis was an interesting read about the author‘s time at Salomon Brothers in which he climbed from a trainee to a successful trader. If you want a book with interesting and likable characters, this isn‘t for you. This is a book about relatively awful people who care about making piles of money and of self-preservation in a company structure that gave off a Lord of the Flies vibe!
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pickMichael Lewis might be better than any other writer I've read at explaining complex subjects in an entertaining and understandable way, especially when it comes to the financial industry. I credit him with taking my abstract disdain for Wall Street and giving it myriad, concrete targets to focus on. 🙂
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"When you won, people-- all the way up to the top of the firm-- admired you, envied you, and feared you, and with reason: You controlled the loot. When you managed a firm, well, sure you received your quota of envy, fear and admiration. But for all the wrong reasons. You did not make the money for Salomon. You did not take risk. You were hostage to your producers. They took the risk... The money came from risk takers..."
"In any market, as in any poker game, there is a fool. The astute investor Warren Buffett is fond of saying that any player unaware of the fool in the market probably is the fool in the market."
"The questions a Liar's Poker player asks himself are, up to a point, the same questions as a bond trader asks himself. Is this a smart risk? Do I feel lucky? How cunning is my opponent? Does he have any idea what he's doing, and if not, how do I exploit his ignorance? If he bids high, is he bluffing, or does he actually have a strong hand... Each player seeks weakness, predictability, and pattern in the others and seeks to avoid it in himself."
"He had, I think, a profound ability to control the two emotions that commonly destroy traders-- fear and greed-- and it made him as noble as a man who pursues his self interest so fiercely can be. He was thought by many within Salomon to be the best bond trader on Wall Street."
