by Ben Mezrich
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Product Description
From the author who brought you the massive New York Times bestseller Bringing Down the House, this is the startling rags-to-riches story of an Italian-American kid from the streets of Brooklyn who claws his way into the wild, frenetic world of the oil exchange. After conquering the hallowed halls of Harvard Business School, he enters the testosterone-laced warrens of the Merc Exchange, the asylumlike oil exchange located in lower Manhattan. A place where billions of dollars trade hands every week, the Merc is like a casino on crack, where former garbagemen become millionaires overnight and where fistfights break out on the trading floor. This ordinary kid has traded Brooklyn for the gold-lined hotel palaces of Dubai. He keeps company on the decks of private yachts in Monte Carlo—teeming with half-naked girls flown in by Saudi sheiks—and makes deals in the dangerous back alleys of Beijing. But the Merc is just a starting place. Taken under the wing of another young gun and partnering with a mysterious young Muslim, the kid embarks on a dangerous adventure to revolutionize the oil trading industry—and, along with it, the world. Rigged is the explicit, exclusive, true story behind the headlines that dominate the world stage.
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Just slightly better than completely useless, 2008-08-24
I picked up this book hoping it might be something on the order of "Liars Poker" or "Barbarians at the Gates" or "The Pay Pal Wars," books that imparted huge amounts of information about the businesses that they covered. Boy, was I ever disappointed.
Mezrich's characters are suitable for comic books, the business concepts he imparts are perhaps the level that would be explained to fourth-graders on a field trip, and the plot is close to non-existent. I'd say his writing is boring but it seldom rises to that level.
I trade futures and FOREX, so I know a bit about markets and finance. Most of the narrative-type business books I have read give me at least one or two important pieces of information about the business itself. What Mezrich imparts about the Merc can be put into a one-page pamphlet.
I was most of the way through this piece of dreck when I realized what the point of this book was-- Mezrich is hoping to land a movie script. He tried to write it simple and shallow enough for Hollywood mogels to understand, and he tried to incorporate glitz and money and sex.
Save your money, save your time-- skip this book. Mr. C.S.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 rigged, 2008-08-17
A page turning book about a 25 year old guy from Harvard Business School who goes to work on the New York mercantile exchange trading oil. The book details his young and fast paced life, including the money, women, and exotic travel he encounters along the way. It takes you along in his journeys back and forth to Dubai (as part of an attempt to open an energy exchange there) and the opulence he encounters while there. I was fascinated by the authors accounts of the city, and it enabled me to paint a more complete picture of what has become a booming international destination.
If you like this book, you might also enjoy The Wolf of Wall Street, which is in the same genre but arguably somewhat better written.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Based on a true story, maybe, definitely not a true story, 2008-08-04
Even as a novel, it is not that well written. Mr. Mezrich is brilliant in selecting interesting topics to write about, but not brilliant enough to deliver.
After reading this book, you will gain no insight in the trading and oil businesses. Spend your time on some other more worthwhile books.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Sad, Weak, and Unreadable, 2008-07-26
Ben Mezrich is the saddest excuse for a non-fiction writer/journalist there is out there. I only bought this book on a flight back the Middle East where I am currently stationed. I've been to Dubai, and I can tell you right now that Ben Mezrich is only regurgitating what he's read or dreamed about. Yes, Dubai is up and coming, but at the same time its truly is overrated. As far as his knowledge of the MERC, I could have learned that reading the Journal. Ben needs to go get laid or something, the way he talks about women in his books "Bringing Down the House" and this book, "Rigged" just shows you that he lives in a fantasy world. I guess what really blows me away is how the book never gets a hold of your attention. What was the fu**ing point of this book? Bottom line here is this; if you have time and money to waste, you like to read poorly written works, and you live in a fantasy world then buy it. If not, leave it on the shelf and don't give Mezrich any more reason to think that he should write another book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Ah...Not So much, 2008-06-26
Mezrich books have been fun in the past, blackjack etc. and I really enjoyed Ugly Americans. However, this book is one dimensional with the minus of exaggerated dramatic situations. I cannot complain too much as I read it in a day, definitely fast paced, but I kept waiting for something cooler or more interesting to happen, which never did. To save you the time; Ivy league Kid gets job at the MERC in NY, UAE is figuring out how to position themselves for the future as a tiny middle eastern country and want to set up oil exchange in Dubai, NY Kid goes to Dubai and helps set up mid east oil mercantile exchange. Woulda been a good magazine article. Anyways I cannot recommend this book. "Bringing Down the House" and "Ugly Americans" were definitely much more interesting.
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