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Going Infinite

The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon

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Going Infinite

By: Michael Lewis
Narrated by: Michael Lewis
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Summary

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'I asked him how much it would take for him to sell FTX and go do something other than make money. He thought the question over. "One hundred and fifty billion dollars," he finally said-though he added that he had use for "infinity dollars"...'

Sam Bankman-Fried wasn't just rich. Before he turned thirty he'd become the world's youngest billionaire, making a record fortune in the crypto frenzy. CEOs, celebrities and world leaders vied for his time. At one point he considered paying off the entire national debt of the Bahamas so he could take his business there.

Then it all fell apart.

Who was this Gatsby of the crypto world, a rumpled guy in cargo shorts, whose eyes twitched across TV interviews as he played video games on the side, who even his million-dollar investors still found a mystery? What gave him such an extraordinary ability to make money - and how did his empire collapse so spectacularly?

Michael Lewis was there when it happened, having got to know Bankman-Fried during his epic rise. In Going Infinite he tells us a story like no other, taking us through the mind-bending trajectory of a character who never liked the rules and was allowed to live by his own. Both psychological portrait of a preternaturally gifted 'thinking machine', and wild financial roller-coaster ride, this is a twenty-first-century epic of high-frequency trading and even higher stakes, of crypto mania and insane amounts of money, of hubris and downfall. No one could tell it better.

©2023 Michael Lewis (P)2023 Penguin Audio
Corporate & Public Finance International Political Science Politics & Government Money Stock Business Capitalism
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Critic reviews

Going Infinite is in many ways Lewis at his best. He marshals a complex global story without losing sight of the delightful and revealing human details. He is a world-class noticer … Lewis is a generous writer with a humane intelligence, and it is to his credit that he doesn’t reach for easy cynicism or cheap effects. (Jesse Armstrong)
Going Infinite is wildly entertaining, surprising multiple times on pretty much every page, but it adds up to a sad story, even a tragedy, for its central character and for all the people who lost so much thanks to his actions… Lewis tries to answer the first question he was asked about Bankman-Fried: who was this guy? The question of his guilt or innocence Lewis leaves to the criminal justice system. I think that’s good practice, given that the trial is happening right now. For what it’s worth, I see no contradiction between the person described in Going Infinite and the things SBF is accused of having done. In fact I think the book makes it easier to understand how and why he did what he allegedly did. (John Lanchester)
Life is what happens between Michael Lewis books. (Michael Hofmann)
All stars
Most relevant
The fact that some reviewers have criticised Lewis for being, among other things, "sycophantic," suggests just how raw this topic remains. Going Infinite is in no way a sympathetic account of FTX or Bankman-Fried. I found it to be fair-minded and imbued with that great Michael Lewis virtue: curiosity. Anyone who interprets it somehow as a defence of FTX might suffer from the same quirks of personality as its erstwhile CEO.

Fair minded

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Not one of his best. Little depth of explanation of the people or events, and no real challenge of the Effective Altruism motivation purportedly underpinning SBF /FTX story.

A disappointment compared to his other works.

A borderline hagiography

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As always it was well read by Lewis and well written. I'm just not sure there is enough or the true story yet for a book to be written, it seemed to lack real context and information like other ML books. one thing's for sure SBF sounds like a tool.

unsure.....

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Like most of ML’s books it is a great listen, fast paced and fun with some really good prose which keeps you engaged. However, it doesn’t ever go into the details. You never fully can understand exactly what went wrong, just the general overview. The ending therefore feels very abrupt. No comments or judgements made on the actors, either, despite being criminals or morally dubious actors in the downfall

A very good audiobook, but fails to get into the detail

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Good book, not the best subject matter but with a good introduction to crypto for a beginner.

Not Michael Lewis’ best but still compellingly written

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