Product Description

From mere trainee to lowly geek, to triumphal Big Swinging Dick: that was Michael Lewis’ pell-mell progress through the dealing rooms of Salomon Brothers in New York and London during the heady mid-1980s when they were probably the world’s most powerful and profitable merchant bank.

A true-life Bonfire of the Vanities, funny, frightening, breathless and heartless, his is a tale of hysterical greed and ambition set in an obsessed, enclosed world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2606 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Review
'An amazing book, readable, funny and mind-boggling ... one of the great business books of all time' -- Punch 'If you thought Gordon Gekko of the Wall Street movie was an implausibly corrupt piece of fiction, see how you like the real thing. This rip-the-lid-off account of the bond-dealing brouhaha is the work of a real-life bond salesman ... Read all about it: headlong greed, inarticulate obscenity, Animal House horseplay ...' -- The Sunday Times 'Immense verve and wit' -- 20/20 Magazine 'A highly immoral book' -- Daily Mail 'Wickedly funny' -- Daily Express 'As traders would say, this book is a buy' -- Financial Times 'A highly immoral book' -- Daily Mail

Review
‘An amazing book, readable, funny and mind-boggling ... one of the great business books of all time’ (Punch )

‘Read all about it: headlong greed, inarticulate obscenity, Animal House horseplay . . .’ (The Sunday Times )

‘Immense verve and wit’ (20/20 Magazine )

‘A highly immoral book’ (Daily Mail )

‘Wickedly funny’ (Daily Express )

‘As traders would say, this book is a buy’ (Financial Times )

Daily Mail
‘A highly immoral book'

Customer Reviews

The glorious 1980s
I have been meaning to read Liar's Poker since I was offered the opportunity to sell my soul to the international money markets ten years ago. Well I finally got round to it. Michael Lewis writes an enthralling fast paced account of life on Wall Street in the hedonistic '80s. I could associate with many of the characters he describes, although a little of the largese is not quite as apparent in today's world. Nevertheless, the desire to get on, the "win at all costs" mentality, and the beating up of the new boy is all alive and well.

If you are searching for a justification for the existence of people who make a huge amount of money out of a bit of financial alchemy, you won't find it here (or, truth be told, in any book written by anyone who still has the faintest grip on reality). But as a guide to the sort of people that inhabit Wall Street and The City there is none better. A page turner if ever there was one.

Jungle Survival Manual for the budding bond dealer!
If you thought the films Wall Street and Bonfire of the Vanities had no bearing on the real goings on in the finance world, think again. I bought this book at the airport, just as something to pass the time with while I waited for my flight. Little did I know that once I started reading it I would not be able to put it down. This book is a must read for anyone thinking of a career in the investment industry and finance as a whole.

An honest account of the money markets and city life
Michael Lewis reveals his personal opinion of life at Salomon Brothers in the 1980s. He is honest and highly readable in his account of the people at the firm, the self-destructive nature of decisions made by top bosses and how people like Lewie Ranieri built up the incredibly successful mortgage department, only to see it destroyed by the firm itself. Lewis reveals the rigours of the training programme, why Salomon was the best at the time, the goodies, the bad-boy traders and his allies. He details his mistakes, his regrets and how he became so successful within two years at the Bros. yet still decided to leave. A gripping read, thoroughly recommended to any prospective trader or bond salesman.