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Moneyball:
The Art of Winning an Unfair Game,
by Michael Lewis.
If you've read Michael
Lewis' other bestseller, Liar's Poker (reviewed on this website),
you know that Lewis understands finance. Yet Moneyball is mainly
about baseball, not finance. Indeed, finance and investing are almost
never mentioned in this well-written book. However, in a sense
Moneyball is really about the process of investing, because it
describes--in a very entertaining way--how a major league baseball
manager (Billy Beane of the Oakland Athletics) finds and focuses on
meaningful statistics, invests in new talent, and "sells" high. In
baseball--and investing--the conventional wisdom is frequently
misguided. In baseball--and investing--bargains are typically found
where others aren't looking. Further, in baseball--and investing--popular players/investments are frequently overpriced, while less
popular players/investments are the real bargains. Readers who enjoy
baseball, but not necessarily investing, will find Moneyball to
be a very interesting book, while investors will be struck by the
parallels between baseball management and money management. All told,
Moneyball could be considered a book about smart investing,
written in the language of baseball. Speaking of the language of
baseball, be aware that some players are quoted using foul language. |
ISBN:
0393324818
Format: Paperback, 316pp
Pub. Date: April 2004
Publisher: W.W. Norton and Company
"[Moneyball] is the best
business book Lewis has written. It may be the best business book
anyone
has written."
The Weekly Standard
"You need know absolutely
nothing about baseball to appreciate the wit, snap, economy and
incisiveness of [Lewis's] thoughts about it."
New York Times |
