Has Anybody Read Any of these Books?

If anyone read one of the following books, I'd appreciate it if you can tell me what you thought. Also, I'm open to other recommendations about finance/banking.

I'm considering:

1) Fool's Gold by Gillian Tett - I just read "Too Big to Fail" by Sorkin and I thought it was pretty good. That being said, it seems that the two are similar (except one being a little more focused on JP Morgan) so if someone read both or just Fool's Gold, I'd appreciate it if you can tell me what you thought.

2) Den of Thieves - I read Predator's Ball and liked it a lot. I don't know if the two are that different though.

3) Last Man Standing - Thought it'd be interesting to read about Jamie Dimon.

I've read most of the popular ones, like Barbarians at the Gate, Monkey Business, Accidental Investment Banker, Liar's Poker, When Genius Failed, Last Tycoons, etc. but if you have any other recommendations, then it'd be great to hear your opinions on them.

22 Comments
 
leveRAGE.great book im reading that is essentially the "Liars Poker" of the 2000's is the zeroes--great book so far. chronicles the rise and fall of trader monthly. has been an awesome read (about 3/4 way through)

Haha that is like the Huck Fin of 80s finance books, your talking about it like no one's heard of it!

fdba Emory Blaine and BBA or otherwise trying to find the perfect pseudonym.
 
Best Response
GoodBread
Faustus
leveRAGE.great book im reading that is essentially the "Liars Poker" of the 2000's is the zeroes--great book so far. chronicles the rise and fall of trader monthly. has been an awesome read (about 3/4 way through)

Haha that is like the Huck Fin of 80s finance books, your talking about it like no one's heard of it!

Give that sentence another read.

What happens when skimming goes bad, haha ... you handled that like a gentleman by the way.

fdba Emory Blaine and BBA or otherwise trying to find the perfect pseudonym.
 
"Faustus"
leveRAGE.great book im reading that is essentially the "Liars Poker" of the 2000's is the zeroes--great book so far. chronicles the rise and fall of trader monthly. has been an awesome read (about 3/4 way through)

Haha that is like the Huck Fin of 80s finance books, your talking about it like no one's heard of it!

Fucking brainlet.

 

Last Man Standing was pretty interesting. Get an in-depth look at the consolidation of financial institutions over the past 20 years while seeing Dimon rise through the ranks aided by Sandy Weill. Definitely would recommend.

 

Two very good recent books I'd recommend are Confidence Game (Richard) and Hedge Hunters (Burton). I haven't read Fool's Gold, but Gillian is pretty smart so I'd imagine it would be decent. I really disliked Den of Thieves when I read it. Don't know anything about Last Man Standing, but just because you think Dimon is interesting doesn't mean his biography will be, or that said biography should have been written - beware the sycophantic author.

 
drexelalum11Two very good recent books I'd recommend are Confidence Game (Richard) and Hedge Hunters (Burton). I haven't read Fool's Gold, but Gillian is pretty smart so I'd imagine it would be decent. I really disliked Den of Thieves when I read it. Don't know anything about Last Man Standing, but just because you think Dimon is interesting doesn't mean his biography will be, or that said biography should have been written - beware the sycophantic author.

Also agree with Confidence Game

 
drexelalum11Two very good recent books I'd recommend are Confidence Game (Richard) and Hedge Hunters (Burton). I haven't read Fool's Gold, but Gillian is pretty smart so I'd imagine it would be decent. I really disliked Den of Thieves when I read it. Don't know anything about Last Man Standing, but just because you think Dimon is interesting doesn't mean his biography will be, or that said biography should have been written - beware the sycophantic author.

Just read the Amazon review and I'm heavily considering "Confidence Game" now. I read an article about Ackman on Businessweek about a month ago and thought it'd be interesting to read more about what he's done. What was it about "Den of Thieves" that you didn't like? I got the impression that it painted a less objective picture of the 80s junk bond takeover-era than "Predator's Ball".

SirLarryWildmanread fools gold- it was pretty good, not as entertaining as 2Big or Big Short, but I liked the background it gave to the products.

Did you find "Fool's Gold" to be different than 2Big? 2Big was great but I'm wondering if it's worth reading both.

 
Olympus123
drexelalum11Two very good recent books I'd recommend are Confidence Game (Richard) and Hedge Hunters (Burton). I haven't read Fool's Gold, but Gillian is pretty smart so I'd imagine it would be decent. I really disliked Den of Thieves when I read it. Don't know anything about Last Man Standing, but just because you think Dimon is interesting doesn't mean his biography will be, or that said biography should have been written - beware the sycophantic author.

Just read the Amazon review and I'm heavily considering "Confidence Game" now. I read an article about Ackman on Businessweek about a month ago and thought it'd be interesting to read more about what he's done. What was it about "Den of Thieves" that you didn't like? I got the impression that it painted a less objective picture of the 80s junk bond takeover-era than "Predator's Ball".

It's been a while since I read it, but I just recall it not being particularly well written, and being overly dramatic with what is really pretty dry material. I also felt it was very biased against Milken.

 
Olympus123

Just read the Amazon review and I'm heavily considering "Confidence Game" now. I read an article about Ackman on Businessweek about a month ago and thought it'd be interesting to read more about what he's done. What was it about "Den of Thieves" that you didn't like? I got the impression that it painted a less objective picture of the 80s junk bond takeover-era than "Predator's Ball". .

I read it years ago so can't accurately comment on its objectivity – I would not be surprised if there are some liberties taken. Read both and report back. They are books, not marriages, you don't have to finish one if it is pissing you off.
fdba Emory Blaine and BBA or otherwise trying to find the perfect pseudonym.
 

Den of Thieves is my favorite of all the banking books. It touches on a lot of the topics in Predator's Ball, but there is surprisingly not much overlap. Just a great read...

I'd also recommend Fiasco. I enjoyed it.

 

Den of thieves is the shit – a lot of topics covered. When I became interested in banking, that is the book my father suggested. If you want to meet the real Gordon Gekko – Ivan Boesky – pick it up. There is a lot about Milken also.

fdba Emory Blaine and BBA or otherwise trying to find the perfect pseudonym.
 

Den of Thieves is good both on the "journalist" work Stewart did as in the storytelling/human side he manages to get. A reading that's rather light but I would very much recommend is Prince of Risk by C.Reich. Brings the CIC role, AI and electronic markets fragility together.

 

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