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Title: F.I.A.S.C.O.: The Inside Story of a Wall Street Trader by Frank Partnoy ISBN: 0140278796 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: February, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.34
Rating: 4
Summary: Good introduction to the derivatives business
Comment: I found this a very useful introduction to derivatives on a practical level. The examples are illuminating and frightening at the same time. In comparison to "Liar's Poker" this book is more technical and not quite as hilarious. It doesn't bother people with the author's general socio-moral opinions (Mr. Lewis in "Liar's Poker" did go on about that "value" a person contributes to society) which I was thankful for. The only annoying part of the book is Mr. Partnoy's shameless exhibition of his own provincialism when he describes his excursion to Tokyo. He pesters the readers with details (and inaccuracies) on the earthquake-(non-)proofness of his hotel, the consumer price level in Japan, the impossibility to watch an American baseball game live on Japanese TV (now that's really too bad!) etc. etc. But this is only a small part of the book. All in all, recommended reading. Being a headhunter in the financial industry I learnt a great deal about the people who are my clients and candidates.
Rating: 2
Summary: Partnoy's complaint
Comment: This is an entertaining dirt disher, but has no other merit. If you think that life in a Wall Street firm is really like this - these days, at any rate - think again. If you want a really salacious dirt disher, only well written - try Michael Lewis' Liars' Poker, on which the format of this book was surely based. FIASCO is a thoroughly inferior product.
Not only is it poorly written, it suffers from the fact that its author seems to have had very little understanding of what he was doing when employed at Morgan Stanley - this is apparent from simply reading his own explanations of the transactions. Mind you, this is no more than you'd expect from a junior associate who'd been on the derivatives desk for a very short period of time - investment banking is a difficult business (if it wasn't, people wouldn't get paid so much to do it) and it takes years to fully understand what is going on, let alone to get any good at it. And that's something this author never allowed himself the time to do. If he had (and was any good), my guess is he'd still be doing the job, rather than writing the kiss and tell expose.
Still this silly book sells - but maybe the writing's on the wall: right now, some clunker ex-Enron employee is probably writing the successor in line to FIASCO, only about Enron. With any luck, though, at least this time it'll be written with some style.
Rating: 4
Summary: Entertaining read, oftentimes sensationalist
Comment: This book is an entertaining page turner, as we follow the author in his exploits and experiences in investment banking. However, as someone who knows a bit about the derivatives business, it is clear that the author tries to sensationalize the transactions, using the expression "ripping someone's face off" too often. Clients of investment banks are, for the most part, very experienced financial managers, who generally choose complex financial structures because these are the structures that exactly fit their needs. It is very rare (I have never seen it) that a customer would buy something he was not thoroughly familiar with. My only conclusion can be that the author was eager to write a book, and so chose every single transaction he was exposed to and created the image that customers were always innocent bystanders.
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Title: Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle by John Rolfe, Peter Troob ISBN: 0446676950 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: April, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street by Michael Lewis ISBN: 0140143459 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 1990 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Predators' Ball: The Inside Story of Drexel Burnham and the Rise of the Junk Bond Raiders by Connie Bruck ISBN: 0140120904 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1989 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: DEN OF THIEVES by James B. Stewart ISBN: 067179227X Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: September, 1992 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein ISBN: 0375758259 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: 09 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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