The Greatest Trade Ever

Book excerpt: 'The definitive account of a sensational trade' Michael Lewis, author of The Big Short Autumn 2008. The world's finances collapse but one man makes a killing. John Paulson, a softly spoken hedge-fund manager who still took the bus to work, seemed unlikely to stake his career on one big gamble. But he did - and The Greatest Trade Ever is the story of how he realised that the sub-prime housing bubble was going to burst, making $15 Billion for his fund and more than $4 Billion for himself in a single year. It's a tale of folly and wizardry, individual brilliance versus institutional stupidity. John Paulson made the biggest winning bet in history. And this is how he did it. 'Extraordinary, excellent' Observer 'A must-read for anyone fascinated by financial madness' Mail on Sunday 'A forensic, read-in-one-sitting book' Sunday Times 'Simply terrific. Easily the best of the post-crash financial books' Malcolm Gladwell 'A great page-turner and a great illuminator of the market's crash' John Helyar, author of Barbarians at the Gate