Rating: 
Summary: Often hilarious and cautionary history of a bonds salesman
Review: This is the true story of a former Salomon Bros. bond saleman during the free wheeling mid 80's when they ruled the roost until their abrupt collapse.Much of the book is both hilarious and cautionary--and often for the same reason. The excesses of the cut throat and weird culture at Salomon and their "screw the customer" mantra (and action) if it conflicted with Salomon's perceived interests yield a not often seen inside view of the goings on. I should also point out here that the customers were wealthy individuals and institutions. A customer with 20 million dollars to deal with (in the mid-80's) was small potatoes. In fact, they were the ones that Salomon let loose their fledging traders on (this was a learn on the job job), since it wasn't considered of very great import if they "blew them up", i.e., caused them to lose most of their money. Any business book that's actually readable stands out. And this one more than most. It's not only readable but quite cynically humorous. Since many of the reviews describe the very positive qualities of the book, let me mention some of its deficiencies, as I saw them. First, the author underplays his abilities. While directly depicting himself as not very good at his career, in fact it's quite clear he was an excellent salesman. This isn't so important in itself, but it is represents a tone in the book that to me indicates that the author was more into it and the Salomon culture than he writes and from which he tries to ethically distance himself. Additionally, most of the individuals (and the corporate culture) were so extreme that I would have liked to know what they were like and the lives they led away from work. One thing I would definitely be curious about is to what extent their cut throat and sleazy work behavior carried over into their personal lives. Were they solid pillars of the community (many of them were more than wealthy) or were they as much sleaze bags off the camera as well as on. Or, since it would probably be a mixed bag, how did they divide in general along these lines. This is one respect in which I think Tracy Kidder's _Soul of a New Machine_ is better, in addtion to Kidder's more natural language flow. But, I don't mean to appear negative. I really enjoyed the read, again finding it both amusing and cautionary. While reading it I remembered what a friend of mine who married wealth ("I married her only for her money," he confessed to me as she stood beside him) and then increased it. I had visited him in the early 80's. "If you ever need a bond salesman call Mr. X. He's completely honest." His wife seriously nodded in agreement. I, obviously naive, thought this a curuous remark. Why wouldn't he be honest? In general. But also when he depends on your repeat business. My friend was right, and this book will show you why.
Rating: 
Summary: A must-read, if you are thinking of working on Wall St
Review: I worked for CSFB for three years, and am still in investment banking for a smaller firm. So I have seen a part of the world that is described here. I'm not saying that this is an exact description of what I saw, because Lewis picks the most exotic creatures that he met, but the atmosphere is perfectly conveyed. This book will tell you all the stuff that they don't teach you in an interview or recruitment visit - the pecking order, the politics, and how to get paid. The other reason to read this is that Lewis is a brilliant writer, with a real talent for describing people and their situations. Lots of other people have written boring books with the same raw material. For a non-specialist like my mother, the technicalities were hard work, but you don't need a lot of special knowledge to like this book. My mother certainly did. Probably the best way to look at this book is like a travel book - you're not visiting a country, you're visiting a world. Great travel books are not word-perfect descriptions of a place, they are representations of what the author felt like when he was there, and they give the reader a feeling of what it was like to be there. If you read this book, you will understand what it feels like to work inside a big bank, and you'll enjoy the ride, even if you have no interest in actually working there.
Rating:
Summary: Liars Poker: Not your ordinary card game
Review: Not a card game at all but a game of bluff and sizing up your opponent. It is very appropriate that the book starts off with the example of John Gutfreund (CEO of Salomon) trying to engage his chief bond trader in a single round of Liars Poker for 1 million dollars, because it is symptomatic of the egos of the players, the money that was being made and the excesses that characterised what is now generally called the greed decade. Lewis's perspective is that of an insider as he was a bond trader for Salomon Brothers in their New York and London offices. It's generally a very funny story with some hilarious descriptions of some of the characters and their behavior. Hilarious that is, until you realise that damage was being done to lives, companies and industries. As the author so succintly put it "the range of acceptable conduct...was wide indeed.It said something about the ability of the free marketplace to mold people's behavior into a socially acceptable pattern...this was capitalism at its most raw, and it was self-destructive." That this was true he goes on to illustrate with stories about trades gone bad, deals losing millions, and people skewered for things they had no knowledge of. I guess you could say that this was Darwinian Capitalism, these people had evolved into predators and were at the top of the food chain. Lewis himself says as much "the place was governed by the simple understanding that the unbridled pursuit of perceived self-interest was healthy. Eat or be eaten." It is no coincidence that one of his colleagues was called the Human Piranha!. Naturally, behaviour like this will lead to a messy ending and so it is, with the story culminating with a description of the Stock Market crash of '87 and Salomon itself in trouble. I read this book at about the same time as 'Den of Thieves' and would recommend both (that is, if you are interested in a historical view of Wall Street; remember these events took place 10-15 years ago). Liars Poker is good for the witty personal perspective Lewis brings, the other book gives a broader view of Wall Street and an investigative journalistic perspective of the insider trading scandal involving Michael Milken et al.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely funny, yet infromative
Review: The author did a great job in making this book as funny as possible while still sticking to the core of the book, the rise and fall of Solomon Brothers. (I REALLY fell of the chair laughing a couple of times). Details of various accounts that occuered during the authors employeement at solomon add to the excitment and provide valuable lessons to apply to the real world. This book is a classic and should be in every "wall street addict's" library
Rating: 
Summary: OK! Almost there but not completly
Review: Coming from an "insider" this tells the story about the inner workings of the finance company rather beautifully. The situations created are hilarious and the author is certainly witty at times - which overall makes it a nice, light book to read. Some of the chracters created are very interesting and funny. However, I have two gripes. One, the author is unable to hide his dislike for his company's CEO and it comes out from the book that he is less than fair to him. Two, the book gets a little technical at times going into, for example, the details of how a mortgage bond work and why is better (or not) vis a vis a junk bond. Coming from a bond salesman they are not rather expected but they do take away the basic flow of the book. Overall a funny book with average grades.
Rating:
Summary: Witty and funny
Review: Witty and hilarious account about a young bond trader's rise, along the way giving an insider's account of many of the important financial events of its time, such as the Savings and Loan crisis, Michael Milken and the junk bond crisis, and so on. Great history of Salomen Bros. and John Gutfreund's influence. One of the funniest and most readable books about the financial markets ever written.
Rating:
Summary: A blown-away lesson about finantial myths
Review: After have being reading many books on finance looking for a deeper knowledge, I saw the light. It doesn't matter what black shoultz formulas, beta values, fundamental analysis or technical patterns actually are. All these techniques are obvously usefull and necessary to be known (mainly to be able to speak about it), but bussines is another thing. Finance, understood as how money is moved and earned, is something else. It is closer to a good bottle of wine than to a better financial model. A hard lesson for a lover of techniques. From then, I saw markets in a very different way. The myth of shinning experts overcoming the market was blown-away. This is a useull learning to be applied in many areas of life and business.
Rating:
Summary: The best corporate memoir ever written
Review: This is the book so many others have tried to imitate, Michael Lewis's classic account of his time as a bond salesman. Like many of his imitators, Lewis has a seemingly endless supply of funny stories about his time at Salomon's bond desk during its glory days. Unlike others, however, Lewis is also tremendously insightful about what the real meaning of his job was, and what such a culture implied for the state of the American economy and culture.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Wall St expose
Review: Lewis, as always, writes extremely well in this book. He spends most of the book explaining the details of bond futures, whole mortgages and other esoteric financial terms, but manages to do it in a way that never bores you. The book is filled with a colorful cast of characters who are entertaining throughout (although they're more down to earth than those in Po Bronson's Baombardiers). The book looses a star, however, for its somewhat impersonal and inconsitant nature in parts. It starts with an account of Lewis's own start in Salomon Brothers, but then drifts into a narrative about people he heard about, or who worked with his friends, etc. In the last chapters, Lewis struggles to relate the story back to himself. Unfortunately, the ending left me frustrated -- Lewis talks about all the people leaving the firm for various reasons (mostly for more money) and says he'd never leave for money; "I'd leave Salomon Brothers for other reaons, however. And I did." That's more or less the end of the book. A wandering eplilogue closes without telling you any more about his motivations. Those criticisms apart, Liar's Poker is a great book for anyone who's interested in how Wall Street really works, and especially what happened during the 80s boom.
Rating:
Summary: One of the classics
Review: This is one of the classics on Wall Street trading rooms in the 80s. It is somewhat outdated by now. The book is fairly well written, although Lewis has an annoying habit of always telling you what he is planning on telling you before he actually tells you. For a newer, fresher book I would suggest Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle. It does for investment banking what Liar's Poker did for trading. Enjoy it!
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