Let me put it like this: TG&M is 'Liar's Poker' for the financial industry. Technicalities were never this much fun. Satyajit Das reveals the shenanigans behind the murky world of high finance and gives us a good laugh at the same time. What makes this book even better is that the first edition came out in 2006, just before the world went into hell. Everything was hunky-dory at the time and this book shows us, in retrospect, it wasn't. Wonder how many people even considered this book at the time. Of course, now we know what happened, this looks like the work of a genius. The book is genuinely funny, which is nothing short of a miracle considering the sheer amount of financial technicalities included in the book. If you're working in the financial sector, or plan to, read this book.

Das (as he is known to the Planet Money crew) does an excellent job of explaining extremely complex financial products. He also does a good job of exploring the culture in and around the trading of these products. It isn't as easy a read as the Michael Lewis books, but it is as educational (if not more so). Rough going through some of it, but well worth it.

Outrageous.

"Even the CEOs don't understand these products." A journey through financial dreamland.

This book gives you a realistic picture of the lucrative world of derivatives trading, you know, the enigmatic 'financial stuff' wall street types do to make staggering amounts of money. I'm pro-capitalism mind you, but this rather cynical book paints a not-so-glamorous picture. Three stars just cause it was a bit dry and I thought longer than necessary. And perhaps a bit too cynical, I think there are at least a few positive things to say about the contributions derivatives make to the functioning of the world economy.

Excellent book for an aspiring exotics trader

This book was a fictionalized story about high finance that was less entertaining than anything written by Michael Lewis, but Lewis sets the bar pretty high. It is about a trader who worked in the British banking system and his attempt to defend an Indonesian company that blew itself up with derivatives and leverage. The fake names (Nero and Neverfail) that he gives people are just a little too ridiculous.

Most of the math that he is trying to explain is excellent. Off-hand, the only numerical error I noticed in this book was a point where I am pretty sure that a number that was supposed to be $1,000 million was written as $1,000 billion.

The book does explain things like derivatives and CDOs, but a lot of that went flying over my head.

His cynical view of the fail states of various business practices described in either chapter 2 or chapter 3 were hilarious.

I love a book written by someone with deep experience in a field but who is cynical of the industry, they tend to have the best stories. The tone of this book is quite funny. It points out how most financial derivatives are just a sophisticated form of gambling but one where the house edge is often very unclear. You probably need a basic understanding of finance and derivatives to enjoy this book because it can get a little technical. I certainly learned a lot more about derivatives after reading this. Some chapters get a little repetitive but overall the book is really interesting. The examples of companies using derivatives to inflate their balances sheets or to comply with EU regulations before a merger just go to show how much craftiness and deception can come from the finance industry. A better title for this might be “everything you wanted to know about derivatives but were too afraid to ask”.

After reading a book that makes me feel like an idiot for 1) what I don’t know, and 2) the assumptions I regularly make while speaking, I will break down my sentences and thoughts to rather small building blocks.
-derivatives are hard.
-this book does a fantastic job at walking someone through the complexities of the financial oubliettes that have caved in subsurface, if you bring your own spelunking tools.
-it was a trial for me to get through since i really have no statistics or finance in my background, but very much worth it.

Myriad ways of Wall Street tricks using exotic products, very well explained for nearly any layman to understand.
Should appreciate the effort of the author in simplifying such complex products and making it readable in his sarcastic take on then market players.

This book is a very cynical (yet I suspect highly accurate) account of derivatives trading from a guy that's been there and done that. You do not need to be a financial geek to appreciate this book. It is written in a very entertaining way. For those that are interested you can expend some mental effort and get a basic understanding of derivatives, but you can ignore the details and still enjoy the story. The chapter on credit derivatives is particulary entertaining given the recent meltdown.



The moral of the story: Everyone in the financial industry is at least a little bit corrupt and they're interested in their bonus money more than helping you or their company.

The book that predicted the economic meltdown of 2008... Seriously, lumping together 100 crap mortgages does not 1 safe investment make ...