Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World

Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World (2012) is the latest book by Michael Lewis. And once again Lewis manages to explain disasters in the economy with precision and aplomb. There isn't an overall narrative in this book, but Lewis manages to find stories and people that explain what went wrong in each different place. For example, in "Wall Street On The Tundra," Lewis analyzes the mess in Iceland an sees what happens when fishermen try to become traders. It is also due to an aggressive male dominated society that brings them to financial ruin. Next, Lewis travels to Greece to find out how a group of monks were partly responsible for the economic woes that are tearing that country apart in "And They Invented Math." This may be the most fascinating chapter to me for a number of reasons, mainly because of how problematic the government's finances were and how they are related to the Greek character and the way they behave. However, the story of the Vatopaidi monastery is equally compelling. This ancient order to monks traded a lake for several other more valuable properties with the government and made a killing--and people are not happy about this. I read a magazine article by Lewis that would become the chapter on Ireland, "Ireland's Original Sin," which is essentially about Ireland's housing bubble where they were lending money to each other to build more houses and now that they have defaulted they are unfinished or finished and empty. Furthermore, the government has made the astonishing decision to pay back the debt. "The Secret Lives of Germans" looks at the one country holding the EU together and how it is reflective of their people. Germans could have made decisions like Ireland or Iceland, but choose not to--showing their no nonsense and careful nature. America is not overlooked here with the chapter "Too Fat To Fly." Lewis looks at the problems of California and talks with Arnold Schwarzenegger to get his perceptions after serving as the state governor. It is another entertaining and instructive book from a consistently effective writer.