I find myself fortunate that in my ten plus years of working, I have only had two supervisors who crafted a highly stress-filled environment (all via their own volition, not the job itself). The first was a manager at my first job, “Welcome to Moes,” the other was in my chain of command during my tenure in the Coast Guard. Nonetheless, I am more thankful that Ray Dalio was never my boss. A large portion of The Fund—possibly too much—follows an alarmingly high rate of employees who discovered that Bridgewater offered a toxic environment reaching levels surpassed only by DuPont production plants in 1930.

There is no denying that Dalio is an economic history wonk, the man can quote downturns in exchange rates from the previous 1,500 years. But that does not translate to being a great firm manager; nor does that mean that Dalio, who almost singlehandedly oversaw Bridgewater’s billions in investment funds, could keep up with newer firms utilizing quantitative trading and complex algorithms. Both topics—creating a toxic workplace and consistently outputting below average returns—are the main subject of The Fund. The former is explicit throughout the book—only a handful of employees mentioned (mainly Dalio), do not become intertwined with draconian internal investigations and public shaming. There is almost always a scale of how much stress and toxicity people will tolerate compared with their yearly income plus the prestige of working at the world’s largest hedge fund. For most, Bridgewater’s seven figure incomes were not enough to offset the constant barrage of yelling, being rated poorly, and fear of making the tiniest of mistakes.

Overall, The Fund is very well researched, indeed I am still unsure how Copeland obtained certain facts and direct quotes. While at some points the book’s language teeters on muckraking, public figures like Ray Dalio are fully deserving of being placed under the microscope regarding their work. Thus, Dalio’s private life should remain as such—which The Fund follows—but Dalio’s incessant marketing of his book, the values he supposedly lives by and requires his employees to follow (and study), and how he manages his hedge fund should be brought to the light. This is where Copeland’s book comes in and does an excellent job.