Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity
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- Author：Michael Lewis
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Summary
The New York Times bestseller: 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。 In this New York Times bestseller， Michael Lewis is our jungle guide through five of the most violent and costly upheavals in recent financial history。 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， with the luxury of hindsight， analyzes what actually happened and what we should have learned from experience。 。
When it comes to markets， the first deadly sin is greed。 In this New York Times bestseller， Michael Lewis is our jungle guide through five of the most violent and costly upheavals in recent financial history。 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， with the luxury of hindsight， analyzes what actually happened and what we should have learned from experience。 。
Reviews
Tessa
，
This was a fun read。 The work could have been better organised and/or abbreviated to make the narrative arc a little better - it read like a jumble of stories and perspectives rather than a smooth build of context and then a reveal。 I enjoyed Lewis’s writing so I’d seek out his other books now。
Bobby Pin
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None
Audrey Lawrence
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Not a book per se but rather a collection of articles and snippets from books regarding the four market crashes of the last 40 years。 I was too young （or not yet alive） to pay much attention at the time of any of these crises， so I didn't have nearly as good of an understanding of them before reading this。 I thought the selection of work was excellent and presented in an entertaining manner， showing just how risky and fairly unpredictable the market can be。 It was also fascinating to read during Not a book per se but rather a collection of articles and snippets from books regarding the four market crashes of the last 40 years。 I was too young （or not yet alive） to pay much attention at the time of any of these crises， so I didn't have nearly as good of an understanding of them before reading this。 I thought the selection of work was excellent and presented in an entertaining manner， showing just how risky and fairly unpredictable the market can be。 It was also fascinating to read during the time where we're seeing hedge fund losses due to Reddit users saving Gamestop。As someone working in tech for a company mentioned quite a bit in the 3rd part about the tech crash， I found that section especially insightful。 It was curious to see companies that ended up making it out and dominating today （thinking Amazon）， and others than failed for it seemed they were too early for their time or didn't have the right tech （thinking AllAdvantage）。 The mentions of the worker ownership model with employees having a large equity stake and the questioning of gauging success by corporate profits rather than productivity are both things I find so familiar today; I didn't realize this was not always the case。 However， I'm not sure how well the statement "Good new technologies are a bit like good new roads: their social benefits far exceed what any one person or company can get paid for creating them" holds up in our era today of big tech companies controlling so much。Overall， as someone semi-interested in financial markets， I though it was a good read。 Did however fuel some anxieties about my home value and other investments。 🙃 。。。more
AnnaG
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Not up to the standard of Liar's Poker。 Shame。 Not up to the standard of Liar's Poker。 Shame。 。。。more
Simon Eskildsen
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Collection of essays and newspaper articles from various financial panics， e。g。 2000 tech crash， 2008 crash， 1997 Asian currency crisis， and more。 Reminds me that reading newspaper articles from the past can provide great entertainment and perspective， but 100s of pages of it isn't quite my cup of tea。 Clearly the author wanted to deep-dive into these panics， but I wish he would've added some coloured rather than simply copy in articles。 Collection of essays and newspaper articles from various financial panics， e。g。 2000 tech crash， 2008 crash， 1997 Asian currency crisis， and more。 Reminds me that reading newspaper articles from the past can provide great entertainment and perspective， but 100s of pages of it isn't quite my cup of tea。 Clearly the author wanted to deep-dive into these panics， but I wish he would've added some coloured rather than simply copy in articles。 。。。more
Andrew
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This was a fun book。In this title Michael Lewis applies his research & writing talents to provide a somewhat objective journey through modern financial crises。Personally， I enjoyed this book， I found that it tied together other literature that has been published with reference and or in context to the crises outlined in this book。
Abhishek Dafria
，
When do we panic？ Probably when something bad happens which we were unprepared for。 We have walked into such scenarios many a times in the world of finance。 The 1987 crash of the US Stock Exchange， the 1997 Asian crisis followed by the Russian crisis， the 2000s dotcom burst and the 2007 housing bubble。 Not many saw these events coming。 Even after they happened， few could understand why。 Panic！ is a compilation of some of the best articles written prior， during and after each of these financial c When do we panic？ Probably when something bad happens which we were unprepared for。 We have walked into such scenarios many a times in the world of finance。 The 1987 crash of the US Stock Exchange， the 1997 Asian crisis followed by the Russian crisis， the 2000s dotcom burst and the 2007 housing bubble。 Not many saw these events coming。 Even after they happened， few could understand why。 Panic！ is a compilation of some of the best articles written prior， during and after each of these financial crisis that shook the world。 It is a drive through time， trying to learn from mistakes of the past， or maybe realising that one really cannot stop another crisis from happening。 It is an interesting book to read in the current times when the world is facing another unprecedented crisis that is resulting in an economic collapse on a global level。 The book though is just a compilation of articles - though I do not discount the effort that must have taken to figure out which articles should make it to this book。 It reads like a long financial magazine and lacks the sharp pen of Michael Lewis。 The book is 'edited by' and not 'written by' Lewis。 So know what you are getting into when you realise that you missed one of Michael Lewis's books and pick this one up！ 。。。more
Lorie
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3。5 stars。 History but relevant。 Not much new material however。
Trung Nguyen Dang
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A collection of long-form articles on magazines。 Entertaining but not indepth like a real book in just 1 subject。
Mandy Yeung
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Best way for me to "experience" the previous panic events without having gone through it myself。 Borrowed this from the library but I will have to purchase a copy for future reference。 Best way for me to "experience" the previous panic events without having gone through it myself。 Borrowed this from the library but I will have to purchase a copy for future reference。 。。。more
Rcxnair
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A collection of various news articles from different time periods that depicts how history repeats itself when it comes to financial frauds and crises！
Jason Orthman
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Some good articles around the crashes of 1987， 2000 and 2007。 Good reminder of events and stories of the times。
Andrew
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A collection of articles and critics both pre and post-crash on many of the recent financial crises。 Intriguing how much no one knows still
Matthew Mechtly
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A series of articles from many authors summarizing major stock market panics over the years
Jess
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Too many finance-specific terms to make this easy to read。 And almost a little off-putting。 Overall the theme and ideas are interesting and very disheartening。
Paul moved to LibraryThing
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Only aims to entertain。
Lee
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Michael Lewis has become the poet of modern finance， his pen being able to simplify complex issues in engaging prose。 This book lacks all that。 It is not written by Lewis， but rather edited by him， with some of his own writings sprinkled in。 It is not the story of modern financial insanity， as the title claims， but rather an insane clusterfuck of modern financial stories， thrown together in the heat of the financial crisis in the late 2000's， just as a way to try to mint easy money out of Lewis' Michael Lewis has become the poet of modern finance， his pen being able to simplify complex issues in engaging prose。 This book lacks all that。 It is not written by Lewis， but rather edited by him， with some of his own writings sprinkled in。 It is not the story of modern financial insanity， as the title claims， but rather an insane clusterfuck of modern financial stories， thrown together in the heat of the financial crisis in the late 2000's， just as a way to try to mint easy money out of Lewis' reputation。 The stories can occassionally be interesting on their own， though they never cohere into a narrative。 。。。more
Jonathan Desimone
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I was hoping for something other than article clipping from contemporary stories about each panic。 It is interesting subject matter but loses some of Michael Lewis' normal great storytelling。 I was hoping for something other than article clipping from contemporary stories about each panic。 It is interesting subject matter but loses some of Michael Lewis' normal great storytelling。 。。。more
Ailith Twinning
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It's a mixed bag。 It's a mixed bag。 。。。more
Rob Mills
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Feels like a slap dash effort by Michael Lewis to turn fear into $$s。 He has cobbled together some moderately interesting articles around various financial panics but none with any depth。 Might hurt that I've read full books on all of the various crises。 Feels like a slap dash effort by Michael Lewis to turn fear into $$s。 He has cobbled together some moderately interesting articles around various financial panics but none with any depth。 Might hurt that I've read full books on all of the various crises。 。。。more
Toe
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Objective SummaryThis book compiles news articles about four instances of financial panic: the Black Monday crash of October 19， 1987; the Mexico， Russia， and Asia panics of the 1990’s; the internet bubble and bust in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s; and the real estate bubble and bust in the mid-2000’s。 Lewis writes a few pages of introduction， but the bulk of the book comes from excerpts from other authors。 The articles demonstrate the difficulties in identifying a bubble in real time and the Objective SummaryThis book compiles news articles about four instances of financial panic: the Black Monday crash of October 19， 1987; the Mexico， Russia， and Asia panics of the 1990’s; the internet bubble and bust in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s; and the real estate bubble and bust in the mid-2000’s。 Lewis writes a few pages of introduction， but the bulk of the book comes from excerpts from other authors。 The articles demonstrate the difficulties in identifying a bubble in real time and the causes of a burst even in hindsight。As a compilation of articles， the book lacks a unifying theme or argument。 The best lesson—perhaps the only lesson—may be that no one knows why the market acts as it does or where it will go。 A combination of fear， greed， ignorance， and corruption influences people’s thoughts， and therefore guides the market’s actions。 Add in complicated regulations， financial instruments， and mathematical formulas and you have a recipe for opacity。 Some investors， through skill or luck or corruption， profit from the opacity and their wagers。 Additional points on each of the four crashes follow。October 19， 1987 crash:•tNo one knows why the crash occurred when it did。 The Brady Commission， a presidential commission set up to investigate the crash concluded there were many reasons， one of which was portfolio insurance。•tPortfolio insurance was an idea based on the Black-Scholes options pricing model that suggested an investor could hedge against losses by rapidly short selling index futures through program trading。 When many investors tried to do this simultaneously， however， there were not enough buyers to meet the demand of the sellers and stabilize prices， so prices continued to fall。 •tThe reason for the precise timing of the crash is indiscernible， but the average P/E ratio of stocks was 20 while interest rates on bonds were around 10%。 Thus， it took $20 of stock to earn $1 of earnings at the same time it took $10 of bonds to earn $1 of interest。 This revealed that stock prices were overvalued and a correction was due。 For why would an investor buy stock as a residual claimant when he could have a better return and higher priority claim to company assets as a bondholder？Mexican， Russian， and Asian crashes of the 1990’s:•tDeveloping countries had high debt to GDP ratios。•tThe International Monetary Fund encouraged developing countries to open their financial markets to international investment and to pay high short-term interest rates while their currencies were fixed to the US dollar。 Investment poured in to gain the high interest rates， and a combination of crony capitalism （i。e。， payments to politically well-connected individuals and businesses） and subsequent devaluing of currencies pulled money out just as rapidly。 •tRussia assigned ownership of its vast natural resources to a politically created oligarchy after the collapse of the Soviet Union。 Russia devalued its currency and defaulted on its debt。•tLong-term Capital Management， a large US hedge fund invested in interest rate swap arbitrages， collapsed。 New New Panic， or the internet bubble of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s:•tInternet stock mania began with the IPO of Netscape in April 1995。•tInvestors did not fully understand the ramifications of the internet on global commerce， but many people were blindly bullish and jettisoned traditional measures of company value such as P/E ratios and even profitability。 One example involves Books-a-Million’s stock tripling shortly after it announced merely that it was revamping its website。 This book retailer trailed behind Barnes & Noble， Borders， and Amazon in sales， and online sales were only a small part of its business， but investors bought into the bubble and belief that any action involving the internet was a sure thing。•tMarketing hype and jargon allowed companies to raise vast sums of money to try to build or bluff their way to legitimate businesses。 Most failed。 Smalltime internet companies like computer。com， ourbeginning。com， and pets。com spent large portions—sometimes half—of their working capital on single advertisements during the 2000 Super Bowl with nothing to show for it。 •tThe internet revolutionized commerce。 Amazon is a resounding success， and its lower overhead allowed it to compete with Borders， Books-a-Million， and Barnes & Noble。 But businesses still eventually require profitability， and they take time to improve their business models。 One particularly bad business model was AllAdvantage， which paid customers by the hour to surf the internet。 The idea was that the company could collect user data and sell it to advertisers， but the company burned through its startup capital too quickly and never developed a means to monetize the data it collected。•tJack Willoughby’s March 20， 2000 article “Burning Up，” in Barron’s gave a potent prick to the internet bubble。 It laid out the 200 or so internet companies that were burning through cash the fastest and noted that many of them would be out of cash within months。 Such companies had to raise new capital simply to survive。 The longer the companies continued without profitability， the more expensive it was for them to raise cash， and many could not raise additional cash at all。 Insiders began dumping stock， which is never a good sign。 The People’s Panic， or the real estate bubble in the mid-2000’s:•tThe real estate bubble burst sometime around 2007。 Once again， the exact causes are unknown， but there are many theories and contributors。 •tInterest rates were kept low by the Federal Reserve， permitting excess investment。 Government policies from Clinton and Bush encouraged homeownership。 Government sponsored entities like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bought loans， alleviating underwriters from the risks of keeping the increasingly unsound loans。 Builders and realtors loved the action because of the revenue and commissions they received。 Builders paid inspectors to value properties above market rates， and inspectors complied。 Investment banks created and sold new financial instruments， such as mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations， to investors as products with higher returns and lower risks because they were backed by mortgage payments， which were historically sound investments。 Ratings agencies like Standard and Poor’s and Moody continued to rubber stamp risky investments as triple-A rated under faulty assumptions about the strength of the housing market and because the Wall Street banks that brought them the instruments for ratings paid them to do so。 As the real estate markets in places like New York， Florida， and California heated up， speculators came in with the hope of buying a house， holding it for a limited amount of time， and cashing out on the resale。•tWall Street firms heavily invested in subprime mortgages lost money。 Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers went bankrupt。 Jim Cramer from CNBC’s show “Mad Money” looked foolish claiming that Bear Stearns was a buy at $62/share when it ended up selling to JP Morgan Chase for $10/share。 Some people， like John Paulson， a hedge fund manager who bet against the housing market through newly invented instruments like credit default swaps， made lots of money。 Paulson in particular made $3 or $4 billion。Subjective ThoughtsLewis is a fantastic writer， but this book sucks because Lewis didn’t write it。 No one person wrote it， so it lacks coherence。 It’s like a subreddit on financial panics without the witty commentary。 It was frustrating not to have a unifying position or lens through which to filter the deluge of information， and I took away only a handful of tidbits。 First， no one knows anything for sure when it comes to financial panics。 People who got it right once may not be right again。 Second， people who provide cocksure assessments of where the market is going should be embarrassed when their predictions prove woefully incorrect—I’m looking at you， Jim Cramer and David Pidwell （the venture capitalist who first funded AllAdvantage）。 Third， government involvement reliably leads to complexity， debt， and bubbles。 Without government manipulation of economics， there would be fewer and less painful distortions。 The use of force and the size of government interventions must， by their very nature， lead to distortions away from the preferences of the market。 The government has no business pushing homeownership on people who would not otherwise choose it， or childbirth， or education， or green energy， or any of the myriad other choices people make to pursue happiness。 Even goals that sound good come with unforeseen consequences and costs that others were unwilling to pay in the absence of force。 Stay out of the way。 Keep the rules simple and transparent。 And， for the love of everything holy， do not bail out anyone for their bad decisions。Regarding the specifics of this book， I had more familiarity with the internet and real estate bubbles， so those sections were easier to follow。 The selection of articles regarding foreign financial crises was much harder for me to understand， and I know little more now than I did at the beginning of the book。 Paul Krugman’s and Chris Dodd’s contributions were worthless， in my eyes， because their championing of government action creates the problem。 Finally， Dave Berry’s ‘How to Get Rich in Real Estate’ from Dave Berry’s Money Secrets was worth the price of admission （$2 from the clearance section of Half Price Books） for me。 This hilarious satire skewers the lunacy of charlatans making money in real estate during the bubble。 It also identifies the downsides of homeownership， like costs and maintenance， which rarely get told。Someone much smarter than me might be able to piece together useful lessons from this book and make a killing during the next bubble。 I can't。 I'm just a common man hoping my 401（k） rises over the next 30 years。 And the NFL playoffs are calling to me now。 Revealing Quotes“Be wary of Wall Streeters threatening crashes。 They are tempted to do this whenever you encroach on their turf。 But they can’t cause a crash any more than they can prevent one。”“From the Amsterdam tulip mania of 1637 to the bursting of London’s South Sea Bubble in 1720 to the Wall Street crash of 1929， the history of capitalism is replete with market panics。 What is unusual is not that there was a crash in 1987 but that capital markets functioned for nearly 60 years without one。”“[T]he techniques of program trading and the software used to practice them are very much human creations。 Like all expert systems， they merely mimic the actions of a human expert， in this case a broker。 The computer can only respond to events that have already happened and act according to the rules built in to the program by the broker。 Thus， to blame the market’s rapid fall [on October 19， 1987] on the fact the computers are automatically executing decisions that brokers would have made anyway is to make the common mistake of blaming the tool for the actions of the people using it。”“I want to step back a bit and try to put the various studies [of the October 19， 1987 crash] in perspective。 Each was originally commissioned to determine what caused the crash。 After some 2，000 or 3，000 pages the answer is， we still do not know what caused the crash。 Much has been said about speculative euphoria， excessive price-earnings ratios， and the like。 But the bottom line is that no one knows。”“One of the implications of that disaster [i。e。， the privatization of Russian natural resources after the fall of the Soviet Union] is that the Russian government not only acted corruptly， not only built up a new oligarchy of billionaires out of nothing， basically， but also gave away its most valuable financial assets—its ownership of the huge natural resource sector in Russia。 Those resources could have been turned into real money， to be used to pay pensions， to close the budget deficit， to keep inflation low， to get the reforms underway。 But they gave away those natural resources， and ended up instead relying on borrowing from international speculators and investors， at very high interest rates， on very short-term debts。”“Like everything in advertising， someone does something differently， and it works incredibly well because no one else is doing it， and then everyone rushes to copy it， and it stops working because everyone is doing it。 That’s basically the history of advertising in a nutshell。”“The winners [of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s tech bubble] were the ones who took advantage of their irrational valuations to grow their own businesses and acquire assets of genuine value。 。 。 。 You could argue that this is what AOL did when it hooked up with Time Warner。 And you have to admire the way Cisco used its stock， which was trading at mind-boggling multiples， to buy its way into a position of market dominance that has made those multiples halfway plausible。 The savvy entrepreneurs converted fool’s gold into the 24k kind。 So who’s the fool now？”“What distinguished Silicon Valley from everyplace else on the planet was a） it had lots of start-up capital and b） the people who controlled that capital understood that， if you wanted to win big， you had to be willing to fail。 Failure on Wall Street has always been construed as a crime。 Failure in the valley was more honestly and bravely understood as the first cousin of success。”“The 1987 stock market crash was blamed on program trading; the Asian currency crisis was blamed on some combination of hedge funds and IMF-induced policies; the Internet bubble was blamed on Wall Street analysts。 The subprime-mortgage panic has yet to find its one big culprit， and I’m not sure it ever will。 I’ve tried to include a glimpse of all the putative villains， but the task has proved impossible。” “During the past decade， the Clinton and Bush Administrations have pursued the goal of increased homeownership by encouraging Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to expand their lending。 ‘Owning something is freedom as far as I’m concerned，’ President Bush said recently。 ‘It’s part of a free society。’ Thanks to low interest rates and to Fannie and Freddie， sixty-eight out of every hundred American households now own their homes， but worthy policies can have unintended consequences。 Cheap money and declining lending standards are often associated with speculative peaks， which invariably are followed by busts。”“Like many legendary market killings， from Warren Buffett’s takeovers of small companies in the ‘70’s to Wilbur Ross’s steelmaker consolidation earlier this decade， Mr。 [John] Paulson’s sprang from defying conventional wisdom。 In early 2006， the wisdom was that while loose lending standards might be of some concern， deep trouble in the housing and mortgage markets was unlikely。 A lot of big Wall Street players were in this camp， as seen by the giant mortgage-market losses they’re disclosing。 。 。 。 George Soros invited Mr。 Paulson to lunch， asking for details of how he laid his bets， with instruments that didn’t exist a few years ago [e。g。， credit default swaps]。 Mr。 Soros is famous for another big score， a 1992 bet against the British pound that earned $1 billion for his Quantum hedge fund。” 。。。more
Wendy （bardsblond）
，
This book just makes me think that we learn nothing from the past。 Michael Lewis examines past financial panics: the one that launched Lewis’ career in 1987 （read Liars Poker）， the Asian financial crisis of 1997 （and the related collapse of hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management due to being overleveraged in 1998）， the Doc Com bust of 2000 and， of course， the global financial crisis that started in 2007。 It’s essentially just a selection of essays and newspaper articles curated by Michael Lewis This book just makes me think that we learn nothing from the past。 Michael Lewis examines past financial panics: the one that launched Lewis’ career in 1987 （read Liars Poker）， the Asian financial crisis of 1997 （and the related collapse of hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management due to being overleveraged in 1998）， the Doc Com bust of 2000 and， of course， the global financial crisis that started in 2007。 It’s essentially just a selection of essays and newspaper articles curated by Michael Lewis （to which he also contributes introductions） about these financial panics。 I realize Lewis did very little work to put these essays together but the material itself is very interesting。 Depressing， but interesting。 Of course， anyone who has read Nassim Taleb is unsurprised by how totally predictable human greed and stupidity is。 Financial advisors take huge risks to make short-term profits for their firms because they do not absorb the downside of those risks。 Who does？ U。S。 taxpayers， mostly。 Who lets them proceed with this totally amoral behavior？ Our elected officials。 Do we ever learn anything？ Not really。 Our financial system is appalling。 A worthwhile read。 。。。more
Susan Visser
，
What causes a financial crisis？ Michael Lewis （the man who wrote The Big Short， Moneyball， Blideside， and many more） gives us a look at the last 5 financial meltdowns， beginning with Black Monday in 1987。 Did you know that there were 5 meltdowns including that one？ I didn't。 Two were primarily caused overseas （Russia and Asia）， one was the internet bubble crash and arguably the biggest， the sub-prime mortgage crisis。Michael pulls up articles that reflect the situation immediately before the cris What causes a financial crisis？ Michael Lewis （the man who wrote The Big Short， Moneyball， Blideside， and many more） gives us a look at the last 5 financial meltdowns， beginning with Black Monday in 1987。 Did you know that there were 5 meltdowns including that one？ I didn't。 Two were primarily caused overseas （Russia and Asia）， one was the internet bubble crash and arguably the biggest， the sub-prime mortgage crisis。Michael pulls up articles that reflect the situation immediately before the crisis and immediately after。 Some are his own articles that the wrote at the time， others are from writers who did a great job explaining the situation。 One of the questions that Michael raises is this: are corruption and greed necessary parts of capitalism？After the sub prime meltdown， Michael wrote a satirical piece about "poor people"。 Apparently at the time， many did not realize it was satirical and those who hate the poor were asking that Michael run from president。 It's worth reading the book just for that story， but overall， I liked seeing the perspective that Michael was able to give on modern finance problems and what we can learn from them。I listened to the audible version。 There were two narrators and then Michael did his own commentary at the end。 I just heard that Michael will be starting a podcast 。。。 which I think will be worth subscribing to。Aside: when I met Michael （when he and Billy Beane were promoting the movie Moneyball） I asked Michael why he doesn't narrate all his books。 He pointed out that it takes so much time to narrate an entire book。 He did a afterword in The Big Short in his own voice。 I told him that he did a great job and his accent was pleasant to listen to。 Looking forward to hearing his regular updates in his podcast。 。。。more
Nick Russo
，
I should have paid closer attention to the "Edited By" Michael Lewis on the cover so I wouldn't have been so disappointed by an anthology of writers woven into stories of the most recent financial crises。 The good news， is that this is an anthology of smart and witty writers woven into cohesive stories of hubris and transcendent observation over the chaos of those times。 I loved the juxtaposition of an article being recklessly bullish on internet stocks only to read the next one on the folly of I should have paid closer attention to the "Edited By" Michael Lewis on the cover so I wouldn't have been so disappointed by an anthology of writers woven into stories of the most recent financial crises。 The good news， is that this is an anthology of smart and witty writers woven into cohesive stories of hubris and transcendent observation over the chaos of those times。 I loved the juxtaposition of an article being recklessly bullish on internet stocks only to read the next one on the folly of it all。 All in all， the book reads like a well-crafted time capsule。 。。。more
Jeffrey
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Panic is a compilation of articles from newspapers， magazines and other sources。 Lewis has only merely compiled them - but that's ok: he's done a great job choosing articles from before， during and after to give a great sense of context （also allowing your to re-evaluate statements made in the articles before the respective crisis） and also gives a good diversity of views。A good trip through the crash of '87， Asian crisis， dot-com boom and the '08 crisis。 A good read for anyone interested the hi Panic is a compilation of articles from newspapers， magazines and other sources。 Lewis has only merely compiled them - but that's ok: he's done a great job choosing articles from before， during and after to give a great sense of context （also allowing your to re-evaluate statements made in the articles before the respective crisis） and also gives a good diversity of views。A good trip through the crash of '87， Asian crisis， dot-com boom and the '08 crisis。 A good read for anyone interested the history of financial crises。My only suggestion is Lewis probably should release a new edition - now that we are 10 years on from '08 episode， Part IV could probably be updated with more articles talking about the aftermath。 But that's just me being greedy。 。。。more
Colin
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Anthology of short essays by experts assessing the causes and aftermaths of recent financial panics。 These are always fascinating studies of human ingenuity， avarice， hubris and ignorance。 Hind sight may be 20/20， but there is a pattern - it always starts with a new paradigm that changes the rules， sustained by narratives claiming unlimited upside， obfuscated by ridiculous claims of complexity that end up being pyramid schemes。
Bill Shannon
，
Really just a collection of contemporaneous news articles about four major financial events: Black Monday in 1987; the Asian crash of 1997; the dot-com boom and bust; and the 2007-08 subprime mortgage crisis and subsequent Great Recession。The articles cover both the booms and the busts， all in their original format， which gives interesting insight into the kinds of pie-in-the-sky expectations that preceded massive financial calamities。I didn't understand most of the jargon， which may have affect Really just a collection of contemporaneous news articles about four major financial events: Black Monday in 1987; the Asian crash of 1997; the dot-com boom and bust; and the 2007-08 subprime mortgage crisis and subsequent Great Recession。The articles cover both the booms and the busts， all in their original format， which gives interesting insight into the kinds of pie-in-the-sky expectations that preceded massive financial calamities。I didn't understand most of the jargon， which may have affected my enjoyment of the book， but not enough that I wasn't able to enjoy most of it。 （Truth be told， the book only really picks up at the dot-com boom section。） It's not as dry as it had a right to be， but it's also just a collection of isolated articles。 。。。more
Addi
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A re-tread of some of the themes and material Lewis has explored at other venues more engagingly。 Still a good compilation of the evolution of his own writing over the years。
Michael
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Michael Lewis is a genius。
Todd
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