The Bond King, Mary Childs
The Bond King, Mary Childs
8 Rating(s)
List: $26.99 | Sale: $18.89
Club: $13.49

The Bond King
How One Man Made a Market, Built an Empire, and Lost It All

Author: Mary Childs

Narrator: Mary Childs

Unabridged: 11 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/15/2022


Synopsis

This program is read by the author.

From the host of NPR’s Planet Money, the deeply-investigated story of how one visionary, ruthless investor changed American finance forever.

Before Bill Gross was known among investors as the Bond King, he was a gambler. In 1966, a fresh college grad, he went to Vegas armed with his net worth ($200) and a knack for counting cards. $10,000 and countless casino bans later, he was hooked: so he enrolled in business school.

The Bond King is the story of how that whiz kid made American finance his casino. Over the course of decades, Bill Gross turned the sleepy bond market into a destabilized game of high risk, high reward; founded Pimco, one of today’s most powerful, secretive, and cutthroat investment firms; helped to reshape our financial system in the aftermath of the Great Recession—to his own advantage; and gained legions of admirers, and enemies, along the way. Like every American antihero, his ambition would also be his undoing.

To understand the winners and losers of today’s money game, journalist Mary Childs argues, is to understand the bond market—and to understand the bond market is to understand the Bond King.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

About Mary Childs

Mary Childs (she/her) is a co-host and correspondent for NPR’s Planet Money podcast. Previously she was a reporter at Barron’s magazine, the Financial Times, and Bloomberg News. She graduated from Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, with a degree in business journalism.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Roxane on December 06, 2022

Well written but I am not really into finance books and at times the tone seemed to not account for how corrupt the subject actually is.......more

Goodreads review by William on March 28, 2022

Entertaining to a point, and educational to a point. I am not 100% convinced that she really understands bond math. More importantly, the are elements of this book that sound like an expose. I could have used less hyperbole and more analysis. But an easy read, and worth the time, if you have it to s......more

Goodreads review by Eustacia on May 02, 2022

It’s probably no surprise that I heard about this book because it’s by an NPR reporter and Planet Money and The Indicator are two of the podcasts that I listen to regularly. So when Planet Money did an episode on the book, I decided to check it out. The Bond King is the story of Bill Gross, the man w......more

Goodreads review by Graeme on June 26, 2022

A deeply disturbing book on the insular world of very rich financial execs. The author has a delightfully approachable demeanor to the book that makes it less threatening. This really helps make it more readable. Without some cursory knowledge of the financial sector, this book will be hard to follow......more

Goodreads review by Ron on April 05, 2022

I really enjoyed this book. As a retired financial advisor I am well aware of Bill Gross, Mohamed El-Erian, and others including Ed Thorpe. I respected them and listened to them carefully to form my own opinions. I recommended Pimco bond funds for years and was very happy with the results. I easily......more


Awards

  • Amazon.com Best Books of the Year