Favourite books about financial mistakes, frauds, flawed characters, etc

[Liberty]

(Not sure if this belongs here or in the books sub-forum, but I figured that since it wasn't just about one book, it probably belonged here)

 

I love to read about other people's mistakes and flaws, or how some frauds were perpetrated, hopefully to try to learn something and avoid making those mistakes and falling for those frauds. I'd love to know what are some of your favourite books - or at least books that you learned something from, even if not a real favourite -  about this kind of thing. Here are some of mine, in no particular order:

 

Fooled by Randomness - Nassim Taleb

Black Swan - Nassim Taleb

Too Big to Fail - Andrew Ross Sorkin

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room - Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind

Confidence Game - Christine S. Richard

Fooling Some of the People - David Einhorn

Financial Shenanigans - Howard Schilit

The Great Depression: A Diary - Benjamin Roth

 

I've got "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" on order at the public library...

 

So what books about these kinds of topic did you like?

[alwaysinvert]

I'll check my bookshelf for a refresher later but these come to mind immediately:

 

When Genius Failed - Roger Lowenstein

The Match King - Frank Partnoy

 

And I'm guessing everyone has already read Michael Lewis' books but read them again if you can :)

 

[jjsto]

I liked this book:

 

The Pretender: How Martin Frankel Fooled the Financial World and Led the Feds on One of the Most Publicized Manhunts in History

by Ellen Pollock

 

Not sure how much you will learn from it, but it is one entertaining story...

[oddballstocks]

Oh man, you've hit on the sorts of books I love.  So here are a few:

 

Match King (mentioned above, excellent)

Billion Dollar Lessons

Wall Street vs America (lots of stuff on boiler rooms, frauds, stock cons)

And the Wolf Finally Came (about the implosion of the steel industry in the 1980s)

[JEast]

More about frauds and flawed characters, but "Yellow Kid" Weil: The Autobiography of America's Master Swindler is an interesting read.  It was also the genesis of the great movie 'The Sting.'

 

 

Cheers

JEast

[Packer16]

Devil Takes the Hindemost - Edward Chancellor

 

Packer

[Martian]

Fiasco - Frank Partnoy

[Liberty]

Thanks for all the good suggestions! I've added Billion Dollar Lessons to my library queue.