A fascinating account in general about a Wall Street investment bank, a rags-to-riches-to-rags story. Its very fast paced, but I guess it requires a basic level understanding of financial markets and the various instruments, to be enjoyed fully. I think I would have enjoyed my finance courses in b school better if I had read this earlier.

Ironically (you will understand why once you read the book), this was one of the suggested readings when I was interning with Goldman Sachs.

The book captures the experiences of Michael Lewis as a Salomon bond salesman. But what it includes in more excruciating detail is "the" truth about the glorified Wall Street (using this phrase in a rather generic sense to include markets in other locations as well), and the rise and fall of one of its inhabitants, Salomon Brothers, in the 1970s and 80s.

To be honest, having seen this industry pretty up-close probably makes this review a bit biased. In other words, for me it was not strictly an outsider's view of the world of investment banking. Having said that, however, I feel this book is good enough to capture the attention of the uninitiated, with its honestly brutal details and strikingly realistic delineations.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

"That was how a Salomon trader thought: he forgot whatever it was that he wanted to do for a minute and put his finger on the pulse of the market. If the market felt fidgety, if people were scared or desperate, he herded them like sheep into a corner, then made them pay for their uncertainty. He sat on the market until it puked gold coins. Then he worried about what he wanted to do."

"If you ever care to see how all the world's most awful jokes spread, spend a day on a bond trading desk. When the Challenger Space Shuttle disintegrated, six people called me from six points on the globe to explain that NASA stands for Need Another Seven Astronauts."

"Now I admit, even for a geek, it was a little embarrassing to let investors believe their white magic. But as long as the chartists placed their bets with me, my jungle guide explained, the reasoning of our customers was not for me to question."

"Most of the time when markets move, no one has any idea why. A man who can tell a good story can make a good living as a broker... Heavy selling out of the Middle East was an old standby. Since no one ever had any clue what the Arabs were doing with their money or why, no story involving Arabs could ever be refuted. So if you didn't know why the dollar was falling, you shouted out something about Arabs."

Loved it! Would definitely recommend it to those who are (or going to be) associated with the world of investment banking.

Eye-opening, informative, and entertaining.

It starts slow and the back story is a bit dry, but its incorporation is necessary to make sense of the big picture that was once Salomon Brothers. At a certain point, it's difficult to put down.

I think that Michael Lewis is a superb writer. He takes a complex topic, such as mortgage-backed securities, and explains them so that your every(wo)man can understand them. He is also a great observer of human character, and he writes about people with great aplomb. I feel as if I personally know his characters. While the subject matter of investment banking in the 1980s is filled with blind greed, leaving the reader disgusted, Lewis manages to make this book a fabulous read.