Ephemeris of the Mind (Book Review) Liar's Poker
Time to read: 3 min read
Book Cover
I felt a welling frustration. There was nothing I could do but watch. Did corporate heads ever take responsibility for their actions or the actions of their subordinates? Was there no honor left? A similar leak in the British government would precipitate a flurry of resignations. But our chiefs never seemed to suffer for their mistakes. They applied a kind of marginal analysis to each new screwup and said that what had been done was behind us and that no good would come from further shock to the firm (such as their resignations).
Past Michael Lewis review:
Review
After reading Flash Boys and being disappointed in the lack of factual accuracy, I finally gave in and read another Lewis book as this book came highly recommended from friends and is based on Lewis’ own experiences. In this book Lewis details his experiences working at Salomon Brothers, a bulge bracket investment bank specializing in fixed income and later in securitization and derivatives of bonds.
I first heard of Salomon through Charlie Munger’s Poor Charlie’s Almanack, in which Munger admits that his and Warren Buffett’s involvement in Salomon was a mistake. So spoiler alert: the story of Salomon Brothers doesn’t end well. The story for Lewis, however, ends very well as he probably makes more money writing than he did banking and one can see why. One of the few things about Flash Boys that I liked was the writing style which was very accessible and engaging; I actually liked his writing more in Liar’s Poker. The book is hilarious and there were several chuckle out loud moments, such as the descriptions of Salomon Brother’s new hire training program and the various catchphrases such as the “Big Swinging Dick” (top-earning salesperson or trader) and the Feeding Frenzy (Friday-morning meal where traders compete to see who could display the greatest amount of gluttony).
In the book, Lewis walks through his entire journey at Salomon, from landing a job through personal connections, to working as a bond salesman out of the London office, to eventually departing the firm and his reasons for doing so. It was very interesting reading about the ruthless performance-based culture married with intense internal political struggles and lack of corporate governance and accountability. The soullessness of working in a corporate culture where there’s a complete disregard for clients and where a person’s worth is defined solely by their commission is very effectively portrayed. My favourite parts of the book, however, is reading about the important market events such as Black Monday in 1987 as well as reading about the development of mortgage bonds (which eventually led up to what happened in 2008).
Conclusion
A hilarious portrayal of Wall Street greed in the 80s.