Laughing out loud while reading a book about the disastrous financial events of 2008, is a good way to get fitted for an extremely tight white jacket, with lots of straps and buckles. My wife, however, is a patient woman and will wait for me to do something really nuts, before calling in the burly attendants to cart me away.

The fact is, there are places in this book where you’re left with no choice except to laugh. The absurdity of the decisions and actions that led to the mess, is just that stupefying. You have to laugh, because tearing your hair out in disbelief is not really an option. A disbelief that you’ll find shared by the small handful of people who profited from it all by recognizing the mounting absurdity, and betting against the market.

Sure, there’s the film version too. But it was disconcerting being the only two people in the theater at AMC SouthPoint, while Batman was saying important things about credit default swaps on-screen.