March 19, 2010

60 Minutes: Inside the collapse

One writer that Austin and I really enjoy is Michael Lewis. Some know him as the author of the book, The Blindside (the film adaptation of which recently earned Sandra Bullock an Oscar), but he's written a bunch of other excellent books over the years, many dealing with financial topics.

My first exposure to Lewis came way back in college when one of my finance professors gave me a copy of Liar's Poker to read, a book which went a long way toward convincing me I didn't want to become a stock broker.

Several months ago, I learned that Lewis was writing a book investigating the causes of the recent financial collapse, and I immediately put it on our book order list to get as soon as it was released. Last Sunday night, I happened to catch the beginning of 60 Minutes (as the NCAA tournament selection show was ending) and was pleased to see that the opening two segments were interviews with Lewis profiling his new book.

I found them to be very interesting. Lewis has a great way of distilling what is going on and making it understandable, while also weaving in interesting stories that make it all much more pleasant than financial content often is.

If you're interested and have a few minutes, the videos are below — they run roughly 16 and 8 minutes, respectively. Or you can read this transcript instead.