Thursday, September 27, 2012

Recommended: Michael Lewis

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One of my all-time favorite journalists is Michael Lewis. He writes really long, really really really good articles primarily for Vanity Fair Magazine. I have heard him being described as a "financial disaster travel journalist" since he has written really good stories with oftentimes patently absurd examples and anecdotes from Iceland, Ireland, Greece, California etc. Some of you might have seen the movie Moneyball (with Brad Pitt) - Michael Lewis wrote the book

Despite being a favorite of mine, it is kind of absurd that I have only read his stuff on the web (for free) - although I just bought his most recent book, Boomerang, despite having read most of it on the web before (a budding business model?). From the NY times book review:

"Michael Lewis possesses the rare storyteller’s ability to make virtually any subject both lucid and compelling. [...] Mr. Lewis captures the utter folly and madness that spread across both sides of the Atlantic during the last decade [...] Mr. Lewis’s ability to find people [...] is uncanny. And in this book he weaves their stories into a sharp-edged narrative that leaves readers with a visceral understanding of the fiscal recklessness that lies behind today’s headlines about Europe’s growing debt problems"


Below are some of his truly great stories. You should reserve at least half an hour or an hour for each story - but it will be worth it. I can in fact guarantee it (I'm so sure about it that I hereby extend a money-back guarantee).

Some articles have gotten alternative names in the book (in parenthesis below).

Wall Street on the tundra (about Iceland) - April 2009
Beware of Greeks bearing bonds (also "And they invented math") - Oct 2010
When Irish eyes are crying (also "Ireland's original sin") - March 2011
- It's the economy, Dumkopf! (also "The secret lives of Germans") - Sept 2011
- California and bust (also "Too fat to fly") - Nov 2011

Enjoy!

/Daniel

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