Author: Michael Lewis
 |
| via Wikipedia |
Her book for me was The Big Short by Michael Lewis, the story of the subprime mortgage crisis told from the perspective of the few in the financial world who saw it coming. My wife and I saw the excellent film based on the book during our visit to Washington in December. I am also already a fan of Lewis's work having read and thoroughly enjoyed Moneyball (review here). As such, I was delighted for the excuse to read The Big Short.
In his book Polysyllabic Spree, British author Nick Hornby offered a marvelous review of Moneyball: “I understood about one word in every four of Moneyball, and it's still the best and most engrossing sports book I've read in years." That's a fair summation of my feelings about The Big Short. High finance talk loses me in a hurry. As much as I love numbers, the stock listings never drew my attention the way the sports page did. Of course, all of the jargon surrounding the mortgage crisis is more esoteric than most, by design. We peasants on the street were never meant to understand. Those who control the information control the world - until they lose control, that is. Then we're all screwed.
Lewis does his best to explain it all, though the film did it better so I was glad to have seen it first. Even so, the book is brilliant. Lewis's genius as a writer is character development. The heroes of his tale are a few hedge fund managers who saw the madness and fragility of the subprime market and boldly bet against it. All of them are wonderfully drawn. My favorite is Steve Eisman, played by Steve Carell in the movie. He's a misanthropic wacko with a gift for seeing through bullshit. His attempt at playing golf in chapter 6 is not to be missed.
The crazy part about following this story either in print or on screen is the realization that in rooting for these guys to be right, you are rooting for economic catastrophe. It's not a good book to read if you want to maintain a positive outlook on humanity. You will laugh and you will learn. Just don't go into it hoping for reassurance.
That's the strange thing about The Big Short, rooting for the guys who saw it coming. What does that even amount to? Lewis seems like he's kind of fixated on this kind of person. I've seen what it does for the A's (who have become almost completely hapless), while the Red Sox have employed the moneyball concept to a more limited, and more successful, extent. These are guys who need context. By your estimation, I'm not sure Lewis provided that.
ReplyDeleteActually, I'd say he provided plenty of context. The book is really very good and the conflict for the reader is not a knock against it.
DeleteAs for baseball (far more my comfort zone), I think part of what happened with the A's is that other franchises - the Rays, the Jays, the Royals - found their own secret formulae for competing with the big market teams. Some of it was copying Billy Beane, some of it wasn't. So, the A's have more competition for the players they used to target. As for the Sox, they have the advantage of money. Epstein got them to spend it more wisely but having more cash to begin with sure doesn't hurt. The Cubs are benefiting from the same approach now. Meanwhile, the throw-more-money-at-the-problem Yankees are struggling.
It takes a lot to make the playoffs and even more to win the World Series. The different routes teams are finding to get there these days are fascinating.
I lived The Big Short. I don't have to read it.If I hear the word my arch/developer x said over and over again....
ReplyDelete"But we look good on paper"
one more time I will jump off one of his paper buildings. I try to make sure we have money to live on and he is building paper.
I was around for Billy Ball in Oakland, good times.
cheers, parsnip and thehamish
Living with someone in finance must be seriously tough if you're not. It's a completely different view of the universe. I also wouldn't understand half of the words that came out of her mouth.
DeleteHaven't seen the movie but would like to.
DeleteI highly recommend it.
DeleteI thought the movie was great. I do want to read the book, but I don't know if I'll get to it.
ReplyDeleteThe movie is a reasonably faithful adaptation. There's material in each that isn't in the other so experiencing both is worthwhile.
DeleteI haven't read The Big Short but I have read Foundation (actually, I've read the whole series - more than once). Maybe I'll try the movie first...
ReplyDeleteI have read four of the Foundation books. The others have been on my TBR list for a decent portion of my life. I'll get around to them eventually.
Delete