Too Big to Fail
by Andrew Ross Sorkin · first published 2009
63% recommend31% neutral6% critical
Why HN recommends it
A blow-by-blow account of the 2008 financial crisis, drawing on inside meetings and decisions made under pressure. It is fast paced and offers a clear timeline for newcomers to the topic.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A real-life thriller about the most tumultuous period in America's financial history by an acclaimed New York Times Reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin delivers the first true behind-the-scenes, moment-by-moment account of how the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression developed into a global tsunami. From inside the corner office at Lehman Brothers to secret meetings in South Korea, and the corridors of Washington, Too Big to Fail is the definitive story of the most powerful men and women in finance and politics grappling with success and failure, ego and greed, and, ultimately, the fat
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Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin - a great blow by blow account of the financial crisis shortly after the fall of Bear Stearns. A really amazing look at how decisions are made under extraordinary pressure. It is…
on “Ask HN: Great books you read in 2009?” ↗A toss between 'The Big Short' by Michael Lewis and 'Too Big To Fail' by Andrew Ross Sorkin. Both books are about the financial crisis on Wall Street. They provide excellent insight into how smart people made very bad decisions that had repercussions around the entire…
on “Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why” ↗…for broker-dealer banks, creating a substantial crisis of confidence in the banking system as a whole. Anyone interested in how the crisis came about should read "The Big Short", by Michael Lewis, and "Too Big to Fail" by Andrew Ross Sorkin. Those two books provide a lot of perspective on what happened in the months leading up to and the days during the crisis.
on “Banking Isn't Evil: software dev's view of how banking works and what went wrong” ↗GS needed a bail-out. Pleae read Too Big To Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin, or any other detailed book about the financial crisis, and you will learn that GS had massive trust issues in the market. The 'bail-out' for GS got done primarily for the supposed…
on “SEC Charges Goldman Sachs With Fraud” ↗All must reads in my opinion Fooled By Randomness - Taleb The Black Swan - Taleb Antifragile - Taleb When Genius Failed - Lowenstein Liars Poker - Lewis The Big Short - Lewis Flash Boys - Lewis Too Big To Fail - Sorkin Against the Gods - Bernstein One Up On Wallstreet - Lynch The Intelligent Investor - Graham
on “Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance?” ↗1. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin 2.Too Big to Fail: Inside the Battle to Save Wall by Andrew Ross Sorkin
on “What is the best book you read this year? (optional: why?)” ↗…defeat from the jaws of victory often - if only because it wasn't the 'right thing to do'. a very good read for anyone who wants to get a good grasp of the timeline of all this is Aaron Ross Sorkin's Too Big To Fail. It's a rather fascinating expose into some of the inner meetings and conversations. the tl;dr of it: - everyone tried to buy/acquire/merge/whatever everyone else. Fuld literally tried to sell Lehman's…
on “We Bought A Toxic Asset; You Can Watch It Die” ↗…credit. General Electric had 2 days of cash before they couldn't continue operations. We came really, really close to having the entire world stop working! Andrew Ross Sorkin has a great book called Too Big to Fail that goes into this. House of Cards is also a great book on the 2008 crash. The other big firm to go under in 2008 was Bear Sterns. If you like finance read "When Genius Failed" its the history of…
on “In Ben Bernanke’s Memoir, a Candid Look at Lehman Brothers’ Collapse” ↗…clearly implied in your comment. To my mind he's being entirely reasonable, just not very "polite" or "civil" or whatever you want to call it. [1] As in: Rise up the corporate ladder. [2] Sorkin's "Too Big To Fail" was a big eye-opener in this regard, FWIW.
on “Why GitHub Can't Host the Linux Kernel Community” ↗Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin only helped me to start appreciating this. It is incomprehensible that lots of the same folks are still in leadership positions. Follow the money, indeed.
on “Young People Need Another Gold Rush” ↗…sickened the remaining responsible, ethical folks managing the economy. But it's not right to impugn the Fed with the actions of a few irresponsible investment banks. If you read Sorkin's account in Too Big to Fail it's plain to see how Paulson and Geithner's actions amounted to making the best of a bad situation. In their case, it's important to distinguish between the appearance of impropriety and actual impropriety.
on “Who Rules America: An Investment Manager's View on the Top 1%” ↗…consider that one of the largest companies in the country is General Electric. In simple terms, a failure of the banking system means the lights won't stay on. Andrew Ross Sorkin talks about this in "Too Big To Fail" (http://www.amazon.com/Too-Big-Fail-Washington-FinancialSyste...). When things were really bad in 2008, and people were wondering what investment bank was going to go next, there was very real fear that…
on “Why the SEC Won’t Hunt Big Dogs” ↗I've come across a number of Kindle eBooks with numerous typos or other errors. It's like they simply OCR'd a printed book and didn't bother to check for issues ('Too Big to Fail' by Andrew Ross Sorkin is the most egregious I've bought). Many of these books are eventually corrected and Amazon will email letting you know this so you can get an updated copy, but this has generally…
on “Ebooks, you’re doing it wrong ” ↗Too Big to Fail: really interesting, but for some reason reading this book stressed me. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold: Easy to read and entertaining. I actually had to spend a good 10 minutes going thru the plot…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗…that's the most evil thing possible, you can make a decision with confidence. if they're out there doing random stuff all the time, it's really tough to say, 'this is the right choice'. I just finished Too Big to Fail by Sorkin. From that point of view, everyone was facing something that had never happened before, so it's hard to be predictable in that case. One day, they push J.P. Morgan to buy Bear Sterns. One day…
on “Chinese Markets Halted, Equities Plunge Another 7%” ↗