Ingenial

Philip Pullman, addressing an audience at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, was asked about whether his latest book, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, was offensive. Here’s his answer:

via Boing Boing

If you had to pick someone to write the autopsy report on the Wall Street financial collapse 18 months ago, you couldn’t do any better than Michael Lewis. He is one of the country’s preeminent non-fiction writers with a knack for turning complicated, mind numbing material into fascinating yarns.

He wrote his first bestseller, “Liar’s Poker,” about his experiences as a young Wall Street bond trader when he was still in his 20s and has since followed up with seven more bestsellers on subjects ranging from Silicon Valley in “The New New Thing” to big time sports in “Money Ball” and “The Blind Side.”

His new book, called “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine,” comes out later this week and it explains how some of Wall Street’s finest minds managed to destroy $1.75 trillion of wealth in the subprime mortgage markets.

“60 Minutes”  spent two days debriefing Lewis at his home in California:

Part I – how the collapse came about and who knew what was going on

Part II – the culture of bonuses and ratings and why it’s unnecessary

Extra: The $8.4 billion dollar bet

Stick with the video for a bit.