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Michael Lewis's book is such an embarrassment to him that it may permanently ruin his reputation. It seems he was completely taken in by Sam Bankman-Fried.

by not2b 3y ago

chollida1 3y ago
> Michael Lewis's book is such an embarrassment to him that it may permanently ruin his reputation. It seems he was completely taken in by Sam Bankman-Fried I doubt it will have any effect on his reputation at all. He doesn't say Sam is innocent, heck he doesn't take sides at all. He just writes about what he say without any judgement. What specifically about the book do you think will may permanently ruin his reputation.
- jasonjmcghee 3y ago
  I read this book. The tone of the entire thing is “look how amazing this guy is”. If you read a book that presented Elizabeth Holmes or Bernie Madoff in this way, what would be your perspective? I don’t pretend to have the facts or know for certain of anyone’s sure guilt, but a lot of the evidence is awfully damning. (For example) Michael Lewis strongly insinuated that SBF took calculated and justifiable risk when losing track of $X00M for months at a time
  - not2b 3y ago
    It gets worse. Lewis is now saying that the jury should read his book, and that either the jury will acquit SBF, or they will "lynch" him. He's evidently convinced that SBF did nothing wrong. https://hachyderm.io/@molly0xfff/111212491776903022 https://hachyderm.io/@molly0xfff/111212491776903022
    - jacquesm 3y ago
      I wasn't aware that reading a hagiography on the main suspect is now a requirement for jury duty. It would seem that the judge might have a thing or two to say about that.
    - rurp 3y ago
      I haven't read the book but was inclined to give Lewis the benefit of the doubt given Matt Levine's take and Lewis' other work, but that Time interview really shifted my opinion. Lewis comes off terrible in that. The folks saying he got taken in by SBF make a lot more sense to me now.
  - jononomo 3y ago
    To be fair, SBF is pretty amazing.
- Simulacra 3y ago
  I just finished the Lewis book and he is completely sympathetic to SBF, if you listen to the audiobook which Lewis reads, his tone of voice is borderline apologetic.
- xwolfi 3y ago
  The jabs at John Ray are so unfair, how is that guy the bad guy ?? I completely understand the pleasure he feels uncovering all the traces of crime, like a bankruptcy liquidator is often asked to do. Why is Lewis showing him as an incompetent fool that is losing money to greedy lawyer because he refuses to speak the the guy who blew through billions to save the world from a robot AI we could just have unplugged ?
0xDEAFBEAD 3y ago
Hm, I'm not immediately seeing this glancing at the book's Amazon reviews: https://www.amazon.com/Going-Infinite-Rise-Fall-Tycoon/dp/B0CD8V9SHD/ https://www.amazon.com/Going-Infinite-Rise-Fall-Tycoon/dp/B0...
lamp_book 3y ago
That and the story unfolding around the Blindside. Lewis defended the Tuohy family’s conservatorship over Michael Oher and claimed he must have a brain injury to explain why he wants to recoup money from them. Also I never read Flash Boys, but my understanding is that much of the anti-HFT/IEX crowd’s rhetoric has aged poorly especially as that industry has matured.

Michael Lewis's book is such an embarrassment to him that it may permanently ruin his reputation. It seems he was completely taken in by Sam Bankman-Fried.

by not2b 3y ago

Michael Lewis's book is such an embarrassment to him that it may permanently ruin his reputation. It seems he was completely taken in by Sam Bankman-Fried.

chollida1 3y ago

> Michael Lewis's book is such an embarrassment to him that it may permanently ruin his reputation. It seems he was completely taken in by Sam Bankman-Fried I doubt it will have any effect on his reputation at all. He doesn't say Sam is innocent, heck he doesn't take sides at all. He just writes about what he say without any judgement. What specifically about the book do you think will may permanently ruin his reputation.

jasonjmcghee 3y ago
I read this book. The tone of the entire thing is “look how amazing this guy is”. If you read a book that presented Elizabeth Holmes or Bernie Madoff in this way, what would be your perspective? I don’t pretend to have the facts or know for certain of anyone’s sure guilt, but a lot of the evidence is awfully damning. (For example) Michael Lewis strongly insinuated that SBF took calculated and justifiable risk when losing track of $X00M for months at a time
- not2b 3y ago
  It gets worse. Lewis is now saying that the jury should read his book, and that either the jury will acquit SBF, or they will "lynch" him. He's evidently convinced that SBF did nothing wrong. https://hachyderm.io/@molly0xfff/111212491776903022 https://hachyderm.io/@molly0xfff/111212491776903022
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    I wasn't aware that reading a hagiography on the main suspect is now a requirement for jury duty. It would seem that the judge might have a thing or two to say about that.
  - rurp 3y ago
    I haven't read the book but was inclined to give Lewis the benefit of the doubt given Matt Levine's take and Lewis' other work, but that Time interview really shifted my opinion. Lewis comes off terrible in that. The folks saying he got taken in by SBF make a lot more sense to me now.
- jononomo 3y ago
  To be fair, SBF is pretty amazing.
Simulacra 3y ago
I just finished the Lewis book and he is completely sympathetic to SBF, if you listen to the audiobook which Lewis reads, his tone of voice is borderline apologetic.
xwolfi 3y ago
The jabs at John Ray are so unfair, how is that guy the bad guy ?? I completely understand the pleasure he feels uncovering all the traces of crime, like a bankruptcy liquidator is often asked to do. Why is Lewis showing him as an incompetent fool that is losing money to greedy lawyer because he refuses to speak the the guy who blew through billions to save the world from a robot AI we could just have unplugged ?

0xDEAFBEAD 3y ago

Hm, I'm not immediately seeing this glancing at the book's Amazon reviews: https://www.amazon.com/Going-Infinite-Rise-Fall-Tycoon/dp/B0CD8V9SHD/ https://www.amazon.com/Going-Infinite-Rise-Fall-Tycoon/dp/B0...

lamp_book 3y ago

That and the story unfolding around the Blindside. Lewis defended the Tuohy family’s conservatorship over Michael Oher and claimed he must have a brain injury to explain why he wants to recoup money from them. Also I never read Flash Boys, but my understanding is that much of the anti-HFT/IEX crowd’s rhetoric has aged poorly especially as that industry has matured.