Customer Reviews
Compulsive account of how Leeson brought down Barings Bank - By: , 17 Dec 2005 
There's always something compelling about reading someone's account of getting themselves deeper & deeper into mortal trouble. Then add the racy dark humour that is peppered throughout the book as Nick Leeson looks back on his futile attempts to rectify his increasingly desperate trading situation, whilst those around him are oblivious to the impending disaster. The narrative cleverly reveals just enough detail to vividly depict the general atmosphere of things without being bogged downin flowery descriptions, helping to maintain a good pace.
This is a classic story of a classic dilemma - what to do if you (or someone you are responsible for) makes a serious mistake. Do you face the immediate consequences & come clean with those affected by the mistake, or do you work around it & try & remedy the mistake before anyone finds out, whilst risking making things even worse? Whatever the morals of the decisions Nick madein response to such a dilemma, one just can't help but empathise & be swept upin his predicament.
The fact that it all happened for real makes this book so much more gripping than some trashy corporate thriller. You are likely to finish it within days, if notin a single sitting as I did. And read it again only a few months later.
Extraordinary - By: R. P. Sedgwick, 08 Jan 2005 
The extraordinary tale of how one man brought Britain's oldest bank to the point of collapse, without any of his superiors even being aware of the situation. This is a first hand account of how Leeson got away with something which escalated completely out of control. The really shocking part is the sheer level of incompetence of almost everyone elsein the organisation at the time.
Bank Gambling Without Limit - By: ianrmillard, 18 Aug 2004 
Nick Leeson seems to have been a chap without much formal education (even by today's piss-poor standards), no huge curiosity about the world, but some cunning & a lot of facility for mental arithmetic. Deriving from the outer London commuter suburb of Watford, he somehow became head of a small team of traders doing --to most-- incomprehensible things on computer screen that can make people a lot of money. Thus, he became (cf. Bonfire of the Vanities; Wall Street) a "master of the universe", able to "moon" without embarrassmentin a bar (though not without pain,in Singapore, which enforces the standards Watford now does not, sadly).
This book exposes many things: how right they arein Russia to call money "the element that makes stupidity shine" & don't the British & Americans respect those who have it! Or can make it, Or who can pretend to be able to make it...
Leeson garners a lot of sympathy for himself, really. For my money the villains are the same sort of idiots who are STILLin charge of the law firms, City banks, racecourses & other institutionsin the UK:in this case, from Peter Baring (Chairman because his great-great-etc grandad was...and intellect not required, so long as the port is passed properly), to the greedy execs & managers at Barings (there through pushiness not intellectual horsepower, very often) who talk of "shedloads of money" & the like; & of course the whole madness of a system where people can make money by pushing buttons & young men (whether ex-Oxbridge or ex-Watford) can make bonuses of millions by luck & finger-facility & not a lot more. Wake up, City, if it looks too good to be true, it usually is! Remember 1987, the housing collapse, the dot.com bubble.......
Time has granted disenchantemnt - By: Ali Robertson, 15 Apr 2003 
With the fever of Barings' collapsein mind this book may have seemed fascinating. At a distance of a few years we can tell that Nick Leeson spends most of the book whining that it was all someone else's fault. He fails to capture the insane atmosphere of a trading floor, with the exception of one superb analogy, & his mawkish declarations of lurve for a woman he keptin the dark for years are embarassing. Read Liars' Poker instead.
Outstanding Stuff! - By: , 27 Sep 2001 Nick Leesons interpretation of the events that lead to Baring's demise is gripping & funny.
His description of his rise from a back office settlement clerk is remarkable if only for the simple fact that it happenedin the first place.
He takes you on a intense & exciting ride from the start of the book. It's obvious that he made mistakes & the consequences lead to many people being unemployed. But, doesn't the fact that it was allowed to happen make you think on a wider scale? Were old Merchant Banks chasing the 'quick buck' without much knowledge? Would it have happenedin another bank? Then ask if it was a mixture of Nick Leesons greed & Barings terrible infrastructure.
Terrible mistakes, writtenin a excitingly brilliant way.
I definitely recommend this book.
