From an award-winning New York Times reporter comes the full, mind-boggling story of the lies, crimes, and ineptitude behind the spectacular...
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Jul 13, 2008
Kirsti
rated it: 
Would YOU like to cause the biggest bankruptcy in American history? Sure you would! Well, Enron has already gone kablooey, losing billions of dollars, throwing more than 20,000 people out of work, and contributing to at least one suicide. But you can use the Enron approach to management at your company by following these easy rules.
* Don't keep track of how much money is coming in.
* Don't keep track of when your bills are due. Petty details are boooooriiiiing.
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* Don't keep track of how much money is coming in.
* Don't keep track of when your bills are due. Petty details are boooooriiiiing.
More...
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Aug 24, 2008
Erin
rated it:
To be honest, I wasn't sure I could make it through 675 pages on the collapse of Enron. Pipelines, hedge funds, mark-to-market accounting, profit-shifting, energy deregulation - b-o-r-i-n-g, right? Not at all, actually.
I read this book non-stop and am tempted to read it a second time. Eichenwald's writing stle made the topic so palatable (delicious, in fact) that it read like a suspense novel - full of lurid details, unedited dialogue, juicy affairs, boardroom brawls and felonies. More...
I read this book non-stop and am tempted to read it a second time. Eichenwald's writing stle made the topic so palatable (delicious, in fact) that it read like a suspense novel - full of lurid details, unedited dialogue, juicy affairs, boardroom brawls and felonies. More...
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Aug 07, 2010
Donitello
rated it:
This book gives sobering data, while reading like a best-selling mystery--a bona fide page-turner.
The book is particularly relevant when we put the story of Enron into perspective: Geo. W. Bush's longtime personal friendship with Enron head Ken Lay; Bush's own businesses in the 1980s--Arbusto and Spectrum 7--also collapsing shortly after HE sold out his personal stock; numerous other financial giants coincident with Enron (eg., Arthur Anderson, Tyco, Worldcom, etc.) demonstrating the More...
The book is particularly relevant when we put the story of Enron into perspective: Geo. W. Bush's longtime personal friendship with Enron head Ken Lay; Bush's own businesses in the 1980s--Arbusto and Spectrum 7--also collapsing shortly after HE sold out his personal stock; numerous other financial giants coincident with Enron (eg., Arthur Anderson, Tyco, Worldcom, etc.) demonstrating the More...
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Nov 23, 2007
kareem
rated it: 
A corporate culture of greed, a focus on fast profits, a few bad eggs, and a ridiculous lack of board, executive, and accounting oversight combined to turn Enron into a catastrophic failure.
The most interesting thing for me was that a few Enron employees were aware of what was happening, but either didn't want to speak up, or spoke up and were ignored (sometimes repeatedly).
While I was reading, I wondered whether the shenanigans would have been exposed earlier if data w More...
The most interesting thing for me was that a few Enron employees were aware of what was happening, but either didn't want to speak up, or spoke up and were ignored (sometimes repeatedly).
While I was reading, I wondered whether the shenanigans would have been exposed earlier if data w More...
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May 08, 2008
Carter
rated it:
Enron at the end of the 20th century became a breeding ground for probably the most complex business scandal in history, but Eichenwald expertly breaks it all down & puts it in highly readable perspective. He explains in detail how an old-school pipeline company grew into a multi billion-dollar game of Three-card Monte, and how a handful of journalists & second-string market analysts finally began to uncover the scam. At the same time, he never takes his eye off the personalities behind it all
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May 26, 2008
Yvonne
rated it:
This is an eye opening book. I learned so much about the way capitalism works and about how dumb smart people can be. It is mind boggling. The journalistic writing style makes it quite readable. Sometimes the shift in emphasis with out any written transition is sometimes confusing. The details of meetings and lives including rides in elevators and descriptions of luxury hotels adds a lot of color and enhances the feeling of a well told story not just a piece of factual reporting.
The More...
The More...
Jul 27, 2007
S
rated it:
This book was awesome! It's a nonfiction book about the Enron scandal that reads like a suspense novel. I could hardly put it down. It was amazing to me just how much Enron was able to get away with before the whole house of cards came crashing down.
I had to read some of the technical stuff more than once to understand it, but even getting just the gist of it was fine. Taking the time to understand the sleights of hand that occurred makes the whole thing even more amazing, howeve More...
I had to read some of the technical stuff more than once to understand it, but even getting just the gist of it was fine. Taking the time to understand the sleights of hand that occurred makes the whole thing even more amazing, howeve More...
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Sep 23, 2011
Leon
rated it:
There is just over a hundred people in
America who are unaware of Enron
scandal. Out of millions, there are millions
who don't know the details of how, why,
and even when this all started. Many
would recall the trials, the photos, videos
of some guys in suits being led out in
handcuffs. Many would tell others that
this was the norm of any firm that gets in
to investment trading, others would come
to believe that this was the other world,
wher More...
America who are unaware of Enron
scandal. Out of millions, there are millions
who don't know the details of how, why,
and even when this all started. Many
would recall the trials, the photos, videos
of some guys in suits being led out in
handcuffs. Many would tell others that
this was the norm of any firm that gets in
to investment trading, others would come
to believe that this was the other world,
wher More...
Mar 16, 2010
Max
rated it:
Not sure how to rate this book: the quality of the research is amazing (5) but the quality of the writing isn't terribly excellent (3), so maybe 4?
Eichenwald has reached definite conclusions about who was at fault for the Enron fiasco (Andy Fastow, mostly, plus a whole bunch of borderline-competent, or just busy, managers), and I wonder whether his picture meshes with that of others who have studied the system. Regardless, having worked in an office I find Eichenwald's version of th More...
Eichenwald has reached definite conclusions about who was at fault for the Enron fiasco (Andy Fastow, mostly, plus a whole bunch of borderline-competent, or just busy, managers), and I wonder whether his picture meshes with that of others who have studied the system. Regardless, having worked in an office I find Eichenwald's version of th More...
Feb 05, 2009
The Enron story remains the same, no matter how many times it's retold. In matters of style, at least, Conspiracy of Fools trumps the other books on the subject. Critics' pens dangle like swords of Damocles over the cinematic scenes that are central to the book's appeal: Can dialogue be recounted so accurately after 20 years of echoes? Maybe not. But 40 pages of detailed source notes buy Eichenwald some relief from the red ink. There are nitpicks: Enron executive Andrew Fastow comes across as a
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Mar 19, 2010
Bill
rated it:
I listened to this book on CD.
Another pleasant surprise. I don't usually read books about business but was intrigued by what I remember of the ENRON story. Saw the 25 CD colossus on the shelf in the library and picked it up, figuring it would be interesting or deadly. Better, it was fascinating.
Read like a mystery thriller but also gave real insight into the mess a business can be and the human frailties of the people who run and participate in businesses. I was tho More...
Another pleasant surprise. I don't usually read books about business but was intrigued by what I remember of the ENRON story. Saw the 25 CD colossus on the shelf in the library and picked it up, figuring it would be interesting or deadly. Better, it was fascinating.
Read like a mystery thriller but also gave real insight into the mess a business can be and the human frailties of the people who run and participate in businesses. I was tho More...
May 07, 2008
Alec
rated it:
wow, the story is a little played by now, but the writing is fantastic. The smoke and mirror details of how a handful of men destroyed a fortune 100 company and took millions of investors down with them. I have liked everything I have read from eichenwald... I am hoping for more corporate scandals just on the chance that they result in more of his books.
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Mar 20, 2008
Andy
rated it:
I would never think I'd enjoy a book about Enron so much. Actually, if you asked me what would make a boring book topic, Enron would probably be in the top five. But this book is definitely not boring. I have to agree with what I've seen other commenters say that this book is so well-written, it reads like more like a novel than non-fiction.
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Sep 25, 2010
Brian
rated it:
Excellent overall coverage of the whole Enron story, from the beginning to the bitter end.
Admittedly, before I read this I was still a little fuzzy on Enron and their business model. This made a great primer. Now I'm looking for an Enron book that gives little more of the nitty gritty accounting and business details.
There are no shortage of business lessons to take away from this. As in Extraordinary Circumstances (WorldCom), there are scores of players who could have More...
Admittedly, before I read this I was still a little fuzzy on Enron and their business model. This made a great primer. Now I'm looking for an Enron book that gives little more of the nitty gritty accounting and business details.
There are no shortage of business lessons to take away from this. As in Extraordinary Circumstances (WorldCom), there are scores of players who could have More...
Jan 01, 2012
Katy
rated it: 
Really I'd give this 3 1/2 stars. The author relates the Enron collapse, but with a very broad lens. He sets the stage and relates events not only an Enron, but in the state of California, the Clinton and Bush administrations, the SEC, Arthur Andersen, and too many banks to name. I read with a feeling of disbelief that so many people could be ignorant of so much incompetence and crime, but the author had me turning pages and waiting for the next shoe to drop.
My biggest complaint with t More...
My biggest complaint with t More...
Nov 28, 2009
Justin
rated it:
A very entertaining, easy-to-read book about a topic I did not know very much about. Although the book is of couse non-fiction (about Enron), it reads very much like a work of fiction, which is both good and bad. It is good because the book is far less dry than it otherwise would be. It is bad because portions of the dialogue are completely unbelievable and do not seem very realistic. There are also portions of the book where he describes what some of the relevant people were thinking when c
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Jun 12, 2011
Marks54
rated it:
This was a detailed account of the Enron scandal by the Wall Street Journal reporters who helped to break it. It is a very well done and informative book that is especially good on tracing the evolution of the Enron business model and how it came to ruin. While the final result is a damning indictment of Enron, its law firm, and Arthur Anderson, the overall tone is not as negative as your might think and sometimes it seems as though they let Skilling and Lay off the hook when they were ultimat
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Sep 30, 2010
Scott
rated it:
I'd like to know who the author interviewed for his background material. Many "conversations" were included in this book that I can't imagine the parties involved would have openly discussed (e.g., dialogue between Skilling and Fastow was included as if he had a transcript). Other than that, the bogus structures Fastow created were described in a way that was easy to understand and was the main focus of the book. Other books, such as Smartest Guys in the Room, covered a broader scope o
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Sep 15, 2010
John
rated it:
Let me start by saying that, if i remember right, i cheated/cried my way through all finance and accounting classes i had to take in college. I'm not upset by that now, because those classes sucked and i am stupid. Nothing to argue with so far.
So there is no f-ing reason for me to read or even go near this book. Especially when i remember watching the enron documentary in college and falling asleep in class and hating my life.
so when i found it at my grandfathers hou More...
So there is no f-ing reason for me to read or even go near this book. Especially when i remember watching the enron documentary in college and falling asleep in class and hating my life.
so when i found it at my grandfathers hou More...
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Sep 21, 2010
Anthony
rated it:
This is a long book - almost 700 pages - but an easy read. Everyone knows the story of Enron from the anecdotes, and I've read a few other books on the subject, but this is by far the best and most complete. It does a great job of tracing how some minor decisions years earlier - to use mark-to-market accounting, to form off-balance-sheet entities that really weren't, managed by Andy Fastow, who probably shouldn't have been managing a McDonalds - led to it's ultimate collapse.
The " More...
The " More...
Apr 17, 2009
Monte
rated it:
All to relevant...same accounting changes have been approved again....we don't learn from our mistakes!
This enormous, intimate blow-by-blow of Enron's implosion gets as close to what actually happened, in terms of people making (bad) decisions in real time, as anyone who wasn't there with a concealed video-phone possibly could. Having combed endless documents and interviewed countless principals and peripherals, Eichenwald (The Informant) presents short declarative sentences (and lots of s More...
This enormous, intimate blow-by-blow of Enron's implosion gets as close to what actually happened, in terms of people making (bad) decisions in real time, as anyone who wasn't there with a concealed video-phone possibly could. Having combed endless documents and interviewed countless principals and peripherals, Eichenwald (The Informant) presents short declarative sentences (and lots of s More...
Jun 08, 2009
Simon
rated it:
Forget Grisham. Forget Finder. Kurt Eichenwald delivers the real deal. Carefully researched, coupled with a number of years of experience as an investigative journalist, Eichenwald tells the unbelievable (but true) saga of the biggest bankruptcy in US history - Enron's. Illuminated by the perverse machinations of a former CFO, the story details the sins of capitalism - deception of the greedy, disillusionment of the powerful, and the carelessness of those who are suppose to be impartial. Masterf
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Aug 13, 2008
Meg
rated it: 
I can't believe how many pages I slogged through for absolutely no reason. What a waste of 784 perfectly good pieces of paper.
First of all, let me say that I generally mistrust nonfiction books that have so much dialog, particularly when it stretches back into the 1980s. Seriously, did everyone involved have such photographic memories. And, while Eichenwald does a whole thing at the beginning about what is and isn't true to life, it still felt weird. Not, however, as weird as the ma More...
First of all, let me say that I generally mistrust nonfiction books that have so much dialog, particularly when it stretches back into the 1980s. Seriously, did everyone involved have such photographic memories. And, while Eichenwald does a whole thing at the beginning about what is and isn't true to life, it still felt weird. Not, however, as weird as the ma More...
Dec 07, 2007
Brian
rated it:
Conspiracy of Fools is the fourth Enron-related tale I've read (Smartest Guys in the Room, Enron: The Rise and Fall, and Anatomy of Greed being the other three). In it, Eichenwald does a decent job of combining the best of the three others, as if he poached some from each. Conspiracy reads as a novel, combining facts and details with (presumably) fictional conversations. The sometimes outrageous discussions between characters left me feeling that Eichenwald embellished a little too much, and
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Nov 20, 2007
Atiba
rated it:
Of course, we all remember the Enron meltdown of fall 2001 even if at six years' remove it's hard to remember exactly what went wrong with the company. Eichenwald spells it out quite simply at one point: Enron became more devoted to reporting profits than actually making profits. Conspiracy of Fools uses a "fly-on-the-wall" technique to reconstruct events, arguments, and even the food people were eating and the chairs they sat on. This dissection of corporate corruption makes clear tha
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May 28, 2011
Taly
rated it:
I also read "The Informant" by the same author and enjoyed the book so much that I wanted to read other books by Kurt Eichenwald. This book has not disappointed me. The same detailed meticulous writing and a story that takes so many unexpected turns. Reading this book made me also reflect on my own work place. Unfortunately more than once I found myself drawing links.
This book is an impressive undertaking. More than 650 pages, which are the result of many hours of thorough work an More...
This book is an impressive undertaking. More than 650 pages, which are the result of many hours of thorough work an More...
Feb 10, 2010
Lisa Michele
rated it:
Sometimes when I read about an event or about a person I like to read another book about the exact same thing. In this way, I start to see a more complete picture. I don't just have to rely on one author. I preferred The Smartest Guys In the Room story of Enron to this one. In this one the author tried to invent dialogue that he couldn't have known, and it bothered me. This was a more rollicking free form account and the other one was more reportage. But both are good and I liked both.
Apr 24, 2011
Magz
rated it:
I could not put this book down. If I didn't know that all this had really happened, I would have thought it was a work of fiction. The decisions that Enron executives made are UNBELIEVABLE! I am an accountant, but even common sense could tell me that these are crazy ideas! Loved it (the book; not the fact that millions of dollars were lost, hundreds of people out of work, and millions of people were fraudulantly overcharged for energy)!
Aug 03, 2010
Mac
rated it:
A great narrative of the Enron debacle, which not only explained it all (such as it could) in understandable detail, but made it downright fascinating. Eichenwald's novelistic style might be a little suspect, but it made the complexities much easier to get my head around, without a background in finance or accounting.
Frustrating, though, that all these morons made so much money, and I can't seem to get my hands on any. Oh well.
Frustrating, though, that all these morons made so much money, and I can't seem to get my hands on any. Oh well.
May 06, 2010
Bookreaderljh
rated it:
A very long book with a cast of thousands (or at least it seemed like that). Actually it was interesting and I learned a lot. It's amazing how you can think you know a story from news articles and just have no real idea. The second half was easier reading than the first - more suspense, less arcane investing explanation - but overall glad I spent the time to look at corporate culture. Good book for showing the perils of greed.
