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Title: FIASCO: Blood in the Water on Wall Street by Frank Partnoy ISBN: 0393046222 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 1997 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.58
Rating: 5
Summary: Flawed, but superb nonetheless
Comment: A very good introduction to derivatives (and even some general finance for novices) and one of the better looks at how degenerate Wall Street culture can be. Though comparisons are frequently made to Liar's Poker, I found FIASCO to be a more useful read, even though it's not quite as funny as Liar's Poker was at its best. The usual tales of arrested development among Wall Street's community are here, but there's a much more gripping and sobering tale of how rapacious greed knows no bounds, and how a large number of actors, including large multinationals and even governments, ultimately pay the price.
Partnoy doesn't tell his story as smoothly as he could, and his narrative sometimes feels larded with anecdotes that don't add much color or relief. He also struggles at times to weigh his role in the big picture. Overall though, he describes his experiences and general Wall Street culture with enough insight that you can feel his disgust, and applaud when he eventually steps away from it all.
A great business book, flaws and all, and a perfect antidote to all the puffery surrounding coverage of financial markets and Wall Street these days. Now when will we see a book of investment banker/derivatives trader jokes, to add to all the great lawyer joke books?
Rating: 4
Summary: It's like watching how hotdogs are made....
Comment: F.I.A.S.C.O. offers a look at the ruthless game of derivatives trading on Wall Street, and the devastation of losses upwards of billions suffered by the fools off Wall Street. In this fast paced book, Frank Partnoy chronicles his journey as a derivatives salesman at Morgan Stanley. You will learn how institutions ranging from banks to governments got "blown up" or had their "faces ripped off" by Wall Street's army of fierce derivative salemen. You will cringe at how many organizations that touch your life may be involved in trading these complex, highly leveraged, instruments when they may not even know it or be legally allowed to invest in them.
Portnoy tells his story in a fluid style, leaving the reader wanting more, page after page. This book exposes the greed and ignorance of the market's fools, or customers, and the eagerness of the Wall Street investment firms to offer ever more enticingly packaged derivative instruments to help them achieve their ruin. Everyone who has money in the markets should read a few books like this to get a more realistic idea of what these venerable Wall Street institutions really think of their customers.
Rating: 2
Summary: Buy Liar's Poker instead
Comment: Ok let me get this straight. Here is a guy that believes in the efficient market theory but was a salesman/trader. There are tons of conflicts in the book. Partnoy is obviously a professor now. He is practically begging for more regulation in investment banking and feels that financial reporters and professors are not only smarter but deserve more money compared to the investment bankers. He starts out at First Boston and is doing well financially. Then moves to Morgan Stanley and does complicated derivative deals and makes a ton of money. Now a professor and investment banking is pure evil (now that he made a ton of money). Another conflict is Partnoy said he quit Morgan Stanley but on page 277 he writes "...I am not referring what Morgan Stanley did to me." This is where he is talking about another Morgan Stanley employee being fired. I rate this book 2 stars because it was somewhat entertaining but think about this before you buy it. Do you really want to read a book by an author who believes in the efficient market theory but also worked as a salesman/trader? I only bought this book for $3.29 used on amazon.com. I definitely wouldn't recommend paying full price for it.
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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: 1990 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: DEN OF THIEVES by James B. Stewart ISBN: 067179227X Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 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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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: 1989 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco by Bryan Burrough, John Helyar ISBN: 0060920386 Publisher: HarperCollins (paper) Pub. Date: 1992 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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