Bill Bryson is one of those authors whose tone, style and content is so perfectly aligned to me that anything he writes goes in my reading list.
This has been a favourite of mine under the category of relaxing evening read as to me, as to most I suppose, the world of late 20s America is far enough away to be as close to fiction as history. Bryson is a master of peering into the details of history and science, and finding wonderful stories to tell in his wry avuncular manner (especially with the audio version).
The enduring theme of so much of Bryson’s work is that under every headline fact, discovery or historical event is a set of human characters, in that there are bad decisions, blind luck, posturing, lies and foolishness.
I love this for the vivid picture it paints of the time, the national attitude of hope and endeavour, the way in which the brand new news media is stirring up storms of hype, and the way in which the dynamics and decisions involved seem somehow so alien yet so familiar at the same time.
Though I already knew a chunk of this story (I’m guilty of digging into any and all tech/celeb “fall from grace” stories - see Elizabeth Holmes), but I was pleasantly surprised by the approach and depth lewis goes to.
Weirdly, I found the book moved me to some sympathy for SBF, which I suppose is part of the intention as painting people as monsters is dull and stories like this thrive on the nuance, the balance between warring intentions and eventual tipping over into ruin. The most fun however has been the start of the book, the exploration of the Effective Alturist movement, and the details of how the folks at Jane Street think and make money. Even with no reference at all to FTX or SBF, I think the description of their interview process makes for fascinating reading.
As someone who followed the FTX story, the end of the book gets less interesting as it covers details I’m already familiar with, but remains worth reading. Lewis has done his research, and does uncover details that aren’t found anywhere else (as he’s keen to prove by explaining how he flew to the bahamas to talk to Sam personally).
Like all books like this, it’s not about crypto in the same way that Bad Blood isn’t about blood. It’s about looking at someone who created a disaster, a hoax, a financial crime of huge proportions, and asking, what makes a person do this?
The answer for SBF is both unusual and mundane. It wasn’t pure greed like the Enrons of the world, but was a certain amount of talent mixed with hubris, and a willingness to lie when things go wrong, digging deeper rather than confronting the hard truth.
I was gifted this by my sister, who takes opportunities like this to remind me why she’s one of the best people in the world. Attending David’s book launch, she asked him to sign a copy for me with the inscription “a rat’s anus?”. I’ll treasure it forever.
It’s a lovely amiable stroll through history that read’s in Mitchell’s distinctive voice, never letting you forget that he’s a smart guy, but also being clear that he’s just as focused on making you laugh as much as learn. It’s witty, easy-going and does a great job of bringing to life some areas of history that are naturally inaccessible, and often ignored by all but the most devoted of history readers.
I came to this book through a very odd method. I saw the fantastic play “The Accidental Death of an Anarchist” in which Rigby stars (which I can’t recommend enough by the way), and thought his one-man whirlwind performance was so good I went home to google him and see what else he’d done. I was mildly surprised to find that as well as acting he’d written a comedy sci-fi noir about a foul-mouthed alcoholic detective investigating grizzly murders in a totally insane future UK called “Greatest Britain”.
It’s brilliant fun, silly to its core, and revels in mucking about with tropes that I love anyway. It bounds headlong into colouring the world and making full use of the wonderfully mad narrator, and yet despite it’s obvious and relentless desire to take the piss out of itself as a piece of fiction, manages to be a good story, with perceptive and sensitive undertones that leaves you wanting more actual resolution for the characters.