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I liked The Big Short, movie and the book, as a story and also because the author claims that it's based on true events. Now after seeing Michael Lewis fumble a

I liked The Big Short, movie and the book, as a story and also because the author claims that it's based on true events. Now after seeing Michael Lewis fumble all over the place about SBF I'm not sure about the latter anymore. Maybe Michael Lewis got too attached to his subjects and was hoodwinked or maybe he knew it was not all true and went along with them because they made for a good story. All in all he lost his credibility big time, at least among lay (i.e., outsiders of Wall Street) readers. Later I read somewhere on Twitter that apparently WS folks knew his book to be a BS anyway.

lordgrenville 3y ago
In the same vein Flash Boys is mostly about Brad Katsuyama starting IEX, and the evils of HFT. I wondered while reading it if there was another side to the story.
- tptacek 3y ago
  There absolutely is; in fact, most of the story is on the other side, and Katsuyama's premise doesn't even make much sense.
- loeg 3y ago
  E.g., Flash Boys: Not So Fast is one example of another side. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/23570025 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/23570025
nytesky 3y ago
I wonder if Lewis is going through a rough patch professionally because of the recent tragedy he suffered — his daughter died in an automobile accident. I would not be surprised if it made him more sympathetic to a “young kid” at this point in his life. That sort of thing is soul crushing.
- SkyMarshal 3y ago
  Didn't know that, but yeah I could totally see that making Lewis more sympathetic. I've never particularly liked SBF even before he imploded, but I don't want him spending the rest of his life in jail for a non-violent crime. I'd rather see him banned from finance and banking and sentenced to a million or so hours of teaching programming and computer science to underserved poor children, or something similarly constructive. He has these amazing skills that could be put work benefitting society, and instead we lock him away so the prison-industrial complex can profit. Such a waste, let's rethink that.
  - paulryanrogers 3y ago
    Does SBF have amazing skills in CS (or anything) to share? EDIT: Looks like he graduated MIT with a physics degree, so I'd hope so. Then again, maybe we don't want con men teaching kids.
    - SkyMarshal 3y ago
      Well, amazing is relative. To underserved kids in poor school districts yeah his skills are probably amazing. And while an MIT Physics degree doesn't explicitly teach software engineering craftsmanship, his first employer Jane Street has high standards for that, and may have, depending on what he actually did there. But compared to, say, Jeff Dean, his skills are garbage, tofu-dreg, and devoid of any real craftsmanshift or integrity. Pick your point on the continuum. But I'd rather have high-skilled conmen like Sam, Michael Milken, etc. answering for their crimes and rehabilitating by helping others and being constructive, than wasting away in jail, and potentially teaching other criminals there, or becoming more criminal themselves.
      - paulryanrogers 3y ago
        What makes you think con men would actually be constructive and teach impressionable young people useful skills? My guess is they'd exploit the situation for their own gain, even if only subconsciously. SBF was the face of Effective Altruism for a time. Perhaps they can clean trash off highways or work soup kitchens.
TuringNYC 3y ago
The recent book similarly made me question all of Lewis' books, which is unfortunate because I've read every one of his books and have been a fan for decades. The latest book about SBF seems easy to fact check because the reporting, data, and primary evidence on the FTX saga has been so comprehensively available to everyone. I have followed the entire FTX saga like a soap opera and I cannot square Lewis' take with the vast evidence it contradicts. On a side note, as someone very close to the industry, I can say The Big Short was spot on. It simplified things, but that is to be expected for a mass market publication. I hope this means most of his books were equally evidence based, and perhaps the quality has only recently suffered.

lordgrenville 3y ago

In the same vein Flash Boys is mostly about Brad Katsuyama starting IEX, and the evils of HFT. I wondered while reading it if there was another side to the story.

tptacek 3y ago
There absolutely is; in fact, most of the story is on the other side, and Katsuyama's premise doesn't even make much sense.
loeg 3y ago
E.g., Flash Boys: Not So Fast is one example of another side. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/23570025 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/23570025

nytesky 3y ago

I wonder if Lewis is going through a rough patch professionally because of the recent tragedy he suffered — his daughter died in an automobile accident. I would not be surprised if it made him more sympathetic to a “young kid” at this point in his life. That sort of thing is soul crushing.

SkyMarshal 3y ago
Didn't know that, but yeah I could totally see that making Lewis more sympathetic. I've never particularly liked SBF even before he imploded, but I don't want him spending the rest of his life in jail for a non-violent crime. I'd rather see him banned from finance and banking and sentenced to a million or so hours of teaching programming and computer science to underserved poor children, or something similarly constructive. He has these amazing skills that could be put work benefitting society, and instead we lock him away so the prison-industrial complex can profit. Such a waste, let's rethink that.
- paulryanrogers 3y ago
  Does SBF have amazing skills in CS (or anything) to share? EDIT: Looks like he graduated MIT with a physics degree, so I'd hope so. Then again, maybe we don't want con men teaching kids.
  - SkyMarshal 3y ago
    Well, amazing is relative. To underserved kids in poor school districts yeah his skills are probably amazing. And while an MIT Physics degree doesn't explicitly teach software engineering craftsmanship, his first employer Jane Street has high standards for that, and may have, depending on what he actually did there. But compared to, say, Jeff Dean, his skills are garbage, tofu-dreg, and devoid of any real craftsmanshift or integrity. Pick your point on the continuum. But I'd rather have high-skilled conmen like Sam, Michael Milken, etc. answering for their crimes and rehabilitating by helping others and being constructive, than wasting away in jail, and potentially teaching other criminals there, or becoming more criminal themselves.
    - paulryanrogers 3y ago
      What makes you think con men would actually be constructive and teach impressionable young people useful skills? My guess is they'd exploit the situation for their own gain, even if only subconsciously. SBF was the face of Effective Altruism for a time. Perhaps they can clean trash off highways or work soup kitchens.

TuringNYC 3y ago

The recent book similarly made me question all of Lewis' books, which is unfortunate because I've read every one of his books and have been a fan for decades. The latest book about SBF seems easy to fact check because the reporting, data, and primary evidence on the FTX saga has been so comprehensively available to everyone. I have followed the entire FTX saga like a soap opera and I cannot square Lewis' take with the vast evidence it contradicts. On a side note, as someone very close to the industry, I can say The Big Short was spot on. It simplified things, but that is to be expected for a mass market publication. I hope this means most of his books were equally evidence based, and perhaps the quality has only recently suffered.