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Michael Lewis

Born: October 15, 1960 – New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

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Official Website Publisher Profile (Simon & Schuster)Publisher Profile (Penguin Random House)

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Michael Lewis is an American author and financial journalist renowned for insightful works on business, finance, and economics. His bestselling books, including Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, The Big Short, and The Blind Side, have been widely acclaimed and adapted for film, shaping public understanding of complex financial and societal issues.

Biography & Author's Journey

Michael Monroe Lewis was born on October 15, 1960, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to a family that valued community activism and professional achievement. He attended Princeton University, earning a degree in art history, and later pursued a master’s in economics from the London School of Economics. This dual exposure to rigorous scholarship and creative thinking would later inform the sweeping narrative style and analytic clarity of his writing career. Lewis’s first major turning point came in the 1980s when he took a job as a bond salesman at Salomon Brothers, which provided him with an inside view of Wall Street’s high-stakes culture at its most exuberant and ruthless.

Quotes

He was ignorant, but a lot of people mistook ignorance for stupidity, and knowingness for intelligence

-The Blind Side

Those who know don't tell and those who tell don't know

-Liar's Poker

The pleasure of rooting for Goliath is that you can expect to win. The pleasure of rooting for David is that, while you don’t know what to expect, you stand at least a chance of being inspired

-Moneyball

Managers tend to pick a strategy that is the least likely to fail, rather than to pick a strategy that is most efficient. The pain of looking bad is worse than the gain of making the best move

-Moneyball

What are the odds that people will make smart decisions about money if they don't need to make smart decisions--if they can get rich making dumb decisions? The incentives on Wall Street were all wrong; they're still all wrong

-The Big Short

There was a rift in American life that was now coursing through American government. It wasn’t between Democrats and Republicans. It was between the people who were in it for the mission, and the people who were in it for the money

-The Fifth Risk

Every form of strength covers one weakness and creates another, and therefore every form of strength is also a form of weakness and every weakness a strength

-Moneyball

People don't like uncertainty, and their minds are tools for making sense of the world, even when the world is senseless

-The Undoing Project

If you challenge the conventional wisdom, you will find ways to do things much better than they are currently done

-Moneyball

The secret to doing good research is always to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours

-The Undoing Project

Popular Books

Moneyball

Michael Lewis

Using data to win in baseball and business

Flash Boys

Michael Lewis

Exposing high-frequency trading on Wall Street, Lewis uncovers a rigged system and the rebels fighting for fairness.

Liar's Poker

Michael Lewis

A gripping insider's account of 1980s Wall Street excess, greed, and the high-stakes world of bond trading.

Going Infinite

Michael Lewis

The rise and fall of crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried in a high-stakes financial roller-coaster.

Boomerang

Michael Lewis

Global financial insanity exposed through darkly comedic investigative storytelling.

The Blind Side

Michael Lewis

Inspiring true story of a homeless teen's journey to NFL stardom, exploring race, family, and American football.

The Big Short

Michael Lewis

A gripping exposé of the 2008 financial crisis, following eccentric investors who foresaw and profited from Wall Street's collapse.

Undoing Project

Michael Lewis

A captivating exploration of the groundbreaking collaboration between two psychologists that revolutionized our understanding of human decision-making.