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Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
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Going Infinite
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Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
'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.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Alan Mahon
- 05-10-23
Puff piece for a sociopath and conman
Disappointing that Lewis has completely jumped the shark after a glittering career.
He goes into bat hard for SBF for most of the 8 or so hours in a complete failure of reporting.
I was excited for this. But it’s pitiful. Don’t waste a credit and find better perspectives elsewhere.
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Martin Jungkvist
- 04-10-23
Not worth it
Michael Lewis is clearly starstruck by SBF and fails to present an objective account of events, or is perhaps to lazy to integrate revelations from the past year about SBF and FTX into this sloppy, idolising portrait. So many of SBFs proven lies and glazed over or ignored. As the trial gets underway, this attempt at revisionism is going to look worse by the day.
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- At this for too long.
- 06-10-23
Far from his best work, sycophantic.
Rose tinted glasses make red flags just flags.
Michael Lewis was a force in the unvarnished truth story telling, now he’s just another celeb writer seeking relevance (walk on part in Billions!).
Oh dear.
There are better analyses of the crypto game.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dr AL Marais
- 05-10-23
Love Michael Lewis
I think the whole SBF story is so tragic and of our times. Michael captured the story beautifully.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Gio
- 29-11-23
The absolute disregard for money
Given he was as close as he was to SBF he failed to reveal anything more than what we already knew and also failed to explain exactly how FTX ultimately lost billions to place it in insolvency
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 06-10-23
Superb
While I agree with some of the comments here that this isn't his best work this it's still far & away better than 95 percent of the other current works by none fiction writers. There's a reason why I & no doubt most of the people reading this blased through it in virtually one sitting, it's because it's both informative & entertaining to read. Can't wait to see what's next for lewis.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- PETER S WARING
- 06-10-23
Fair minded
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.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Guy J. Martin
- 05-10-23
Fascinating, but only two acts.
The third act is left for podcast listeners as the book was released on the day SBF started his trial. I’m not sure if a second edition will add this part of the story, but as it is it’s not bad.
I was disappointed the PDF mentioned by Michael was not available on Audible.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 05-10-23
Another fun book by Lewis
Michael Lewis has an amazing instinct for finding fascinating stories and the people who drive them. A fresh and original work with the classic voice and tone of Lewis, if you like his previous books I predict you’ll like this one as well
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- olive jam
- 30-11-23
Very interesting
What an insight to SBF without emotion or persuasion from the author of his thoughts or conclusions about SBF’s innocence or guilt. If I’d not read this I would probably have been more judgemental in my views while reading about the recent trial. SBF was found guilty, but this helps explains his prosaic intentions and massive maladministration and management.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Hellocat
- 06-10-23
As always, Lewis finds a unique angle
As so many other people, I expected this to be a brutal takedown piece of one of the most reviled figures of recent memory. I should have known better.
Lewis never tells the story you think he is going to, but somehow always ends up telling a better one, and from an angle you never considered.
Many reviewers seem to think that Lewis is somehow taken in by SBF and is way too kind to him. This is missing the point entirely. He never makes excuses for SBF and has no illusions as to his culpability in everything that has happened.
Going Infinite is a balanced, nuanced take that is just as harsh on the people who allowed themselves to be fooled by promises they knew were too good to be true. Bankman-Fried unwittingly turns out to be the ultimate bull in a china shop, and while you can be angry that the bull wrecked everything, you also have to wonder who the hell let him in there in the first place.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 14-11-23
A great story that fills in a lot of interesting little details
SBF is a fascinating character - well written and researched - looking forward to Part 2
Thanks
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 25-10-23
Goodbye michael Lewis’s reputation
At no point in this puff piece does lewis point out sam is using stolen money to play monopoly with the planet. Let’s for arguments sake say Sam was robin hooding everyone to change the world…great , but don’t paint him as not a criminal for it he stole normal peoples money not just the rich
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 14-10-23
Loved it. Highly recommended.
This is a great book. It gives you a deeper insight into the dealings of FTX in its glory days and right before it crashed.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Joshua
- 13-10-23
Lewis's best inside view since Liars Poker
While Lewis's seemingly at times naive appreciation for SBF can be head scratching, but the story told has the feeling of a fly on the wall of a real life white collar network television show, except the characters involved are way less sexy and introverted, and the finally is financial collapse.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 09-10-23
A story of two blind men
Sam who cannot see what he doesn't know so guesses "calculates" many things wrong. Michael who does not see the story "I don't know what happened, but in the future we would have more so it is ok" is not a good one.
Captivating read but....
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- nicholas strain
- 09-10-23
Lazy
Michael Lewis clearly had a deadline to finish this book and decided the path of least resistance was the right one. He literally glossed over so many key issues including the most important issue at hand, the fraud. He seemed happy to give SBF and his associates a “pass” on the fact that they stole other peoples money because he was an effective altruist ? It was someone else’s money! Just because you are an EA and have some deluded vision that your elite liberal views are right for all of us doesn’t justify the means. This is the last book of his I will buy. It’s fabulous complicated story of human nature where Lewis had unrivalled access and like a character in money ball Michael deserves to be sent back to the Farm league.
PS while I am involved in crypto and lost a very small amount of money that is not my motivator.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Michal
- 08-10-23
Another hagiography by Lewis, but fun
it is not as ass-kissing as other people say, but I strongly suggest that you read "Number Go Up" and "Easy Money" for a more balanced perspective
that said, the book is well written and gripping as per usual for ML
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Thandi Lamprecht
- 07-10-23
Excellent
Fascinating “inside” perspective of “Sam’s world”. I think this is one of Micheal Lewis’s best books. I couldn’t stop listening to it and I’m definitely going to listen to it again.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Richard
- 07-10-23
Excellent
Listened to it twice in immediate succession. How unusual to have such an "inside" perspective, so early in the process.
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