abridged audio still a good collection | Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity ...

Condemned to Repeat it. | Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity

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	• Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity W.W. Norton & Co., 2008 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 43 reviews view larger image
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Is a compilation of financial articles already published

Even though the book author is Michael Lewis, in reality he is the compiler of the information, because of this not all the articles are as interesting. I have to say the book is a compilation of published books, newspapers, magazines and interviews. The way it is organize, is by market crashes, starting with the crash of 1987 and ending with the subprime crash. Because of this organization the book is fairly easy to read, it is divided in months before the crash, during the crash and days after, giving the reader a chance to experience the articles and interviews that were shown at the time, thus allowing the audience to feel that a crash was imminent, helping to understand a little bit about why the crash had occurred.
I recommend this book to anyone that is interested in knowing more about the recent market crashes, but I need to remind the readers that many of the terms used in the articles are financial terms, that not everyone understands.
If you are looking for a good book recommendation and easy to read, I strongly recommend liar's Poker by Michael Lewis Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street, and also for the baseball fans Moneyball Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game.

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abridged audio still a good collection

The audio package makes it clear that Michael Lewis was the editor, so there was no surprise, unlike what some hardcopy reviews have claimed. Much of the stronger material was contributed by Lewis himself, including pieces written at the time of the relevant panic, and his editorial remarks.

Some conclusions reached while listening:

* Some of these crises involve problems caused by people who weren't actually contributing much to the world. Those traders who were speculating on quick market moves and getting rich or going bust: what a waste of brainpower, deployed only to take money from other people with little in return relative to the greater good or society. My sympathy was muted, and, as Lewis said at the end, perhaps people in this business never will make so much money again. Fine with me.

* Don't say "nobody predicted" this or that crisis, or "who could have seen that coming?" As some pieces showed, there were writers who were all over situation and made fairly accurate predictions. Not that people were listening or anybody knew what to do. It's probably fair to conclude, however, that unlike the housing and dot com bubbles, our most recent problem with sub-prime lending, securitized debt with little visibility, people really didn't see what was coming, or the extent of it, anyway.

* Some crises stick with you a lot longer than others. The Asian crisis and Russia's default turned out to be not such big deals, right? Bounce back we did, setting the table for the next crisis. Lewis certainly doesn't make you think there will ever be a crisis to end all crises, or even a long spell between messes. Humans are what they are, and Lewis feels (rightly) that some occasional crises are the price of creativity and freedom. Within reason, of course. Greed and ignorance shouldn't be unlimited.

The audio contained a few duds. Perhaps some of the weaker content was trimmed in the abridgment. Some of the details don't age wonderfully, but enough of the basics and conceptual explanations remain solid and informative.

3.5 stars

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Condemned to Repeat it.

Lewis' book was not what I expected. It's not a book by Michael Lewis. It's a book edited by him. But the editing is good. There is nothing new about financial market panics. The pieces chosen by Lewis indicate this every clearly. Change the names of the actors and you have the same plot.

A masterful account of today's money culture, showing how the underpricing of risk leads to catastrophe.

When it comes to markets, the first deadly sin is greed. Michael Lewis is our jungle guide through five of the most violent and costly upheavals in recent financial history: the crash of '87, the Russian default (and the subsequent collapse of Long-Term Capital Management), the Asian currency crisis of 1999, the Internet bubble, and the current sub-prime mortgage disaster. With his trademark humor and brilliant anecdotes, Lewis paints the mood and market factors leading up to each event, weaves contemporary accounts to show what people thought was happening at the time, and then, with the luxury of hindsight, analyzes what actually happened and what we should have learned from experience.

As he proved in Liar's Poker, The New New Thing, and Moneyball, Lewis is without peer in his understanding of market forces and human foibles. He is also, arguably, the funniest serious writer in America.

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