The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday MachineThe crucial question is this: Who understood the risk inherent in the assumption of ever rising real estate prices, a risk compounded daily by the creation of those arcane, artificial securities loosely based on piles of doubtful mortgages? Michael Lewis turns the inquiry on its head to create a fresh, character driven narrative brimming with indignation and dark humor, a fitting sequel to his #1 best selling Liar's Poker. Who got it right? he asks.

The crucial question is this: Who understood the risk inherent in the assumption of ever-rising real estate prices, a risk compounded daily by the creation of those arcane, artificial securities loosely based on piles of doubtful mortgages? Michael Lewis turns the inquiry on its head to create a fresh, character-driven narrative brimming with indignation and dark humor, a fitting sequel to his #1 best-selling Liar's Poker. Who got it right? he asks. Who saw the real estate market for the black hole it would become, and eventually made billions of dollars from that perception? And what qualities of character made those few persist when their peers and colleagues dismissed them as Chicken Littles? Out of this handful of unlikely--really unlikely--heroes, Lewis fashions a story as compelling and unusual as any of his earlier bestsellers, proving yet again that he is the finest and funniest chronicler of our times.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 03/15/2010
ISBN: 9780393072235
Pages: 266
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.17h x 6.34w x 1.05d
Award: Robert F. Kennedy Book Award - Winner
Award: L.A. Times Book Prize - Winner

Review Citations: Library Journal Prepub Alert 07/15/2009 pg. 66
Library Journal Prepub Alert 11/01/2009 pg. 44
Entertainment Weekly 03/19/2010 pg. 95
Library Journal 04/15/2010 pg. 91
Entertainment Weekly 04/09/2010 pg. 79
New York Times Book Review 04/18/2010 pg. 14
New York Review of Books 06/10/2010 pg. 37
Choice 07/01/2010
Newsweek 08/02/2010 pg. 23
Christian Century 12/14/2010 pg. 25
Reference and Research Bk News 08/01/2010 pg. 94
Publishers Weekly Best Books 11/08/2010 pg. 22