The Big Short: Inside theDoomsday Machine
Michael Lewis, read by Jesse Boggs, Audioworks, unabridged, eight CDs, 9.5 hours, $39.99 ISBN 978-1-4423-0005-7
Although Lewis is perhaps best known for his sports-related nonfiction (including The Blind Side), his first book was the autobiographical Liar’s Poker, in which he chronicled his disillusionment as a young gun on Wall Street in the “greed is good” 1980s. He returns to his financial roots to excavate the crisis of 2007–2008, employing his trademark technique of casting a microcosmic lens on the personal histories of several Wall Street outsiders who were betting against the grain—to shed light on the macrocosmic tale of greed and fear. Although Lewis reads the book’s introduction, narration duties are assumed by Jesse Boggs, a veteran narrator of business titles (including Lewis’s own 2008 book Panic!). Boggs’s rich baritone is well suited to the task and trips lightly through a maze of financial jargon (CDOs, derivatives, mid-prime lending) and a dizzying cast of characters. Lewis returns on the final disc for a 10-minute interview about the crisis’s aftermath, including a savvy assessment of the wisdom of the financial bailout and where-are-they-now updates on the book’s various heroes and villains. A Norton hardcover. (Mar.)
Details
Reviewed on: 05/03/2010
Genre: Audio
Compact Disc - 978-1-5082-1446-5
Compact Disc - 978-1-4423-7030-2
Downloadable Audio - 978-1-4423-0006-4
Hardcover - 288 pages - 978-0-393-07223-5
Hardcover - 330 pages - 978-7-5086-5111-8
Hardcover - 461 pages - 978-1-4104-3026-7
Open Ebook - 320 pages - 978-0-393-07819-0
Paperback - 320 pages - 978-0-393-33882-9
Paperback - 459 pages - 978-1-59413-461-6
Paperback - 272 pages - 978-7-5086-2581-2
Paperback - 320 pages - 978-0-393-35315-0
Paperback - 288 pages - 978-0-14-198330-1