Product Description

'The funniest book about Wall Street I have ever read' Tom Wolfe

Reissue of Michael Lewis' bestselling classic tale of greed and corruption

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17782 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10-21
• Binding: Paperback
• 298 pages

Punch
'An amazing book, readable, funny and mind-boggling ... one of the great business books of all time'

The Sunday Times
'This rip-the-lid-off account of the bond-dealing brouhaha is the work of a real-life bond salesman...'

Daily Express
'Wickedly funny'

Customer Reviews

great picture of certain events, at a certain time for all interested in investment banking and finance
Liar's Poker offers you a journey into the world of a sophisticated money-making machine: a global investment bank.

As an ex- Bankers Trust employee, I can claim I have met many people similar to the characters in the book, and I can say the characters, events, their habits appear very well pictured. Even though it is technical at times, this book is light years away from many boring books like "see how smart I was making my fortune".

This book explains a lot about how money was made and lost during these times. It gives examples of strategies and market context. More importantly it also shows you of people's greed, fear and the consequences of that. It illustrates relations within junior and senior staff in a bank like this in a very honest way.

The most exciting thing about it is that the author keeps a distance to events, millions of profit, important people and institutions mentioned in the book. Few of people working inside such an institution can say that.
I have recommended Liar's Poker to some people, and it seems it has changed the way they see their jobs and careers. Finally, this book makes you think - that is what good books are about.

Not life changing...
The book charts the rather short career of Michael Lewis in Saloman Brothers. When you think of great works of art in ters of the selling game, you think Glengarry Glenross, Wall street, The boiler room... however this book would not come anywhere near to the enjoyability of these movies, and i have certainly read better biographies and better fiction stories. I suppose the intrigue of this book comes from the time period that Lewis worked at the company. The 80's and the demise of the Yuppie where people seemed to swim in money... this is not the case with Lewis, as was on a capped bonus scheme, which meant that the big bucks always eluded him.

It is an interesting story, however the jargon that is used gets in the way massively. It is much more a history on wall street banking than anything else. Literally the 'story of HIS life' could be summed up in three easy steps. 1) got job 2) made some deals 3) left job. There seems to be no real padding out or substatantial details on his expieriences and his job, and it comes out more like a fly on the wall.

This is not on the whole a bad thing, but certainly was no where near as interesting as i would have though it could have been. I was a little dissapointed with the book, however it is worth a read for anyone looking to learn a little more about the late 80's wall street bankers.

The Best
Let me put this in the most simple of terms, this is my favourite book of all time. I have just re-read it after leaving it on the shelf for a few years, and I still love it, love it, love it. Read it, your life is not complete without it.