A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers Audiobook

" This book should have been titled "The man who saw everything..........in hindsight!". Our hero brings the flair of a porkchop salesman...in terms of sitting on the fence and the language to the scale of seven figures. He modestly calls it the inside story of the collapse of Lehman brothers but the story goes much deeper and reveals the inside thinking in the head of a wall street trader. Whether it is in the c-suite or at the floor, the trader never believes he is wrong. Every success turns into a maxim and failures soon forgotten. The nirvana is in staying positive no matter what happens. If everything is going south and you are still in the trade "you always hold on to your horses and never run for the barn door when everybody is rushing". If you chicken out, "never marry a bad trade". It is fate then which side of the balance sheet you end up on. The narrator likens the wall street's attitude to the subprime crisis as rushing in front of the train to pick up a 50 dollar bill. Seems true to the core...and yet one can't help admiring the courage of our hero who by sheer grit and ambition got on to the moving train only to find out that the driver is asleep on the wheel. Tirelessly he warns anyone and everyone that the train is gonna go down the cliff......his friends jump off with the loot but he stays on because it doesn't matter where you start but where you end. "

" Ok, so the author is no literary genius...but the material was fascinating and more than a story about the economic collapse, it is a lesson on leadership...or lack thereof. "

" Excellent description of the market and what caused the collapse of 2008. I know more about securitizations and credit default swaps than ever before. The author is also a very good storyteller. It's easy to read and entertaining. Highly recommend. "

" I enjoyed it. I particularly liked reading about the efforts the author went through to get to wall street. It gives some great perspective as to what was going on behind the scenes leading up to lehman's failure. "

" More like a biography of Larry McDonald "

" A fascinating insider's tale from before the onset of the financial collapse. I enjoyed this intriguing interior view of a complex yet overtly foolish groupthink failure. "

" A good story, told by someone who knows about Wall Street. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in money - and that has to be all of us - and how the so-called financial whizz-kids gamble with OUR hard-earned cash! "

" A great recap and insiders perspective into the the demise of the housing market and the downward spiral of the markets that followed. Easy to understand a quick read. "

" The author's so full of himself and the book is a narcissistic one, unabashedly glorying bankers as if they were the greatest beings on earth. It tells a good story too (and at times too much of banker-speak) but it's an interesting read about raw greed though. "

" Entertaining, but very melodramatically written. "

" While written with all the arrogance of hindsight, if you can overlook the author's "I told you so" attitude this is a compelling and approachable telling of the Lehman story. "

" McDonald has a very high opinion of himself. I understood this story better by watching An Inside Job and Too Big To Fail "

" Informative read, McDonald was able to educate as he went along so as a layperson I was able to keep up nicely. "

" Crazily written, and as self-serving as Orson Welles at an Old Country Buffet. But oddly compelling, like OCB itself. "

" A bit rambling but an interesting insight into the lifestyle and thinking of the high ups in investment banks. Lots of hindsight here so it's hard to know how truthful the account is but nonetheless interesting reading. "

" Really interesting, but a bit too hard for me to get my head around it. Finances is definitely not my strength... "

" A bit of a rant, but interesting insight into the root cause of the financial collapse. "

" Interesting insider's account of the failure of Lehman. It doesn't attempt to give the whole sweeping analysis of the failure, but just one fascinating perspective, although the lack of humility by the author is somewhat irritating at times. "

" I enjoyed it. I particularly liked reading about the efforts the author went through to get to wall street. It gives some great perspective as to what was going on behind the scenes leading up to lehman's failure. "

" Absolute great book. Highly recommended for those of us that wonder about the economic collapse and have no clue on how to find out. "

" I enjoyed this book. It wasn't a blameless book pointing fingers at everyone and no one. <br/> <br/>It came across as honest and open, maybe a little protective of the author. <br/> <br/> "

" A great overview of what caused the recession. A story of what you can achieve when you work your ass off. "

" My first book involving the inside view of the global financial crisis. So far so interesting. Reading in Progress .... "

" Not as good as Too big to fail, but still a really easy read talking about the financial melt down inside Lehman. "

" Ok, so the author is no literary genius...but the material was fascinating and more than a story about the economic collapse, it is a lesson on leadership...or lack thereof. "

" If you don't know anything about the financial market, this is a good start--I am understanding the reasons that led up to this financial crisis we're in. Just a note that it does have harsh language. "

" like the title says, larry was inside lehman, and that point of view alone makes this worth reading. "