Started reading this book after “The Big Short”... And while it's still a good book, “The Big Short” was more interesting to me. I felt like the author jumps back and forth in dates too much and focuses more on the characters than any plot (if there is one).

It was interesting to learn what a mess these big financial organizations are. So big that they are hard to control. As a result, the global economy is hardly predictable. And there are no winners in that “Wild West”. Well...except for the mortician. Which is one that serves both sides. Broker in the context of the book.

Student perspective:

I am very new to investment banking, and I found this book really great. It tells many things about what happens inside of investment banks. Of course, a little bit background of finance is required (khanacademy.org is enough) to understand things. The best things I liked about this book is that the author shares all the actual trading incidents that happened and how they made money by exploiting each situation. This book also explains some things about corporate structure (I have never worked in an actual company so this was new to me), all the office politics and power games. This book gives a perfect picture about how a typical trader/salesman's thinking when he/she is at work.

I would highly recommend this book to students who are looking out for internships/jobs in the investment banking sector.

I am a big fan of Michael Lewis so it is hard for me to be objective in a review but I do think this book is brilliant.
Personally I have not read a better book that sums up the greed and gluttony of 1980's Wall Street.
One thing that I found fascinating, especially with our recent financial collapse and history to compare and contrast, is that this book so clearly shows that as smart and as slick as some people can be in their quest to get rich in the financial markets ultimately Wall Street is simply one big giant casino and the people that work there are for the most part simply gamblers.

Why am I languishing here, making approximately $0 dollars as a librarian? Why was I not a Wall Street investment banker?! These guys were having all the fun. In his introduction to the Big Short, Lewis writes that he was dismayed people took Liar's Poker not as a cautionary tale, but as a how-to manual for their careers. But I can totally understand why! He makes the trading floor sound like the place to be, the absolute center of the universe.

He's also got a real knack for explaining something in one or two sentences, and then providing a brief anecdote or lively quote to illustrate the thing described. It's literally never boring. I've heard people say that his writing is successful because it makes readers feel smart, and I get that. Although sometimes, when you have failed to understand something so colorfully and breezily explained, it can actually make you feel...less smart. I read one particular page about the rise of junk bonds three times, and then just gave up.

Lewis' easy writing style makes this book enjoyable for anyone interested in learning, from an insider, how one of the most powerful Investment Banks in the 80's operated. The book is a recollection from his time at Salomon Brothers, and includes great self reflections regarding what was/is so wrong about this industry.

A book of religious quality. Filled with useful titbits about John Gutfreund, and SB top trader John Meriwether (had the vital attribute of being able to hide his state of mind) and just the general life of an investment bank in the 1980s.

First rule. Never mention that you are motivated by money and highlight instead that you are motivated by the thrill of the chase. Second, when interviewed for the trainee position (bitch) on the 41st floor, never use a chair to smash the window you have just been asked to open and that you find is impossible. It was a favourite interview question.

Michael Lewis charts how:
1.tPaul Volker (Fed chairman in 1980’s) liberalised interest rates and enabled debt markets to boom, which became the strength of SB.
2.tHow the equity department attempted to snatch trainees from the trading floor to the most boring department (equity research) and became so desperate they hosted a boat party where all the traders attempted to hide.
3.tThe power of the back row in the presentation classes at SB. They pissed off the goody two shoes front row equity trainees “those who say don’t know, are those who know don’t say when asked for their opinion''.
4.tThe bitter battle between traders and salesman. Salesman wanted the best for clients, traders wanted profits, yet traders would screw over clients (selling bonds to A&T knowing the price would go down having shorted them). Traders invariably won, as they generally acted in the “best interests” of the company. Salesman did not as they only acted for themselves.
5.tHow Lewis Ranieri revolutionised SB and what a Big Swinging dick he was (would eventually get asked to leave SB when it rapidly declined). Michael Lewis eventually leaves SB, which is then acquired by Citi.

Classic Quote:
SB has the temperament of a Lebanese taxi driver, they either had our foot slammed down on the accelerator, or on the brake. We knew no moderation and had no judgment.

I downloaded the audible book after listening to Michael Lewis's interview with Tim Ferris and I'm so glad I did. First, the audiobook had great production value. It had recently been rerecorded by Pushkin industries and not only was it narrated by Michael Lewis himself, but it also had sound effects and music incorporated throughout the book.

I loved the story. Interesting to think that a book from the 80s is still relevant today. While I realize this was not the intention of Michael Lewis, boy, do I want to become an investment banker on Wall Street!

Will be reading the rest of his books over the holidays.

10 hours 16 mins on Audible

The author talks about his experiences on Wall street since he joined there straight out of college and quit once he got enough of it. He describes the investment banking in general and briefly goes over the landscape and main events of investment banking around the 70s until the 1987 crash.

Overall it's a good and interesting read but personally i feel that i have picked the book a little early in my learning curve of finance and economics. As long as you are comfortable with the basic concepts like different types of bonds - junk bonds, mortgage bonds etc., thrifts and thrift managers etc., Even though the author makes an effort to explain them up, it still wasn't a very smooth read for me without apriori knowledge.

The wild story of a 26-year-old who noped right out of Wall Street when the eighties got crazy. The book tried to tell a cautionary tale. It inspired a generation to become bond traders instead.

Testosterone, colorful characters, palace coups and cynical money-making abound.

Worth every ounce of its reputation.

Fresh off the trading floor of the Salomon Brothers London office in 1989, Michael Lewis offers an insider's account of life on Wall Street in his first novel. Lewis masterfully details how the mortgage bond boom on the 41st floor of Salomon Brothers in the early 80s propelled the firm to world dominance. This is a tale of greed, however, as he provides an interesting perspective on management's inability to see minds on the floor as the firm's greatest asset, ultimately leading to its fall from grace. Of all the terrifying things about our financial system that Lewis highlights throughout the book, perhaps the most eerie is its precise foreshadowing of the 2008 crash. I encourage you not to get bogged down in the minutiae of bonds as you take this journey, but come away understanding that “In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king." Along the way, Lewis provides some funny stories, and reflects on his own path to becoming a Big Swinging Dick. When it comes to the market, "Those who know don't tell and those who tell don't know."

Out of date alpha male esque American psycho type of book. Didn’t enjoy it really and was really ready for it to be done.

Liar’s Poker is Michael Lewis’ memoir of his days as a bond salesman on Wallstreet at Salomon Brothers, time that coincides with some very eventful moments for both the firm and Wallstreet. Lewis’ superbly chronicles those events with a hefty dose of sly humor and amusing anecdotes.

The book highlights some of the inherent conflicts of interest that plague broker-investor relationships, and the inner workings of the financial system. Throughout the book, Lewis provides brilliantly simple explanations of some of Wallstreets’ most common securities on terms any layman can grasp.

He depicts his bond broker colleagues as highly motivated, smart and greedy salesmen with little in the way of scruples, morality or decency, and nothing but their personal gain on their agendas… although he ultimately claims virtue for himself.

The markets' sole rule of engagement: Caveat emptor (Buyer beware)