J. V. Bruni and Company
1528 North Tejon Street
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80907
(719) 575-9880 or (800) 748-3409
J. V. Bruni and Company1528 North Tejon Street Colorado Springs, Colorado 80907 (719) 575-9880 or (800) 748-3409
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Liar's Poker,
by Michael Lewis.
 This book isn't about poker--it's about the cutthroat corporate culture
in major investment banking firms in the 1980s. (That culture hasn't
necessarily changed much for the better since this book was written in
1989.) Lewis, a former Wall Street bond trader and salesperson,
describes the shameless exploitation of customers attempting to trade
such fixed-income investments as mortgage securities, derivatives and
junk bonds. He also describes a number of the antics, from the profane
to the preposterous, of well-known figures in one of Wall Street's most
famous investment firms of the 1980s. (The two-person game of
"liar's
poker," reportedly popular on Wall Street, essentially rewarded the more
convincingly deceitful player.) They say that the making of sausage
isn't necessarily a pretty sight, and neither is the making of what are
euphemistically known as
"proprietary trading profits" on Wall Street.
Nevertheless, since the reader may someday find himself on the other
side of a transaction from a Wall Street trader, it's certainly
something to be aware of. All told, this is a very interesting, albeit
earthy, read. |
"I set out to write this book only because I thought it would be better to tell the story than to go on living the story." Preface by the author
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