House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street Audiobook

" This book covers way too much extraneous detail. Very antiseptic, "facts-only" storytelling style, which makes for a rather boring read given the subject matter. In other words, the book could have been written in bullet-point form and it would have worked just as well. "

" A somewhat technical book on the rise and fall of Bear Sterns which helped bring the current economic troubles to light. What is unbelievable is what the company (and others) were doing for years that no one tried to stop. "

" I have no idea how accurate the book is, but it's a well-written description of the rise and fall of Bear Stearns. I didn't quite like all of his political and policy commentary, but he didn't attempt to conceal his rhetoric as fact. "

" the first part of this book was a good description of the fall of Bear Stearns; unfortunately I had to return it to the Seattle Public Library before I could finish it. "

" Somewhat repetitive but enjoyable nonetheless. Paints a good picture of the final days of Bear Sterns. "

" Great account of the fall of Bear Stearns and a look back at the firm's history/management which all contributed to their ultimate demise. "

" "A well-written and engrossing account of the history of Bear Stearns from it's bruised-knuckle beginnings to its fixed-income heyday and final sudden downfall as it bet the house on subprime-mortgage backed securities. The final negotiations to save the firm from death are gripping and occupy the final third of the book." "

" Some of this book was over my head, but the general point was pretty clear. A complex, but good read. "

" I only finished maybe half of the book. Very interesting but super detailed. It's worth trying to read to see how a crisis of confidence caused everything to come crashing down, and makes you wonder what is truly holding up our entire financial system. "

" Very good book about the fall of Bear Stearns and good insight to hedge funds on wall street and how they effect the market. The book was a few hundred pages too long. "

" Excellent account of the Bear Stearns debacle. "

" I thought this was excellent book about the downfall of Bear Stearns. It reads as though you are there during the activites. This is actually 4 1/2 stars. "

" A great and remarkably detailed account of the history and demise of Bear Sterns. Makes you wish other books about the Wall Street debacle would take the time to explain it step by step like this book does. "

" A bit dry at times, but overall if you're interested in the financial crisis a good read. "

" I liked this book, but not enough to finish it once I got into the 'How Bear Stearns became Bear Stearns' part. Too many people to keep straight. The first part that goes through the week leading up to their downfall was really good, esp the part about how little the Board seemed to care. "

" This book was vert informative. It really my kept my attention from beginning to end. "

" Fascinating and deliciously gossipy, but the juicy gossip is why I gave this 4 and not 5 stars. Nevertheless if you want to understand what went wrong read this book, followed by Andrew Sorkin's Too Big to Fail, and Henry 'Hank' Paulson's On the Brink. "

" very informative and clear-read summer '10 "

" Everyone should read this to really appreciate the market crash and current housing crisis. Egos involving both private and public individuals at the top and how the rest of us suffer because of it. A lot of detail to digest but you can still get the gist of what is happening. "

" This book was insanely long, very technical, but still pretty interesting. The amount of money these people make is just sickening. "

" very informative and clear-read summer '10 "

" I did not know you could make the financial crisis boring (I have a warped definition of fun, haha), but this guy pulled it off. Oye. "

" Excellent overview of the disaster called Bear Stearns. "

" What I liked about this version of the Bear Stearns downfall was the insight into why the offer price of $2 a share was never going to work. J P Morgan really put itself into a corner on this one and was lucky to get a deal at $10 per share "

" Brutal tale of the destruction of Bear Sterns and wall street. Makes me see Talib's Black swan wisdom more sharply. They had it coming, but we got it. Made me more informed and less happy. "

" Excellent account of the Bear Stearns debacle. "

" Interesting book but it was way above my knowledge about the financial industry. It did confirm that all of the Wall Street is way over paid and most of them are crooks! "

" Interesting detailed story of the financial crisis of 2008. It is so interesting to hear what really happened behind the scenes. The amount of money those big banks were throwing around every day, tens of billions! "

" It is a fascinating book to give the layout about how Bear Stern was the last straw for the falling Wall Street. "