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Liar's Poker: Playing the Money Markets [Paperback]

Michael Lewis (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: 21 Oct 1999
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

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks; New edition edition (21 Oct 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0340767006
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340767009
  • Product Dimensions: 2 x 12.8 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 165,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

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 )

About the Author

Michael Lewis is the author of several books, including the international bestseller, LIAR'S POKER. He is a visiting fellow at the University of California at Berkeley.

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Customer Reviews

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4.8 out of 5 stars
17 reviews
4.8 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 42 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The glorious 1980s 9 Feb 2004
By "edwardashby"
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.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars I loved reading this book 15 Nov 2009
By Mariusz Skonieczny
I found this book very good to read especially during the current financial crisis. Even though the author wrote it in the 80s, it shows the culture and business of investing. The author used to be a bond salesman in the New York and London offices of Salomon Brothers.

The description of the S&L crisis is in a way similar to the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008. The greed and obsession with money made both crises possible. After reading this book, I realized that no matter how much regulation we have, we will experience similar events. Yesterday, it was the S&L crisis, today it is the subprime mortgage crisis, and tomorrow the greedy minds of Wall Street will create something even more interesting that will have more devastating effects.

For those who are not familiar with the business of high finance, this book will be an eye-opener. It shows what traders, salesmen, and executives of Wall Street firms do every day to make money by taking huge risks with the hope of a payoff. I absolutely loved this book and highly recommend it.

- 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
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars An honest account of the money markets and city life 12 Aug 2001
By A Customer
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.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Amusing as well as interesting 27 Nov 2000
By A Customer
Buy this book. Very well written, witty, and gives a good insight of what Sales & Trading was like in the 80's at Salomon Brothers. I have read it twice!! I would also recommend "Monkey Business" for those who of you who want to know how things work at the I-banks (but don't take it too seriously..).
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Hotshots' Handbook 18 April 2000
By A Customer
Named for the game used by Wall Street's traders to hone their skills and goad their colleagues, Liar's Poker is a shining account of Michael Lewis' years spent at Salomon Brothers.

The shambolic discipline of the trading room and the world of modern investment banking are laid bare in this insightful and hilarious book.

Learn more about the hotshot world of high finance than in justabout any business degree.... and funny as hell.

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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book 14 July 2005
By Elliot Varnell
A really entertaining book and a real page turner. The characters are well developed. It almost seems unreal at times with unruly classes throwing paper bombs at people who are presenting to them and the permanently comatose Japanese students.

I read this before Lowenstein's book on the collapse of LTCM which I think is the right order to read them as they are like two movies from the same series. The only problem being the missing detail of the episode where Meriweather gets booted out of Salomon by Buffet. Missing of course because Lewis had left by then. I understand Lowenstein covers that in Buffet but I've yet to read that.

The two books are almost written in the same style except that Lewis's is more objectivly written IMHO. The language is very descriptive and you learna lot about what makes the markets tick in practice - and how banks thrive of the unwary who are dazzled by their bright lights.

Michael Lewis seems to have been very honest with his appraisal of his own skills and that makes the book that much more readable as the lack of personal ego helps you enjoy the book.

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Most Informative Book on Trading! 16 Dec 2001
By A Customer
If you are considering a career in a hedge fund , being a trader of any product or working in an investment bank you must read this. All of the things that can't be learnt from factual guides to trading are learnt in here, the culture the extravagances, it's all in here.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Big Swinging Dicks of Wall Street 8 Dec 2012
By Rosinante
Amazon Verified Purchase
The book gives one a great insight into the world of Wall Streeters. It is useful in terms of the practices used by investment banks on how to grow immensely in their revenue and yearly bonuses. Good and also a funny read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Top Read!
I read this book many years ago, however, it is a memorable book. I highly recommend it.

I guess, at the time, I wanted to know what goes on in The City. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Rajeshk4u
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent read even for those not interested in finance
I have just finished reading Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street by Michael Lewis and, although not wanting to provide a review of every book I read, felt this... Read more
Published on 15 Sep 2007 by N. Dobbins
4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable story of 1980's financial markets and the characters that...
An enjoyable book. There are some parts of the book where the financial and economic concepts may cause the lay-reader to slow down a little. Read more
Published on 25 Mar 2007 by CS
4.0 out of 5 stars "Michael creates a beautiful tale of a truly individual and `great'...
Liar's poker is an easy book to read for those with an interest in the financial markets. For me I think Michael creates a beautiful tale of a truly individual and `great' bank... Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2006 by Mr. G. J. Bateman
4.0 out of 5 stars An account of office politics extreme!
This is an informal diary of the developments within Salomon's as seen by the author.
Written in a very engaging and entertaining style, it fits well as a kind of opposite to... Read more
Published on 12 Dec 2002 by Benedict Carey
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book about Trading
I've never read a book like this: it seems to stay with the guys of Salomon in the same trading floor, to breath their air and to listen their voice. Read more
Published on 13 Aug 2002 by Vincenzo Riflesso
5.0 out of 5 stars The evergreen trader's book
I read this book while I was applying for a job in merchant banks. Same age as Michael Lewis in the beginning of the story, same aspirations and same worries about the future. Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2001
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