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Feb 18, 2012

Will rated it:

UPDATED - February 18, 2012 - at bottom

Checking in with the whiz kids who predicted the Wall Street crash that he wrote about in The Big Short, his excellent look at the latest Wall Street meltdown, Michael Lewis finds that the next big bust will be on the nation-state scale. His construct for analyzing how nations deal with the economic environment of the 21st century is to imagine each of these countries in a dark room in which piles of money were dumped, the easy credit available in More...

9 comments like (19 people liked it)

Nov 11, 2011

Scott rated it:

Lewis’s Boomerang (2011) is a slick read that coasts on its author’s reputation for writing well about others fiscal knavery and financial stupidity. I usually don’t pick up a book if the author’s name on the cover is twice the size of the book’s title, especially when that title is anything but fresh and intriguing (How many gazillion books are named Boomerang? Do a Goodreads book search and marvel at the results.); but this one came to me on loan from a neighbor who heard I liked to read (bles More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 20, 2012

K.S. rated it:

Ultimately unsatisfying

Considering that Michael Lewis is the author of "The Big Short", I had high hopes for "Boomerang". I'm sorry to say I was disappointed.

Because the European financial crisis, as we know it, began in Iceland, it seems initially logical that the book starts there. (I have a quibble with that, that I shall detail later.) But what do we learn? That every Icelander is related to each other, that the men appear to hate the women and that, S More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2012

Nick rated it:

I'm loving this. Taken in tandem with Lewis's previous book, The Big Short, it's a hilarious and terrifying explanation of the present financial crisis (ruination, collapse, armageddon?)

I was chatting to a couple of people the other day who really know finance and suchlike, and they objected that Lewis doesn't get everything right. I can't say whether that's a question of fact or a matter of nuance and opinion. What I can say is that a) nothing he writes clashes with my experience or u More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 29, 2011

Mark rated it:

In 2004, Wall Street's largest investment banks brought about the beginning of a worldwide financial downturn by creating the credit default swap on the subprime mortgage bond. The events that followed have been widely reported. Once-wealthy nations such as Greece, Ireland, Iceland and Germany accrued gargantuan debts, causing governments, banks and other companies to crumble. In 'Boomerang', Michael Lewis explains the details of how and why this happened, visiting the worst-affected countries a More...

5 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2012

Don Incognito rated it:

This is a great book for anyone who wants to understand what behaviors caused the debt crises is various nations but does not have a background in finance or economics. It's not a very technical book. It studies several countries or other places that were and still are key to the debt crises in Europe and America, and concludes that in these places--Iceland, Greece, Ireland, Germany, and California--the horrible financial decisions that led to unsustainable debt and to recession (except in Germa More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 29, 2011

Brent rated it:

As a huge Michael Lewis fan, I was a bit disappointed by this book. The concept was neat, but the lack of an overall narrative and the length of the five stories made them somewhat shallow. Even the best of the bunch (the US) won't tell you anything you don't already know.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 18, 2012

Marcelv rated it:

Although the author is known for his more technical books, this is a refreshing lighter take on the economic crisis. Micheal Lewis gives the crisis a human face by taking a tour in a number of affected countries and showing by example what happened. If you look at it from a distance (or in hindsight), it looks as if people have been incredibly stupid or naive. But let's be honest; who wouldn't have succumbed to the lure of seemingly free money? That brings us back to the indirect strength of thi More...

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Feb 07, 2012

Chris rated it:

I never thought I'd laugh so much while reading a book on the near collapse of the world financial industry. This book is a collection of article's that Lewis wrote for Vanity Fair about the countries hit hard by the Panic of '08.

Regarding Ireland, Lewis writes:
"What happened was that everyone in Ireland had the idea that somewhere in Ireland there was a wise old man who was in charge of the money, and this was the first time they'd ever seen this little man... And then they More...

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Feb 05, 2012

David rated it:

Some adjectives that describe this collection of essays by Michael Lewis: smart, clear, entertaining, breezy, moderately informative . They are fun to read, and though not heavily researched, probably accurate as far as they go. Each of the five essays collected here first appeared, in slightly different form, in Vanity Fair. Those dealing with foreign economies (Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Germany) appear to be based on visits Lewis made to the countries in question between late 2008 and mid 201 More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 24, 2012

Bill rated it:

Michael Lewis captured many of the elements of the financial crisis and now looming threats to sovereign debt, since nations have decided to socialize the risks taken by reckless banks. His book examines the financial crisis from the viewpoints of Iceland, Ireland, Greece, Germany and the United States. The compelling question he raises is: Left alone in a dark room with a pile of money, what did these people do with it?
While there is a great depth to the reporting and witty writi More...

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Jan 22, 2012

David rated it:

As with “The Big Short”, Michael Lewis has carefully researched this inside story about an imminent financial meltdown. This time the meltdown is of the defaults of world governments including counties, states and towns. He describes how the irresponsible access to money has allowed people to act on their favorite types of bad behavior and get themselves into deep trouble. It turns out that the type of bad behavior varies from place to place. The Greeks just take the money and squander it, t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 19, 2012

Vinod rated it:

I have been a late bloomer in discovering Michael Lewis and his repertoire of books ranging from "Moneyball" which is about the Oakland A's, to more recent books like "The Big Short" which is about the sub-prime-loan-led financial meltdown. Boomerang is his most recent addition and chronicles the financial collapse of Iceland, Ireland and Greece and their largest creditor Germany.

Michael's writing is incisive and he pulls no punches in describing the cultural peculi More...

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Jan 19, 2012

Joe rated it:

Boomerang is a surprisingly entertaining book about the recent economic collapse(s). Author Michael Lewis undertakes what he calls something like a "financial disaster vacation" and visits, in turn, Iceland, Greece, Germany, and ultimately, California. In each locale, he writes about the causes and results of their particular version of economic problems while bitingly satirizing their cultures. The book is pretty enlightening and definitely amusing.
Lewis is fascinated by the More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 08, 2012

Sam rated it:

I'm not a big reader of newspapers or watcher of the news, mostly as the news these days is reported as quickly as possible with the barest of facts and for larger issues like the economic troubles of recent years, almost no understanding of the circumstances for context. That's not to say I'm not interested, but I would only be interested in reading about the financial woes of late through a writer who could write, not as an economic or academic, but a true writer, and could make the subject co More...

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Jan 02, 2012

Gerald rated it:

When reading Michael Lewis' books on finance, I often don't know whether to laugh or cry.

In "Boomerang", Lewis travels the world and talks to folks who have played important roles in the ever-evolving meltdown of the world economy. He begins in Iceland where the inhabitants are rude, inbred, ignorant, and have only themselves to blame for the misery caused when their entire banking system implodes. Bad decisions were compounded by willful ignorance. It doesn't take a Ph. More...

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Dec 28, 2011

Jim rated it:

The scariest book I have ever read in my life. Michael Lewis, in case you've been dead for a while, is the guy who wrote Moneyball and The Blind Side and The Big Short about the asshats that got billion dollar bonuses for wrecking our economy and the four or five guys who saw it coming. This is a collection of his Vanity Fair columns about the coming European debt default. If you believe his research, then I don't care how many rescues you hear about for European banks, those countries are in More...

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Dec 27, 2011

Gerald rated it:

Having discovered Michael Lewis through Moneyball (see my review here), I was pleased to discover Boomerang soon afterwards. By the the time I had read it my admiration had increased but I was more worried than pleased.

The book is the product of some smart work by author and publisher; one isn't accustomed to reading between hard covers about events a bare six months in the past. The topicality is important. Lewis writes about a crisis which is developing around us as we read. His st More...

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Dec 23, 2011

Joseph rated it:

In Iceland fisherman became investment bankers and quickly threw Iceland into terrible investments, bankrupting the banks and the country.

In Greece the culture of everyone being on the dole as well as the endemic tax fraud and lack of tax revenue sank the country and the banks and not the other way around. The Greece government officials make incredible salaries. The incredible amount of government workers could retire as young as 45 and so on. The rich and companies pay no taxes. More...

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Dec 21, 2011

Kat rated it:

I am so, SO disappointed by this book. It starts out with a very interesting premise, and with the promise of being a good book. STARTS is the key word here. The first few chapters were interesting. I learned things about Iceland, Greece and Ireland and their debt situations that blew me out of the water. But really - what in the world were you thinking Michael Lewis?! The chapter on Germany was so, so crass it was inexcusable. Truly. I was about 30 pages from finishing the book and I REFUSE to More...

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Dec 15, 2011

Tim rated it:

Michael Lewis has a remarkable gift for giving insight through stories. Each of the five sections of the book was fascinating in a different way: how various countries reacted to having a big pot of seemingly free money on offer, how they responded when things didn't turn out as well as they hoped, and what that says about the national character of each.

What I found most fascinating about the story of Iceland was not in the book, but in the comments of a friend who lives there. B More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 14, 2011

Karllit rated it:

Another great, character-driven narrative from Lewis.

His first chapter (my favorite) walks you through the steps of Iceland's collapse, cross-analyzing the nation's people with its recent financial habits and gleaning what it means to the rest of the world.
After that, he jumps to Greece, where the ambivalent narrative becomes abstracted into the reason few fiction fans jump into books on economics: because it's all Greek to us.
Lewis' analysis of the Irish, German, and later C More...

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Dec 11, 2011

Alan rated it:

Must read book for anyone who wants to understand the current economic crisis. How did the west become financially bankrupt? Our governments have spent us into oblivion, and the solution is definitely not more spending or taxes. Our new national motto is not E Pluribus Unum, but something for nothing. We demand that our government tax someone else to pay for what we demand as our entitlements. We call these entitlements justice or charity, but there is no justice or charity when the money is obt More...

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Dec 07, 2011

Doug rated it:

Michael Lewis is a great storyteller, and the books I like the best are when he connects the story to a bigger picture. In this book he comes up a marvelous metaphor to explain the root cause of the financial crisis: alone, in a dark room with a big pile of money and easy credit, how did different countries react when it seemed they could grab the cash and get away with it? The results range from the naïve Icelanders, who turned their entire country into a giant hedge fund…

(inter

More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 06, 2011

Luise rated it:

If you’ve ever wondered why Iceland of all places was so strongly affected by the 2008 financial crisis, or what really explains Greece’s spectacular economic downfall, this is the book for you. (also covers Ireland, Germany, and California). Michael Lewis has a knack for making economics accessible to the layperson (will definitely read The Big Short after this) and does so in an extremely entertaining way. If you happen to be Icelandic, Irish, Greek, German, or American, for that matter – you More...

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Dec 05, 2011

David rated it:

I found this to be an easily readable look at how the current euro-economic mess happened. If you want to understand how Iceland could go bankrupt, or how Greece could be pulling donw the euro zone, this book is for you. Lost of anecdotes as Lewis visits these countries and looks for the quintessential example that tells the broad story.

The two weaknesses that jumped out at me were his attempt to define the German psyche as bifuracetd between the clarity and cleanliness of the rule More...

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Nov 30, 2011

Michael rated it:

What would possess a man to purchase $20 million in nickels? Turns out, if the entire world collapsed, the nickel is actually worth 6.8 cents.

In the follow-up to The Big Short, Michael Lewis explores the behavioral and financial trends of Europe's governments and bankers during the credit bubble of the early to mid-2000s.

Iceland became a hedge fund (They also believe in elves). Ireland's government cozied up to bankers and real estate barons (They also believe in fairie More...

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Nov 29, 2011

Mike Katz rated it:

Little vignettes from Greece, Ireland, Germany, Iceland and the US about the contributing factors and handling of the current economic crises. While very topical, this really does seem to be an add-on to Lewis' The Big Short. While that book looked at very colorful characters and what shady practices created "toxic assets" that proliferated during a time when too much money was chasing too few investment vehicles, it may have lacked the more global perspective Lewis tries to address More...

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Nov 21, 2011

Abhishek rated it:

I had read Liar's Poker a long time back. And it had really mesmerized me. I read Big Short about an year back. And it stunned me. And with these two books itself I came to a conclusion that many would have made as well... that Michael Lewis is one of those gifted writers who can turn the most uninteresting of topics into the most glamorous ones; like a magician he can pull out the whitest of rabbits from the most mundane of hats. And that is what he again does in his latest book 'Boomerang'. Ef More...

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Nov 13, 2011

Ian rated it:

Bestselling author Michael Lewis delivers again with this series of themed travelogues about the financial crisis and originally published in Vanity Fair. Each of the articles stands well on its own, but in series they manage to bring an additional element, a much broader perspective on the financial crisis and on human nature.

Lewis travels to the major hot-spots: Iceland, Greece, Ireland, Germany and the US, noting the similarities and the differences in each of their situations, b More...

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