In similar fashion to other Michael Lewis books, Going Infinite took me for a hell of a ride. I am positive that as I write this review movie producers are lining up to transform Going Infinite into a movie—just as they did for Moneyball,The Blind Side, and The Big Short. Lewis has the talent of rendering transparent a myriad of complex financial subjects and maneuvering the subject of his book into a pellucid narrative about the idiosyncratic characters involved. Indeed, I believe that Lewis desires to comb through the messy money-related issues to then delve into the eccentric individuals that are, in most of Lewis’s books, piloting the financial vessel that is likely causing an economic tsunami. In Going Infinite, the person helming the boat that caused billions in lost capital was Sam Bankman Fried, and that ship’s name was FTX.

It is hard to put into words how much fun Going Infinite was to read. But, as your trusted book reviewer, that is pretty much my only job. By the time I finished this novel, my idea of how much money a billion dollars is had been manipulated because of how much money the folks at FTX, mainly Sam Bankman Fried, has tossed around. FTX invested billions as if it was a game. And, by the time FTX collapsed (this is not a spoiler, you live under a rock if this is “news”), it was only a few billion “missing” that caused their ultimate demise. One of my law school professors whole-heartedly believes that Sam’s parents, both Stanford Law School professors, assisted in the scheme that led to Sam’s criminal charges—the deception was so opaque and complex that the whole process could only have been designed by brilliant legal professors and their son. Regardless of who conned who, this story is so insane that I can only compare it to the book and later movie: Crazy Rich Asians. The sheer level of wealth and ideologies hosted by the characters defies any comparison to your average wall street banker. And the multitude of corporate attorneys and investment bankers defecting from their prestigious job to get a taste of the cryptomania occurring in the Bahamas was evidence of this foremost explosion of wealth.

Lastly, as much as we are supposed to hate Sam Bankman Fried, I found his life extremely fascinating. This is not to say what he did was extremely wrong: the billions of dollars that vanished under his watch affected wealthy investors and the general population alike (so few people can explain crypto and blockchain that I would argue both parties are on similar footing as far as initial investing knowledge goes). But, after separating Sam from his crimes, Lewis incorporated plenty of philosophy and think-tank ideas that captivated me. For instance, Sam worked closely with a group based out of Berkeley, California called Effective Altruism, whose main mission is to make as much money as possible—usually through markets—to in turn donate it all to nonprofits that pragmatically identify how their money has saved a quantifiable number of lives. Going Infinite, contrasted with other Lewis books, hosts so many schools of philosophy that I think a new layer was added to Lewis’s writing: after laying the foundation of the novel financial issue and introducing the unconventional characters, Lewis proceeds to explain how those individuals past has led them to their current position. Instead of entering the issue at its relevant beginning, Lewis has expanded the timeline to include important past character information to create an even bigger picture. And just to reiterate, I am excited to see this become a movie (I am speaking it into existence).