Books like Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity

01

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

Michael Lewis · Economics

The Big Short is Michael Lewis's account of the 2008 financial crisis as seen through the eyes of a handful of contrarians who saw the collapse coming, bet against the American housing market, and were right.

Both dig into risk.

02

Liar's Poker

Michael Lewis · Business

Liar's Poker is Michael Lewis's account of his years as a bond salesman at Salomon Brothers in the 1980s, the decade when Wall Street stopped being a gentleman's club and became something closer to a casino.

Both dig into risk.

03

When Genius Failed

Roger Lowenstein · Economics

When Genius Failed is Roger Lowenstein's account of Long-Term Capital Management, the hedge fund that almost took down the global financial system in 1998.

A kindred economics read.

04

Fooled by Randomness

Nassim Nicholas Taleb · Psychology

Fooled by Randomness is Nassim Nicholas Taleb's argument that humans are wired to misread luck as skill, noise as signal, and random outcomes as the product of ability or effort.

Both dig into risk.

05

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Nassim Nicholas Taleb · Science

The Black Swan is Nassim Nicholas Taleb's argument that the most consequential events in history — financial crashes, technological breakthroughs, wars, pandemics — are not predictable outliers but structurally unpredictable ones.

Both dig into risk.

06

Manias, Panics, and Crashes

Charles P. Kindleberger · Economics

Manias, Panics, and Crashes is Charles Kindleberger's analysis of financial crises across five centuries of history, first published in 1978 and updated in several subsequent editions.

Both dig into financial crises.

07

More Money Than God

Sebastian Mallaby · Economics

Sebastian Mallaby's history of hedge funds begins with Alfred Winslow Jones, who in 1949 invented the basic structure that still defines the industry: borrow money to buy what you think will go up, sell short what you think will go down, take a 20 percent cut of the profits.

Both dig into risk.

08

Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises

Ray Dalio · Economics

Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises is Ray Dalio's attempt to document a template for how major debt crises unfold and how policymakers can manage them.

Both dig into financial crises.

09

The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World

Niall Ferguson · Economics

Niall Ferguson published The Ascent of Money in 2008, with timing that turned out to be acute: the book appeared just as the global financial crisis was unfolding, making its subject matter suddenly urgent for readers who had barely thought about the mechanics of credit default swaps or mortgage securitization.

Both dig into risk.

10

The End of Wall Street

Roger Lowenstein · Economics

The End of Wall Street is Roger Lowenstein's account of the 2008 financial crisis, from the early signs of trouble in the mortgage market through the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the government interventions, and the immediate aftermath.

Both dig into risk.

11

The Intelligent Investor

Benjamin Graham · Economics

The Intelligent Investor is Benjamin Graham's case that successful investing has less to do with picking the right stocks than with managing your own behavior.

Both dig into market psychology.

12

The Misbehavior of Markets

Benoit Mandelbrot · Economics

Benoit Mandelbrot, the mathematician who discovered fractal geometry, spent decades arguing that standard financial theory systematically underestimates the riskiness of markets.

Both dig into risk.