5. Panic! The Story of Modern Financial Insanity

By Michael Lewis
(Norton — $27.95)

Be warned: This book is a collection of articles written mostly not by Michael Lewis, author of Liar’s Poker and other books. That said, it is an often enjoyable romp through financial busts of the past two decades, from the 1987 stock market crash to the current mortgage meltdown and credit crunch. Lewis himself offers perspective on what he considers a new era of panic—one "brought on not by real or even perceived problems but by the complexity of financial products."

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