Chris DeMuth Jr.'s  Instablog

Conversation with the author of Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System -- and Themselves

Chris DeMuth Jr:

Anything that you would add (or subtract) if your book were published today?

Andrew Ross Sorkin:

Happily, there's not much I change in the book. That was always one of my biggest worries - that I'd find out something new later that changed the narrative of the book. If anything, I might add some new details for the book but nothing that would change the storyline. The kind of things I would add probably would be details from the Federal Reserve Board's minutes and perhaps some e-mails that emerged from civil lawsuits. Really, most of it would be just to add more color and texture to the book.

Chris DeMuth Jr:

What would you do differently as an investor as a result?

Andrew Ross Sorkin:

Well, the big investment lesson is to do your research and be skeptical of what you hear from the governments and frankly from the banks. If you based all your decisions on the press releases that the government and banks issued, you'd be very poor. The other big lesson is in realizing that confidence doesn't evaporate in weeks and months, it evaporates in minutes and hours. So we always have to be ready for that.

If you would like to learn more about Too Big to Fail, please look for a longer article which will appear on Friday, February 15th (also known as the day that discerning bargain hunters shop for Valentine's Day gifts). The book was also made into a movie that is worth watching.