Customer Reviews
great picture of certain events, at a certain time for all interested in investment banking and finance - By: Micha Lasocki, 26 Feb 2008 
Liar's Poker offers you a journey into the world of a sophisticated money-making machine: a global investment bank.
As an ex- Bankers Trust employee, I can claim I have met many people similar to the characters in the book, & I can say the characters, events, their habits appear very well pictured. Even though it is technical at times, this book is light years away from many boring books like "see how smart I was making my fortune".
This book explains a lot about how money was made & lost during these times. It gives examples of strategies & market context. More importantly it also shows you of people's greed, fear & the consequences of that. It illustrates relations within junior & senior staff in a bank like this in a very honest way.
The most exciting thing about it is that the author keeps a distance to events, millions of profit, important people & institutions mentioned in the book. Few of people working inside such an institution can say that.
I have recommended Liar's Poker to some people, & it seems it has changed the way they see their jobs & careers. Finallly, this book makes you think - that is what good books are about.
Not life changing... - By: R. A. Watson, 31 Jan 2008 
The book charts the rather short career of Michael Lewis in Saloman Brothers. When you think of great works of art in ters of the selling game, you think Glengarry Glenross, Walll street, The boiler room... however this book would not come anywhere near to the enjoyability of these movies, & i have certainly read better biographies & better fiction stories. I suppose the intrigue of this book comes from the time period that Lewis worked at the company. The 80's & the demise of the Yuppie where people seemed to swim in money... this is not the case with Lewis, as was on a capped bonus scheme, which meant that the big bucks always eluded him.
It is an interesting story, however the jargon that is used gets in the way massively. It is much more a history on walll street banking than anything else. Literallly the 'story of HIS life' could be summed up in three easy steps. 1) got job 2) made some deals 3) left job. There seems to be no real padding out or substatantial details on his expieriences & his job, & it comes out more like a fly on the walll.
This is not on the whole a bad thing, but certainly was no where near as interesting as i would have though it could have been. I was a little dissapointed with the book, however it is worth a read for anyone looking to learn a little more about the late 80's walll street bankers.
The Best - By: L. Seacombe, 06 Dec 2007 Let me put this in the most simple of terms, this is my favourite book of alll time. I have just re-read it after leaving it on the shelf for a few years, & I still love it, love it, love it. Read it, your life is not complete without it.
An excellent read even for those not interested in finance - By: N. Dobbins, 15 Sep 2007 I have just finished reading Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Walll Street by Michael Lewis and, although not wanting to provide a review of every book I read, felt this one deserved a special mention. The book was recommended by a friend of mine as a good follow up to the LTCM story that I finished a couple of weeks ago & is an great insight into the booming Walll Street of the 80's. It is written in a very funny & laid back style that makes it a excellent read even for those not interested in trading or finance.
An enjoyable story of 1980's financial markets and the characters that populated them - By: CS, 25 Mar 2007 
An enjoyable book. There are some parts of the book where the financial & economic concepts may cause the lay-reader to slow down a little. This book is easily understandable by anyone with a finance, business, or eceonimcs background.
