A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers
ISBN:9780307588333 read summary

I picked this book up two weeks back. It is a brilliantly written book from Larry's perspective of all that went wrong in the industry during the boom years and the bust years. The tale of how almost Lehman was run as a fiefdom and autocracy was shocking to read. Each event was beautifully woven into the grand scheme of things.

For me it was one amazing book, that I could not put down. You also get to learn so many new things if you are not in the industry. Nicely written from a layman's perspective but technical enough for anyone in the industry to appreciate too.

I would surely recommend this to anyone who wants to know what happens inside the dealing and trading rooms, but also truly what happened during the 2008 crisis and the whole idea about Mortgage Backed securities, leveraged positions, risk etc...

I read this book cover to cover. Every chapter held my interest. What a melodrama. I wasn't expecting to read an autobiography when I started this book, but by the time I finished it I thought the author's personal story strengthened the credibility of his opinions.

I don't normally like traders and especially people who made money off everyone else's misery by shorting anything touching mortgages in 2008, but you have to respect their work none-the-less.

I have read numerous books about the collapse of the credit markets in 2008, the bailouts, etc including Lewis' the Big Short, Cohen's House of Cards and Sorkin's Too Big to Fail. I have a 15 year career in banking and risk management and thoroughly enjoy reading about what was surely the most cataclysmic couple of years in economic history. McDonald's book was actually not my first choice but the library was wait-listing me on Devil's Casino so I grabbed this. First chapter or so, I wanted to gag. McDonald, like most traders I've worked with over the years, is way high on HIMSELF. But then I found I was impressed with his writing style and astute observations about banking and the business world in general. He's definitely wiser than the traders I worked with at large commercial banks or have read about. I would put this book somewhere below Too Big to Fail and about even with the Big Short and definitely ahead of House of Cards. McDonald is different than Sorkin or the rest in that he tells the story from inside Lehman with the perspective of a seasoned mid-high level bond trader/executive with access to some of the decision makers we have all heard about in other books. In addition, McDonald worked his way up and earned his chops (literally-- selling meat out of his car for a few years) in Philadelphia before moving onward and upward to Wall Street. Chapter after chapter, I came to respect him and enjoy his interpretation of events. I love how he goes into the blinding jealousy Fuld and other top executives with Lehman had for Goldman Sachs and Blackrock. I could not agree more. There is TONS of insane envy of those two firms in the financial world. Goldman envy affects every decision made by the others down the food chain. I also enjoyed the description of the New Century and Countrywide mortgage brokers as "body builders". Truly amazing that to trade the mortgage bonds one had to have the Series 7 license but the body builders just showed up and started selling.

Some of my favorite quotes:
Regarding the mortgage desk at Lehman: "Empty cans make the most noise"

When Lehman moved to their 7th Street office years back: "It was like moving a cathedral. The real estate was different but the holiness remained." This helped me see that money is this guy's religion. Like so many on Wall Street. Humbling to say the least!

On Fuld and Gregory: "Lehman's Board room gave them status and each of them liked that at least as much as cash."
"The words of paper tigers. Silly really. Big thoughts from little people."

Rating Agencies: "Some of the ratings had been issued on the south side of ridiculous."

Paulson's view of Lehman on that horrible September weekend when Lehman's fate was sealed and Merrill Lynch was forced into marriage with BofA: "...had arrogantly foisted most of their troubles on themselves and should just go away."

Freddie and Fannie: "...surely the most gruesomely misleading companies since Enron."

Buy it, read it, learn it. I hope McDonald writes more books!

The book is very interesting for non-insiders. Contains more details and information on topics that one wouldn't even expect. It will be one of the best in the "Liar's Poker" series if one would exist. And it's a good contribution for the must read list of finance school students.

This book is not in the same league as the book "When Genius Failed".It is well written by Patrick Robinson but the content seems to leave alot of unanswered questions about how Lehman went down.It is more like an autobiography who the author seems constantly trying to inflate himself as a trader yet even if he was a great trader the facts as he presented them seemed not to make sense like why he did not bail out on Lehman with his friends and actually Lehman eventually pushed him out.My experience of financial companies,they do not get rid of money makers unless they commit a capital offence.The last chapters were slightly interesting but there was not enough of the book concentrating on actual fall of Lehman.If you like a book about someone giving their account of being a great trader at Lehman then it would be a bad buy but I am still looking for a book that gives me a good account of the events and causes of why Lehman went down.