PRINT-The Big Short by Michael Lewis

I heard a lot of advancedpraise before reading The Big Short, and I have to say that Michael Lewis lives up to it. If you want to know what happened during the bursting of the housing bubble, I would advise you to read this book.

The story begins and centers on three actors in a financial play. One is a slick trader working for Deutsche Bank. Another is a neurosurgeon with Aspberger's Syndrome with a knack for value investing. Then, there are the two amateurs who don't know what the fuck they are doing, don't have much money, but have a whole lot of common sense. These guys decide to do something daring and genius--short the biggest bubble in US financial history.

Understanding things like collateralized debt obligations and interest rate swaps and a whole bunch of other shit I can't even remember is a tall order. Yet, Lewis tells a story, and you understand enough of it to get the gist of it. Basically, in the years following up to the meltdown, the big Wall Street players were a bunch of suckers playing with financial dynamite. It also didn't help that you had ratings agencies like Moody's putting high ratings on dogshit derivatives. It was one big con, and the three parties who were short knew it. You are rooting for them but also sickened at what was going on. By the end of the book, even the winners in this game don't feel victorious. They leave depressed and changed.

This book is essential reading for anyone involved in financial affairs and everyone else who wonders what the hell happened. It is a morality tale, and Lewis tells it well. I highly recommend The Big Short.

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