The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

Remember the days of the credit crunch? You know the crisis before the Euro debt, Middle East uprising, Obama still being popular, and the Ashton Kuchter - Demi Moore split.

Well, the Big Short skillfully chronicles the gargantuan collapse of the American sub-prime mortgage bond crisis by exposing those who thought that this amazingly profitable financial vehicle would just never stop. The author also recounts the stunningly accelerated collapse of Lehman Brothers, vilifies the culpable corporates (Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley - I mean really who else) and uncovers some unlikely traders (heroes?) who predicted the whole house of cards was about to unravel and were intrepid enough to make the trade based on their own technical analysis when the rest of the world was on the other side of the bet.

The book also touches on Howie Hubler the Morgan Stanley trader who lost US$9 billion in Credit Default Swaps and then walked away with a huge bonus even by Wall St standards. Howie currently holds the dubious record for the greatest single loss by a trader, nearly 5 times as much Nick Leeson who made the skill fashionable and who was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison.

But this is so much more than that just a stolid review of the history of peculiar events. It is an absolutely gob smacking page turning thriller and fully deserving of a read whether you're into the financial industry or not. Surely the movie of another Michael Lewis book is in the making. Who plays Howie - Ashton?