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Boomerang

The Meltdown Tour

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Boomerang

By: Michael Lewis
Narrated by: Dylan Baker
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About this listen

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Boomerang: The Meltdown Tour, Michael Lewis' brilliant tragi-comic romp across post-crash Europe. Read by the actor Dylan Baker.

Having made the U.S. financial crisis comprehensible for us all in The Big Short, Michael Lewis realised that he hadn't begun to get grips with the full story. How exactly had it come to hit the rest of the world in the face too? Just how broke are we really? Boomerang is a tragi-comic romp across Europe, in which Lewis gives full vent to his storytelling genius. The cheap credit that rolled across the planet between 2002 and 2008 was more than a simple financial phenomenon: it was temptation, offering entire societies the chance to reveal aspects of their characters they could not normally afford to indulge.

Icelanders wanted to stop fishing and become investment bankers. The Greeks wanted to turn their country into a piñata stuffed with cash and allow as many citizens as possible to take a whack. The Irish wanted to stop being Irish. The Germans wanted to be even more German. Michael Lewis's investigation of bubbles across Europe is brilliantly, sadly hilarious. He also turns a merciless eye on America: on California, the epicentre of world consumption, where we see that a final reckoning awaits the most avaricious of nations too. This is the ultimate book of our times. It's time to brace ourselves for impact. And, with Michael Lewis, to laugh out loud while we're doing it.

©2011 Michael Lewis (P)2011 Penguin Audio
21st Century Economic History Economics Europe International Modern Banking Global Financial Crisis Taxation Socialism Capitalism

Critic Reviews

"Fascinating... the book could not be more timely...a sharp-edged narrative that leaves readers with a visceral understanding of the fiscal recklessness that lies behind today's headlines." (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times)
"Lewis is the finest storyteller of our generation." (Malcolm Gladwell)
"He is so good everyone else may as well pack up." ( Evening Standard)
All stars
Most relevant  
Interesting true story of the relationship of culture and human greed. Shows how people on mass or via government creat irrational boom bust cycles

Great listening

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super interesting loved it. couldn't put it down, love the economic/cultural examples Michael Lewis selects to illustrate the macroeconomic consequences of cheap financing available in the 2000s.

another great book by Michael Lewis

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love michael lewis' work ... entertaining 4 nerds mebbe but there's always the unveiling of more human stupidity when it comes to collecting stuff ... money and it's relatives. incredible work.

suoerb

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There is nothing more to say. The author has summed up problem clearly. We are still working from the early post-WWII handbook for social and cultural rehabilitation. Population growth, location and creeping obsolescence have been ignored.

Laurie O’Neill

Well written, researched and narrated

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Lots of very well explained insights how societies use debt, mainly for short term ends. Entertainingly told, often through the eyes of people that Michael meets.

Another great story and insights

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