Comment by mdda | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mdda | Hacker News Reader

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Everyone on Wall St (approximately) has read Liars Poker - and, while there's some artistic license being take, the observations are basically dead-on. And people are proud that they work in an industry that has such a compelling book. And they see the characters (or their company's versions) every day.

To pick other examples : 'Wall Street' is a must-see movie for everyone on the Street (though it's completely overblown). OTOH, Boiler Room (while being a decent movie) doesn't resonant much, since the vast majority of the money on Wall St is made by making tiny percentages on large amounts, rather than by ripping off small investors...

I guess that the majority of Wall St think that Liars Poker is a fairly balanced (and interesting) view of what goes on. Michael Lewis has an entertaining and insider-ish blog on Bloomberg (NI LEWIS, if you're in front of a terminal)

And here's an article he published yesterday (really targeted at the Wall St crowd) : http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-13/hedge-fund-man-f...

Mdda is right. What was perhaps intended as a cautionary tale instead became a recruiting anthem. After reading Liar's Poker, I wanted to be right there with the Human Piranha hearing him say 'the fing frogs are going to fing get f*cked!' The swaggering cowboy-ness of the whole thing was so tempting, as was the untrammeled greed. Who wouldn't want to be a Big Swinging Dick?

It seemed like such a different, more exciting world than the petty, effete, and monastic world of academia.

Incidentally, Lewis' column on Bloomberg is the best read on the terminal, in my opinion. His writing is among the best reading anywhere, in my opinion. My piece is obviously a riff on Liar's Poker. I'm only poking along on his well-trodden ground.

Now...you know what would be a unique? A Liar's Poker for startups. That hasn't really been written yet (that I know of). Hmm...there's an idea...;)

Actually, on second thought, Kaplan's 'Startup' might be that. I re-read it again recently, and it's starting to sound a bit dated though.

NI LEWIS, if you're in front of a terminal

Nice. Now I know how I can read blogs at work.

(They try to block the regular Internet ones, but I doubt they even considered trying to censor the Bloomberg terminals!)

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