One of the great things about Michael Lewis is how well he writes for the lay audience. He has a great sense of humour and irony and an eye for the absurd. These are serious matters and if his light touch helps to get more people thinking about our financial situation we can only applaud. There will be many more volumes written about the mess we find ourselves in. Enjoy the lighthearted ones!

Michael Lewis tells us humorously why Europe is in the serious financial trouble it's in, and then not so humorously why the U.S. is next. It's most likely he will not be taking a another vacation anytime soon to the countries whose people he had so thoroughly eviscerated and hopefully if he need the services of the police or fire department, they will not recognize his name.

One of the best explanations of the present worldwide finacial crisis. Very readable!!!

Michael Lewis asks the question, "What would you do if you were in a room alone with a pile of money?" He poses this question to Ireland, Greece, Iceland, Germany and the US, and demonstrates how each country responded in a unique way, and why. Intelligently written and very insightful in helping understand the financial crisis in different contexts. Also makes you wonder when California will implode ...

A while back, I reviewed a Michael Lewis book called *The Big Short*, all about the personalities and events that built the Great Recession. In the time it took to write and release that book, Lewis stumbled across a few shrewd financiers who were predicting a global crash based on the same kind of accounting principles that shook America. Lewis initially dismissed these characters as people who'd gotten lucky predicting one crash, and now thought they had a talent for predicting crises. But, by the time he was promoting *The Big Short*, Iceland and Greece were deep in trouble, and Lewis knew there was more to the story.<br /> *Boomerang*, then, is all about how the American banking system's creative approach to credit tranching spread round the world. Again, Lewis takes the time to introduce readers to the characters making the big financial decisions. He makes some broad and questionable arguments extending generalized national character traits (Icelandic, Greek, Irish, German) to their money management techniques, but the effect is meant to be humorous and it is. In fact, the whole book's tone is gleefully irreverent – toward the money gods, toward religion, and toward the crisis itself. It's not that the recession hasn’t had dire consequences; Lewis knows it has, and that it may get worse. He's fundamentally optimistic, though, and willing to see the abundant humour in the decision making processes of nations, banks and individuals who inadvertently set up the crisis. Either it gets better or it doesn't – either way, you have to laugh. With its wry approach and clear, approachable style, *Boomerang* is recommended for any readers interested in the factors driving the credit crisis around the world.

Entertaining and easy to read as Lewis's other semi-fictions. As noted, a collection of articles he wrote for Vanity Fair; you can read/download for free at: http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/03/michael-lewis-ireland-201103 http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/09/europe-201109 http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/10/greeks-bearing-bonds-201010 http://depts.washington.edu/teclass/articles472/Wall%20Street%20on%20the%20Tundra%20_%20vanityfair.pdf

Michael Lewis is a consistently good author. Any of his books are a good read.

I agree with SirWhiskers. I consider this book over-rated. There are some anecdotes in the book that are interesting but oveall, it reads more like an "accident report from a rubber-necker". IMHO, the author mixed in too much of his blithe commentary -- hence I call it "report from a rubber-necker". I picked up this book because TIME recommended it. Disappointed. Compare this with "Too big to fail".

Lewis is an informative and entertaining writer. The book explains the current sovereign debt situation and how it came to be that the world is in drowning in debt. I found his writing to be very funny. Lewis travels to Iceland, Ireland, Greece and California to cover many of the players who have the responsibility for causing and fixing the sovereign debt issues. He tries to explain how these cultures have responded to easy credit and the corresponding headache afterwards. This is a great read.

1. This book is simply a reprint of five articles the author wrote for Vanity Fair between 2009 and 2011. If you've read those aritcles, there's nothing new here. 2. The author writes in a light, readable, engaging style, so the book goes quickly. 3. The book is mostly pop-psychology with a smattering of actual economic info. As such, it's entertaining, but ultimately not very filling. If you want a good book on the financial meltdown, look elsewhere.