Michael Lewis describes his corner of wall street pretty well. The 1980s bond market. He continually contrasts the practice and culture of trading bonds with the dogma of Economics.

Over the course of the book it becomes easy to draw parallels between Wall Street and Feudal Europe. The Economists are like the Catholic Church in Feudal Europe. The Traders are like the Nobles and Royalty in Medieval Europe. The Job of the Nobles is to fight other Nobles over the right to control land, rent, and protection fees. The Job of the Church is to teach people who aren't Nobles that they should do what the Nobles tell them to. In exchange, the Church will occasionally ask the Nobles to behave a little better.

This book should be required reading for all wanna be I-bankers. The author very convincingly describes the inner workings of a major financial institution. From the outside, the public only sees the expensive suits and tall glass buildings and are suitably impressed by the knowledge and skills of those who works inside. But the author takes us behind the doors to show frighteningly how the lifeblood of the world is controlled by a bunch of 25 year olds who have little idea of the magnitude of their actions.

Michael Lewis' Liar's Poker is a must read for anyone trying to understand the 2008 crisis in mortgage lending and home ownership. In fact, a new edition of the book should be published with a forward by Ben Bernake or Hank Paulson. The autobiography describes a mid-1980's newbie to Wall Street and his induction into the fraternity of mortgage traders at Salomon Brothers and junk bond traders at Drexel. This book rises above a rite of passage story because of the financial chaos which happened during the next three decades.

The 41st trading floor of Salomon Brothers is where millions of dollars exchange hands in minutes. There is a blue collar culture of practical jokes, profanity, Mexican food and pizza. The characters might have come right out of Damon Runyon or Animal House. The main difference between the interns, the traders and the clerks is neither their demeanor nor education but their wealth. In contrast to other books which tell us about the best and the brightest, this book describes ordinary people with excess body fat, perspiration, greed and wealth.

As more homeowners face foreclosure and the US dollar loses value, it is not clear what message to derive from this book. Were it not for these failures of economic policy the book would join other interesting stories about the rich and privileged of Wall Street. But because of this failure of oversight, the book takes us from humor to cynicism and from a sense of national pride to a feeling of national shame.

Is there a ratio of capitalistic reward to risk which is unconscionable in a democratic society? Can this behavior be limited or controlled by financial transparency, tax code, money supply and credit leverage? How do we avoid these consequences of the creation and destruction of capital without moving down the path of socialism? Can we ever put to rest the saying that behind every great fortune is a great crime?

Michael Lewis' Liar's Poker is a must read for anyone trying to understand the 2008 crisis in mortgage lending and home ownership. In fact, a new edition of the book should be published with a forward by Ben Bernake or Hank Paulson. Although an autobiography about a mid-1980's newbie to Wall Street and his induction into the fraternity of mortgage traders at Salomon Brothers, this book rises above a rite of passage story because of the financial chaos which is happening three decades later.

The 41st trading floor of Salomon Brothers is where millions of dollars exchange hands in minutes. There is a blue collar culture of practical jokes, profanity, Mexican food and pizza. The characters might have come right out of Damon Runyon or Animal House. The main difference between the interns, the traders and the clerks is neither their demeanor nor education but their wealth. In contrast to other books which tell us about the best and the brightest, this book describes ordinary people with excess body fat, perspiration, greed and wealth.

As more homeowners face foreclosure and the US dollar loses value, it is not clear what message to derive from this book. Were it not for these failures of economic policy the book would join other interesting stories about the rich and privileged of Wall Street. But because of this failure of oversight, the book takes us from humor to cynicism and from a sense of national pride to a feeling of national shame.

Is there a ratio of capitalistic reward to risk which is unconscionable in a democratic society? Can this behavior be limited or controlled by financial transparency, tax code, money supply and credit leverage? How do we avoid these consequences of the creation and destruction of capital without moving down the path of socialism? Can we ever put to rest the saying that behind every great fortune is a great crime?

Michael Lewis' Liar's Poker is a must read for anyone trying to understand the 2008 crisis in mortgage lending and home ownership. In fact, a new edition of the book should be published with a forward by Ben Bernake or Hank Paulson. Although an autobiography about a mid-1980's newbie to Wall Street and his induction into the fraternity of mortgage traders at Solomon Brothers, this book rises above a rite of passage story because of what has happened in the subsequent three decades since its publication.

The 41st trading floor of Solomon Brothers is where millions of dollars exchange hands in minutes. There is a blue collar culture of practical jokes, profanity, Mexican food and pizza. The characters might have come right out of Damon Runyon or Animal House. The main difference between the interns, the traders and the clerks is neither their demeanor nor education but their wealth. In contrast to the books which tell us about the best and the brightest, this book describes ordinary people with excess body fat, perspiration, greed and wealth.

As more homeowners face foreclosure and the US dollar loses value, it is not clear what message to derive from this book. Were it not for these failures of economic policy the book would join many other interesting stories about the rich and privileged of Wall Street. But because of these events, the book takes us from humor to cynicism and from a sense of national pride to a feeling of national guilt.

Is there a level of capitalistic reward to risk which is unconscionable in a democratic society? Can this behavior be limited or controlled by tax code, money supply and credit leverage? How do we avoid these consequences of the creation and destruction of capital without moving down the path of socialism? Can we ever put to rest the saying that behind every great fortune is a great crime?

An entertaining look into the life of a Salomon Brothers bond trader in the 1980s. The book offers a cursive overview of the financial innovations during that period, but the real contribution is in examination of the culture and the personalities of the Wall Street traders. Not without some embellishment, Michael Lewis does a great job of communicating the eccentricities and absurdities of the traders - 'the big swinging dicks'. At the very least, 'Liar's Poker' is an entertaining read, at best, an insightful look at what (and who) turns the wheels of our financial institutions.

this book is a must read if you are getting into the financial industry along with "when genius failed" and others.

OUTSTANDING!! This is the single best book I've ever read for learning the basics of life in a Wall St. investment bank. Very accessible and humorous, yet informative as well.

This is a great book. I mean, everyone else says so, so they can't be wrong. Yes, I want a job on wall street.

I thought this would be more interesting. I still haven't finished the book and I bought it over 6 months ago. It's just dry. If you've ever worked on the floor of an actual exchange this is like kissing your sister. I have a totally different view of trading in the 80's and institutional trading isn't it

Much of what Lewis' writes about is true. Particularly as a trainee investment banker you are thrown in and expected to know how financial markets work. I have been a banker for 20 years and can only now confidently say I know half of what I am talking about. Mind you most clients I talk to really don't have a clue - another anecdote that Lewis brings to life. This is a great read for those with insight or interest in the Wall Street set, fast paced and so funny because its true. On top of it all, it offers great insight into an interesting part of financial history, much of which has parallels to the 2007 Credit Crisis - happy reading

When I bought the book, I expected it to be a funny narration of the wall street life in 80s. And the first 70-80 pages kept me quite entertained. Well written and funny ! Its the second half of the book which becomes more rhetorical with a dull narration of the events and developments on the Wall street. Perhaps my expectations from the book were unrealistic. I would recommend Monkey Business if someone wants to have a real laugh at the wall street world.

I read this book again for the fifth or sixth time. It continues to be a great read. I highly recommend it for anyone in finance. Thoroughly accessible and thoroughly enjoyable.

It is a lot fun to read this book. We can find some roots of today's subprime crisis in the wild 1980's as told by Michael Lewis.

Excellent book. Easy reading. One more proof that we never learn from past mistakes. Perhaps subprime mortgage lenders have not red this thing. Or perhaps they did it very seriously. Find out for yourself. It is a good investment of your time and money. After this book, continue with "Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco ". Have fun!

Exciting, entertaining and very informative. No matter what books you typically read you will enjoy this one.

A very well written account of a young bond trader and his firm, Salmon Brothers. I literally could not put the book down once I started reading it. One point to reflect upon from the book is the story of Ranieri, the man who conceived and sold the idea of mortgage backed securities, now the source of grave anxiety and concern in the financial market as of December, 2007.

Michael Lewis is an excellent author. In Liar's Poker, he describes his life at Salomon Brothers in the 1980's as a bond salesman. It is not a mere biography which is why this book deserves my 5 star rating. Lewis does an outstanding job in 3 different areas:

First, he manages to make his story funny and entertaining. Sure, he may have exagerrated in some parts and selctively wrote about the more entertaining characters at Salomon, but that does not take away from the story of investment banking in those days.

Second, he gives the reader an honest and fair story of young investment bankers. He not only tells us his story but also dabbles in the stories of some of his classmates. Any young business school or college graduate interested in investment banking would benefit greatly from his book.

Third, he researched other areas of investment banking - not just the area where he was assigned. He has a big section on mortgage bonds which is extremely relevant to today's markets given the downturn in the housing market and subprime mortgage problems. Also discusses junk bonds and equities. It may sound dull in my review, but the way he writes about them is a lot more interesting which is why he is a bestseller author and I am merely an Amazon reviewer.

I highly recommend Liar's Poker to those interested in investment banking, Wall Street or investing in general. If you enjoyed Liar's Poker, then consider Stewart's Den of Thieves.

I bought Liar's Poker thinking that it will teach me the game of the same name, but instead it taught me a lot about the bond markets and traders in general. It makes me want to be a trader. Very interesting read and definitely teaches you something about how bond and mortgage markets work. If you are looking to learn Liar's Poker as a game, then this is not the book for it though, except for learning how to bluff like in the game. You can learn how to bluff by bluffing and not by reading books anyway.

Hey Queen nice dogs you have there
Price of oit $12/barrel
Those who say don't know, and those who know don't say
The end of fixed stock brokerage commissions had come on May 1, 1975.
3 bond groups: government, corporate and mortgages
TED; difference between the LIBOR and interest rate on a 3-month treasury bill
John Gutfreund, appointed chairman by William Salomon, son of one of the firm's 3 founding fathers.
Lewis Raniere, utility bond trader to Mortgae king 1979
Paul Volcker October 6,1979 speech short term interest sky rockets
Meum dictum pactum: My word is my bond
Predator's ball - Trace the rise of Drexel's junk bond department
Corporate Raiders: Ronald Perelman, Boone Pickens, Carl Icahn, Irwin Jacobs, Sir James Goldsmith, Nelson Peltz, Samuel Heyman, Saul Steinberg and Asher Edelman.

The book is clearly satire, and definitely exaggerates a bit, but it still gives you a sense of the Wall Street culture, where people are extremely wealthy but also extremely unrefined (scarfing greasy cheeseburgers while making millions). Very funny. Also extremely informative on topics such as the rise of mortgage bonds and junk bonds as financial tools. The book gives a great portrayal of the genius of the people behind these financial innovations. In fact, its portrayal of people in general is very funny and memorable. One final upside: there are some books, where, if you don't read them for about a week, you have no clue what's going on anymore. This is not one of those. There are relatively few people to keep track of, and they are described so well that you can't forget them.

I would DEFINITELY recommend this book. Funny and informative, a window onto a strange culture known as Wall Street.

As the credit situation changes in 2007, this book will once again become a timely source of information on the twisted, surreal world of collateralized mortgage obligations. A friend recommended this book not for its timeliness, but for its descriptions of exotic everything: exotic loans, exotic people, exotic speech. Having it become current events was an added bonus.

Michael Lewis is a master author, devising colorful means to describe colorful situations. Hardly a paragraph goes by without a chuckle.

Michael Lewis' inside look at the heady days of Salomon Brothers during the 1980s and the decay that followed is a mildly amusing, albeit disjointed narrative with little new information. It is funny in parts and some of the character sketches make you pause but overall a strictly average book.

Long before "Moneyball" and "The Blind Side," Michael Lewis wrote "Liar's Poker." It is a short, entertaining story about Salomon Brothers during the highs and lows of the 80's. Salomon created the mortgage bond market. And like many first movers, it exploited its advantage for years. Sellers and buyers barely understood the market. No one understood the bonds' valuations. The only sure thing was that Salomon was going to make money. But ungodly profits enticed competition, and competitors poached Salomon's best traders. Even worse, bond underwriters thought they were more clever each day and created more complicated trading vehicles. Eventually, the market crashed because of excessive supply, complexity, and hubris. In some ways, it parallels what we see with hedge funds today.

Although the book is a simple and entertaining story, it lacks much of the rigorous analytics and insights that are present in Lewis's more recent books. His younger rhetoric is less mature and prone to hyperbole. He desperately tries to hide his arrogance (something you don't see in his later writing). If you're looking for a quick read during a plane ride, then this is a decent story. If you've heard favorable things about Michael Lewis and you want to read one of his books, buy "Moneyball" or "The Blind Side" before "Liar's Poker."

It provides a good picture of the Wall Street during the 80's but it is sometimes tiring when describing the personality of some characters.

This was a story which had to be told. And it had to be told from the inside. It couldn't have been done any other way, and Michael Lewis does a fairly god job of it.

The book essentially tells the story of the rise and fall from wealth (and grace) of Salomon Brothers, and in particular, their mortgage trading group. Those times were clearly heady ones, with the creation and destruction of ridiculous amounts of wealth - from thin air. (It's a more common phenomenon now given the increasing sizes and reaches of the global financial markets, but this probably represented the earliest of the really big cycles.) Lewis takes us deep into that world, giving us a view from a prime seat in the middle of the best action of those times - at Salomon Brothers. In doing so, he is able to create a fairly strong feel for that world, with all its extravagances and idiosyncrasies, while simultaneously providing a fair amount of objective narrative on the internal and external events. His fleshing out of the characters in the book is well done too, which allows the reader a fair level of involvement and empathy with the events. Another strength of the book is that Lewis never gets too technical, and is able to explain fairly complicated markets in terms simple enough for most people to understand.

On the flip side, I have to caution you that at the end of the day, Lewis might have been a good banker, but he's not a great writer. The book could have been taken to a different level altogether in the hands of a better writer, and much of the strength of this book is eventually derived from the story. That said, overall, I still think Lewis has done a very credible job, and the book is a very worthwhile read for everybody, not just bankers.

Great book!! Gives great inside into what trading, and sales really was like at the peak of the 80s. Really great book if you find Wall Street or any-related interesting. Highly Recommended!!

I spent years in the hallowed and occasionally corrupt halls of Wall Street. This is a fascinating tale by Michael Lewis covering investment banking in the 1980's. It's with great irony that many are looking back to this pages and seeing the accurate predictions of the looming S&L disaster. Michael Lewis came of age successfully trading bonds for Solomon Brothers, and he gives you a nice insider's view from the trenches. If you've ever wondered what it's like to experience the excitement, pressure, greed and fear emotions from the pits, the big boy pits that is, this is a good book to read.

If you even wondered what people do and what knd of people there are in those big buildings on Wall Street, this is your book. You see, from an insider's ironic detachment, how clueless these people were, how little they understood what they were doing with the incredible amounts of money seeking to make more money. Not only do they care little about what they are doing for their shareholders, but they make bad mistakes that ruins lives. The excesses - like huge buckets of guacamole for snacks or unbelievable arrogance - are sickening after a while.

Lewis writes extremely well, truly a unique voice. While I felt a bit disappointed pnce I finished the book as I gained little understanding of the protagonists' motivation and reflcetions (assuming they had any), the descriptions of what it was like are very interesting.

Recommended.

Great book, so funny, makes me want to rush to Wall Street and become a trader!

I bought this in 1997 and only recently found the time to read it and am I glad I read it!

The narration is incredibly funny and often I found myself chuckling out loud. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this, Kudos Michael!

Reading Liar's Poker today confirms its status as a modern classic about Wall Street. Michael Lewis depicts the boom years at Salomon Brothers in the mid-1980's with a style that is simultaneously sharp and laugh-out-loud hilarious.

As a complete outsider to Wall Street, I enjoyed the opportunity to get this insider's perspective on the culture of investment banking. Lewis cleverly combines his personal narrative of getting hired, going through the training program, and landing a job as a bond salesman in Salomon's soon-to-overheat London office with a more objective recounting of the key figures and episodes that led to Salomon's downfall.

Lewis's most colorful portraits are of Lewie Renieri, the man who practically invented the mortgage bond market, and Michael Milken, the `junk bond king' who made Drexel Burnham into Salomon's toughest competitor. Strangely, Lewis's depiction of John Gutfreund, then chairman of Salomon, is less sharply delineated.

For all the `animal house' behavior going on at Salomon Brothers--and Lewis tells a lot of unforgettable stories from the trading floor--the firm was also making serious financial innovations during that period. Lewis ascribes the faltering of Salomon to John Gutfreund's lack of leadership, especially for not retaining the mortgage traders who had made the firm so wealthy and for dismissing the market in junk bonds during its most profitable stage.

Michael Lewis recounts his experiences at Salomon with a kind of detached irony; he avoids either glorifying the wealth Salomon created or deriding its culture of greed and gluttony. He recognizes that he and his fellow traders were being paid far more than they were contributing to society: "...if social contribution had been the measure, I should have been billed rather than paid at the end of the year." But Lewis does not condemn Wall Street. Ultimately, he suggests that Wall Street functions best when salesmen and traders value long-term relationships over making short-term profits.

This is a great book! Many friends recommended it before I finally picked it up, and once I started, it was hard to put it down and I finished it in a day. Because the author was a successful insider, he had sufficiently juice details about what goes on in the company and yet, because he is so new to the company (he left after less than 3 years, even before his bonus was supposed to break the band, which is suppose to occur in the third year), he only had some arm's length insight as to what is going on. Nevertheless, it coincided very well with what was described in "Nightmare on Wall Street", but this is a far more entertaining book to read.

His book also give a far better insight of what Ranieri has done for Solomon; in effect, Ranieri *created* a monopoly for Solomon and yet that monopoly was destroyed by office politics. Even on Wall Street where money talks, there are no limits to what politics will do to get its way.

Michael Lewis has yet again proved what a great writer he is with his lucid style of elucidation. In this book, Lewis talks about the raging 80s -as far as bond trading is concerned- and the events at Solomon Brothers during that period of euphoria. Lewis gives us a glimpse of the street- the exuberance, the egoistic, and the bizzare among the various cadres of the bond value chain, as he walks us thru his memoir of 4 odd years at Solomon. The depiction of each of the extreme characters are just great.

There are few authors who have the skill, knowledge, and the ability to entertain as Michael Lewis does in Liar's Poker.

Liar's Poker is about Wall Street 1980s from the view of Salomon Brothers where he worked. It goes into the founding of the mortgage market as we know it today and even gives a glimpse into how the closeminded views of upper management almost destroyed one of the greatest forces on Wall Street almost overnight.

It should also be noted that this book serves as an important case study into business ethics. The book gives a clear view of the unethical atmosphere of Salomon Brothers which, in retrospect, should have been a red flag to the almost destruction of Salomon in the early 90s when Paul Mozer, one of its traders, was found to have broken a new rule restricting how many bonds were purchased at government auctions.

In any event, the book is charmingly wonderful in nature and worth a read if only for pleasure. From a business standpoint it shows what not to do in order to run a successful company and from a trader standpoint it shows the dangers of screwing your customers over to better your own situation.

My son (18) read this and was on the floor, laughing. He recommended it as an hilarious read, and--having heard about it--I read it. It was truly interesting and informative, especially about the initial construction of the mortgage-backed securities that are tanking today, but I guess I was used to the shenanigans and excesses of the moneyed Wall Street types. I laughed once, at an image of trying to buy $400 of Mexican food (in the mid-80's). The book is well worth reading, but I would not buy it for the laughs.

This book is both entertaining and informative of the situations facing many of the people at trading desks on the Street and in the City. While things have changed since Michael Lewis's time, much has stayed the same. The money, intelligence, ego, and drive of many market participants twenty years ago are still a requirement for success in the IB world today.

Liar's Poker is to future investment bankers as Scott Turow's One L is to future law students. Not only is this book informative, it's entertaining and filled with a vast array of characters. Lewis has the gift or storytelling. Not only does the book cover the process by which the author got the job offer at Salomon Brothers coming out of the London School of Economics and the fearful weeks of the Training Program in New York, he aptly tells the story of the firm and its rise and fall, from the beginning of mortgage-backed securities and the millions made by MBS traders to the crash of October 1987. This is an excellent book that my generation can learn from. And while the ability to communicate and trading technology has become faster, from what I can tell, many of the personalities within the i-banking world described in this book have not. This is an exciting book that will keep you reading. Know what happened twenty years ago and you firm will not likely send you to trade equities in Dallas.

... but not nearly as much as Wall Street Meat. However, this is one of the optional-but-strongly-recommended MBA books.

Very fun, easy read. Michael Lewis brings you into wall street with a very easy to read style. You get the feeling that you're really learning about something new and at the same time, it's about one of the largest transfers of U.S $ in history. So if you like business, but don't like to read much, this book works for you!

I read this book when it first came out. It was fascinating--providing a compelling insight into the way a real financial institution that got more respect than it deserved placed profit above ethics. Shocking and hilarious at the same time.

Engrossing at the outset then runs out of steam. I had to put it down.

...you can waste your time and save your money by checking this out of your local library.

If you want to get an "inside view" of the inner workings of Wall Street during the excessive gyrations of the '80s, then read Den of Theives - that book is well written and well worth the money!

What turned me off about this book was the structure and the writing style. The first half of the book was essentially the author relating fortuitous circumstances that were the product of Serendipity. He was simply in the right place at the right time, had virutally no idea how he got there, felt out of place the whole time (even when he was raking in the Big Bucks in NY and London), and so now he thought he'd wwrite a book about it. I also got the sense that he was trying to assuage some guilt from his association at Salomon Brothers. He was there, he made a lot of money, good for him - get over it!

I was also pretty disappointed because the subject matter has A LOT more potential. I might have actually enjoyed it - had I not read Den of Theives 7 years earlier, and already had some idea of how things took place. But, if you can get it for $5 or less (including shipping), and you have little to no knowledge of what an investment banker's life is like (and you haven't also seen the movie Wall Street (which covers the same highlights in this book)), then it's probably worth it.

I did like the wrap up he did towards the end of the book, relating where he had heard everyone from the firm ended up...althought that seemed a little rushed...

Everyone has read this, and its easy to understand why. One of the best written books about Wall Street ever, Michael Lewis is superb as he goes about describing his experience at Salomon Brothers during the 1980's as a bond salesman. Introduces us to the legendary trader John Meriweather before he started Long Term Capital Management.

This should be required reading analysts and associates along with `Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle' and `Goldman Sachs: The Culture of Success'. Each gives a different and illuminating perspective on the ups and downs of the many different departments that make up large, institutional finance organizations. Moreover, there are in totality especially useful if you have no idea about how finance actually operates on a day-to-day basis beyond what you see in your economics courses (definitely the case at Harvard, U Chicago, MIT and the like, where these firms heavily recruit). Can definitely give those without and an internship or direct experience the ability to level the playing field to a large degree.

This should be required reading analysts and associates along with `Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle' and `Goldman Sachs: The Culture of Success'. Each gives a different and illuminating perspective on the ups and downs of the many different departments that make up large, institutional finance organizations. Moreover, there are in totality especially useful if you have no idea about how finance actually operates on a day-to-day basis beyond what you see in your economics courses (definitely the case at Harvard, U Chicago, MIT and the like, where these firms heavily recruit). In totality will definitely give those without and an internship or direct experience the ability to level the playing field to a large degree.

Gives much needed inside information on the money business and Wall Street. Great read. But abuses in the US stock market is not restricted to America at all. The only thing about it is that Americans did not feel that these things should have taken place. So, shocking truth is revealing. At the same time, abuses in the US are far less than those in the emerging nations such as India and China. There, it is abusive bureaucracy that creates all the mess. One good read is this book: China's global reach: markets, multinationals, and globalization, which offers very detailed information on how abusive Chinese bureaucracy ruins economy, people and stock market.

Insiders have their ways, which is true universally. In the US investment world, the bold men have their billions made. In a different society like China, it is government bureaucrats who make a kill. Now Wall Street guys are playing inside China big. Exciting stories about these guys are told by a Chinese journalist George Zhibin Gu in his book: China's Global Reach: Markets, Multinationals, and Globalization, which also gives huge info on the Chinese stocks trading in the US.

For those of us that have an innate disbelief for brokers, traders, advisors and the likes working from Wall Street, this is a must read. For those of you who take lessons and advise from financial advisors, money experts, radio and TV charlatans, this book should be mandatory.

The basic premise (mine, not the Author) is, why someone who knows what will go up or down, will share that with me? By a simple rule of supply and demand (and its effect in price), when more people find out about a `good deal', the `less good' the deal becomes. I.e. the fewer people that `know' that a commodity will go up in value, the better, as the demand for that commodity remains low. The more people that find out about this commodity (stock, bond, investment, metal, etc.) the demand will rise and so will the price. Why will someone that `knows' what will improve in price, share that with you? If your advisor really knew, he/she would not be wasting their time telling you about it, they would gobble up on that commodity, spend all they have to buy more, and then borrow some more. Then the opposite is also true: once he/she accumulated as much as possible of such commodity, then they would have a credible and legitimate reason to `spread the knowledge', so people would start buying and he/she can sell... and the price will go down!

The only reservation which would oppose this logic is that the large and prestigious Wall Street bankers, with such tall buildings and important names, century old reputation, so much marble, granite and stainless steel, etc. `have' to be ethical, professional and give you a good service for your money. They can't be a sham; or can they? Introducing Michael Lewis' Liar's Poker. This is a book that is hard to put down. For a person like me, not very familiar with the doings of the stock market, banks, etc. this is extraordinarily revealing. What an education! This book should be required reading in any MBA program.

The books is very entertaining and easy reading, Lewis' style is fun. There are some stories so amusing that I had to put the book aside until finished laughing. Constant references are made to true names, places and newpaper articles at the time of the events described. All this gives it the color of truth. I `googled' the Author and the book, and could not find a single article refuting any part of this book. Given the fame achieved by being listed as a # 1 bestseller in the New York Times, if someone had something to say, I am sure we would know by know.

I happen to have a neighbor who worked as a stock broker for a decade or so. To my questions, especially to why he quit (he is still young and not a millionaire), he just handed me his copy of this book. He only added `there is a dark underbelly to trading'. And was he right!

This book shows, from the inside, the inner workings of the famous, prestigious and powerful Wall Street banks. Nothing sugarcoated, the plain truth. I read the last 20 pages very slowly because I did not want the book to end.

I read this because I was required to for (MBA) school. I read the entire book over two weekends; a difficult task for me because of poor reading speed and poor attention span. I generally do not like to read and find most of what I read a painful bore and highly unbeneficial. This book was an exception. This book gives us an interesting insight into Michael Lewis' real world experience, something we cannot get a real feel for in traditional textbooks. If it is not already, this book should be required reading for all MBA programs. Thank you, Mr. Lewis, for sharing your story.