I liked both. The Big Short tells is a good story and an important one. Many of the events are familiar to some of us as they were covered in the news a few years ago after the big crash. Now for some details on both movie and book.

The Big Short movie

I liked it.

I enjoyed some of the interludes or asides – I’m not sure about the best terms – and some not so much.    The movie need to explain some pretty complex terms and used these both to do that and enhance these mix of outrage, tragedy, and comedy  that were all mixed together so well in both the book and movie.

It is a good story and an important one.  Over several years quite a few people in the financial world made millions of dollars.  They manipulated the financial system. Others made less but still did well.

Most financial folks didn’t see the the problem. A good number of them were probably too busy making money.

Certainly, most ordinary people did not see a problem. They were taken advantage of. They may have invested in a safe investment that wasn’t so safe. They may have gotten a mortgage or re-financed homes. They lost homes; they lost jobs; they lost their savings.

But a handful of people understood this manipulation and that there would be very bad consequences. They could not stop it but manged to position themselves so when the bad stuff happened they would benefit at the expense of some of the manipulators.

Having read Michael Lewis’ The Big Short after seeing the movie, I thought the movie was a very good adaption. It captured his dark humor, outrage, and the tragic nature of the story.

The Big Short book

The movie sparked my interest.  Yes, I was outraged by this manipulation where the financial folks made lots of money by unethical and possibly illegal means.

Actually I was not angered by people making money. But it did bother me quite a bit that this manipulation caused a world-wide major recession and millions of people were hurt for the benefit of relatively few.

So rather than just quietly raging against the machine, I thought it might be a good idea to read  Michael Lewis’ The Big Short.

It was a good movie but the book was sure to have more detail.  Another advantage of a book is that you can re-read sections if you do not immediately understand.  You can also look-up words and concepts you are unsure of. The movie just goes on to the next scene.

I read  The Big Short with my iPad by my side.   I am not a financial guy so I knew there would be lots to look-up.

Since I read the book after seeing the movie I was a bit confused as to why the movie kept the names of some character and changed the names of others. Certainly not a big deal just a confusing point.

The Big Short by Michael Lewis is a good book. It was entertaining at the same time it was educational. The story was comic and tragic and sparked the same type of outrage as the movie.

It takes much longer to read a book than see a movie. So if you want you can have a much better understanding of the events portrayed. In my opinion, the movie was good but the book was better. But then, I enjoy reading.