Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street

by Michael Lewis

It reminded me of learning a foreign language. It all seems strange at first. Then, one day, you catch yourself thinking in the language. Suddenly words you never realized you knew are at your disposal. Finally you dream in the language. It seems odd now to think of dreaming of moneymaking schemes. But it didn’t seem terribly out of the ordinary when I woke up one morning thinking that there was an arbitrage available in Japanese bond futures.

What would a painter do if a rival stole his work and put his name on it? He’d paint a replica and issue a challenge for the rival to do the same.