This book is a great analysis of how we got ourselves into the mess that tipped the entire world into the recession. The authors have lots of supporting data to prove their points. The reader not only finds out the causes the mortgage meltdown, but also learns how to profit going forward. The authors present a case study of the following companies: American Express, Resource America, Long Beach Mortgage Loan Trust, MBIA Inc, and Wells Fargo. I highly recommend this book.

- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market

A large portion of this book is devoted to the history and reasoning why we got to where we are. Granted good lessons can be learned from studying the causes and effect of history. But I'd say the title of the book is misleading in that you would think the majority of the book would talk about various strategies for investing going forward. It does this to some extent but they are case studies on individual companies. A lot can be skipped in this book in my opinion if you are not that interested in the reasons for the mortgage meltdown and more interested in investing strategies going forward.

Mr. Tilson's work is excellent. This type of work is not normally available to everyday investors. This is high end, hedge fund work without the 2/20 hedge fund price. The second half of the book stock selections are old since he wrote it in March when American Express was 9.00 not 23.00. However, In my opinion, this is the best explanation of the mortgage crisis and WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE FUTURE..in graphs and charts that make it easy to understand than any other book available. I read them all. This is outstanding.

If you need to understand what is going to happen to the U.S. housing market over the next two years, then you need to read part 1 of this book. The charts and concise analysis give you an excellent overview of what happened and why during the housing boom and bust over the last five years. The conclusions covering implications for 2009 and 2010 are sound and are more pessimistic than the current concensus views.

There are drawbacks to the book to be sure: Parts 2 and 3 are not as relevant to the mortgage situation and won't be of interest to many readers.

The first half was an excellent analysis of the mess we are in and how it will only get worse. Second 1/2 advice was fair, but not why to buy the book. Should have had more evaluation of what happens as a consequence of this problem, rather than his case studies. Worth the first 1/2 but a bit disappointing after that. Read it, then HS Dent's "The Great Depression Ahead" and you will have a real game plan.

Excellent book! Whitney Tilson is one of the few professional investors that I have heard on TV that I respect and who makes sense to me when he talks. The book is very timely and gives and excellent overall picture, supported with specific details, on the total amount of bad residential real estate loans, where we are currently in the losses on those and provides a good estimate of the future losses. Information is also provided on the total losses expected as a result of bad loans in other areas, although real estate is the largest market, such as commercial real estate, private equity, etc.
The second half is a detailed analysis of several specific investment ideas. I agree with Mr. Tilson's approach, looking for value (buying at a substantial discount to intrinsic value), although we might disagree on some of the specific investments. However, this section is very good for how thoughtful analysis is done and provoking you to provide you own thoughtful analysis.
The only drawback to the book might be that it is really a book for our current times, right now, and might not be that relevant or helpful once it is outdated and these times have past (although still valuable historically as providing a snapshot picture of these times). This is not a criticism, is something I am sure that the authors are aware of, and is intended more to describe what you are getting, than to suggest that anything different should have been done.
In conclusion: excellent book, I have recommended to many friends and recommend here to everyone to get it if you really want to have a good picture and understanding of where we currently are in the present financial crisis. In fact, as a professional investor, I have read the book twice and continue to refer to it as a resource.