Boomerang could be Lewis' unofficial sequel to his prior book, The Big Short, given that he's now looking beyond Wall Street at the effect of the global financial crisis on specific countries. Those earning a bit of scrutiny are Iceland, Greece, Ireland, Germany and California (not a country, obviously, but has a GDP that rivals one).Excellent journalism here, but not as engaging as The Big Short unless you follow the confusing language of global finance. The narrative does get stronger with each successive chapter so give it time to grab your attention.
Show lessBoomerang could be Lewis' unofficial sequel to his prior book, The Big Short, given that he's now looking beyond Wall Street at the effect of the global financial crisis on specific countries. Those earning a bit of scrutiny are Iceland, Greece, Ireland, Germany and California (not a country, obviously, but has a GDP that rivals one).Excellent journalism here, but not as engaging as The Big Short unless you follow the confusing language of global finance. The narrative does get stronger with each successive chapter so give it time to grab your attention.
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If you’ve been a subscriber to Vanity Fair for the past couple of years… you probably shouldn’t waste your money; you may have already read this book. Pretty much all of Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World is taken right from articles Michael Lewis published in the magazine. However! If you aren’t a subscriber to this major publication (or almost any large, expensive print serial) like me (though I do love my Newsweek) AND you want to learn about how Europe screwed itself up so badly (and refuses to take the possible steps it needs to be saved), get it! It’ll let you know! By the way I’m sorry for that extremely drawn-out sentence’ish thing. It was needed. Thanks to this book being made from a series of article installments, each problem he discusses is broken down and explained pretty well in and of itself. This is great for someone like me who often has to start and stop books either because of work or there was just another book I couldn’t turn down…What I liked most about Lewis’ book is the questions it raises about the whole system of democracy. I’m not one to use the holier than thou “Founding Fathers” as evidence for just about anything, but I definitely agree with multiple statements written about a need for a republic to be filled with and governed by moral persons with more than just their own benefits on their minds. Like us, our nation has to be responsible with its finances (eeeeven in a recession): some of us will have to suck it up and pay more taxes and others of us will have to suck it up and take fewer benefits (us in the middle class have the humble pleasure of being a part of both!). Lewis shows us this through the experiences of Europe. I’ll leave this poor man’s review with a great Socrates quote used in the book…"Democracy destroys itself because it abuses its right to freedom and equality. Because it teaches its citizens to consider audacity as a right, lawlessness as a freedom, abrasive speech as equality, and anarchy as progress."
Show lessIf you’ve been a subscriber to Vanity Fair for the past couple of years… you probably shouldn’t waste your money; you may have already read this book. Pretty much all of Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World is taken right from articles Michael Lewis published in the magazine. However! If you aren’t a subscriber to this major publication (or almost any large, expensive print serial) like me (though I do love my Newsweek) AND you want to learn about how Europe screwed itself up so badly (and refuses to take the possible steps it needs to be saved), get it! It’ll let you know! By the way I’m sorry for that extremely drawn-out sentence’ish thing. It was needed. Thanks to this book being made from a series of article installments, each problem he discusses is broken down and explained pretty well in and of itself. This is great for someone like me who often has to start and stop books either because of work or there was just another book I couldn’t turn down…What I liked most about Lewis’ book is the questions it raises about the whole system of democracy. I’m not one to use the holier than thou “Founding Fathers” as evidence for just about anything, but I definitely agree with multiple statements written about a need for a republic to be filled with and governed by moral persons with more than just their own benefits on their minds. Like us, our nation has to be responsible with its finances (eeeeven in a recession): some of us will have to suck it up and pay more taxes and others of us will have to suck it up and take fewer benefits (us in the middle class have the humble pleasure of being a part of both!). Lewis shows us this through the experiences of Europe. I’ll leave this poor man’s review with a great Socrates quote used in the book…"Democracy destroys itself because it abuses its right to freedom and equality. Because it teaches its citizens to consider audacity as a right, lawlessness as a freedom, abrasive speech as equality, and anarchy as progress."
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As Pogo once said, "We have met the enemy and he is us."The tsunami of cheap credit that rolled across the planet between 2002 and 2008 was more than a simple financial phenomenon: it was temptation, offering entire societies the chance to reveal aspects of their characters they could not normally afford to indulge. Icelanders wanted to stop fishing and become investment bankers. The Greeks wanted to turn their country into a piñata stuffed with cash and allow as many citizens as possible to take a whack at it. The Germans wanted to be even more German; the Irish wanted to stop being Irish. Michael Lewis's investigation of bubbles beyond our shores is so brilliantly, sadly hilarious that it leads the American reader to a comfortable complacency: oh, those foolish foreigners. But when he turns a merciless eye on California and Washington, DC, we see that the narrative is a trap baited with humor, and we understand the reckoning that awaits the greatest and greediest of debtor nations
Show lessAs Pogo once said, "We have met the enemy and he is us."The tsunami of cheap credit that rolled across the planet between 2002 and 2008 was more than a simple financial phenomenon: it was temptation, offering entire societies the chance to reveal aspects of their characters they could not normally afford to indulge. Icelanders wanted to stop fishing and become investment bankers. The Greeks wanted to turn their country into a piñata stuffed with cash and allow as many citizens as possible to take a whack at it. The Germans wanted to be even more German; the Irish wanted to stop being Irish. Michael Lewis's investigation of bubbles beyond our shores is so brilliantly, sadly hilarious that it leads the American reader to a comfortable complacency: oh, those foolish foreigners. But when he turns a merciless eye on California and Washington, DC, we see that the narrative is a trap baited with humor, and we understand the reckoning that awaits the greatest and greediest of debtor nations
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