Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report Creeping Onto Best-Seller Lists

Good news for people who like the published findings of government inquiries! "The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report," by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, is something of a modest best-seller. And the chairman of the commission, Phil Angelides, is doing book signings.

Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee has the good news:

While it's no threat to "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" mysteries, the book has climbed up several charts since its release in late January.

The report, which documents the causes of the 2008 crash in the financial markets, is No. 10 on the New York Times' list of best-selling nonfiction paperbacks, for instance. It's also made lists compiled by the Washington Post and USA Today.

It sounds pretty good to me that people are taking an interest in the commission's findings. If you'd like some recommendations for further reading on the subject, I personally enjoyed Diary Of A Very Bad Year: Interviews With An Anonymous Hedge Fund Manager, 13 Bankers, and I.O.U.: Why Everyone Owes Everyone And No One Can Pay.

Kasler reports that the commission's report had an initial print run of 25,000 copies, which have sold well enough that its publisher, Public Affairs has "since run off another 5,000 copies." It's also available as a Kindle edition. To put this in perspective, it's still lagging behind the all-time best selling government inquiry report, "The 9/11 Commission Report," which "sold more than 1 million copies."

SPOILER ALERT: The financial crisis was "avoidable." Also, Dumbledore dies. (By "Dumbledore," I mean "the entire economy" and "most of the jobs.")

RELATED:
'Financial Crisis Inquiry Report' book is a best-seller [Sacramento Bee]

PREVIOUSLY, on the HUFFINGTON POST:
Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission's 10 Major Findings

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Comments

[namewithheld]

05:20 PM on 02/19/2011

Between this and the 9/11 report it might be time to invest in Whitewash Publishing Company.

[austinfuller]

11:19 AM on 02/17/2011

I wonder if Voldemort is in this one

[Vinnster]

06:24 AM on 02/17/2011

Obama....bought and paid for. Progressives have been conned and snookered, but like the wife who knows her man is cheating she stays with him...Progressives will continue to vote for the guy that steals their money and gives it to rich fat cats....who is the fool?

[devondx]

06:44 PM on 02/17/2011

and your genius alternative would be .....?

[namewithheld]

05:20 PM on 02/19/2011

Wrong. Yes, I've been snookered -- you probably voted for Bush twice -- but I'm voting for Bernie Sanders in 2012, whether he runs or not.

[msbeal]

05:30 AM on 02/17/2011

I'm half way through the book and I think it's a great read. Highly recommended. And, no one who hasn't read it can voice an educated opinion on the subject.

[bthechangeyouseek]

08:42 AM on 02/17/2011

The subject is well covered in several books too.

[msbeal]

11:58 PM on 02/18/2011

No. No it is NOT. See comment below.

[Jdaddy1951]

10:32 AM on 02/17/2011

Honey, it's not the ONLY book on the subject. There's plenty of information available on the Internet. Nice try at intimidating comment from people who don't share your best-seller interests. And the Internet information is probably available at 100 percent less cost. A REAL bargain, in these times, for people who can't afford to run out and grab the latest Book-of-the-Month Club/NY Times Best Seller elite recommendation.

[msbeal]

11:57 PM on 02/18/2011

I've read many books on the subject. And, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Report is available for free online, if springing $8.00 is too much. http://www.fcic.gov/report

The subject IS NOT COVERED AS WELL in other books. Show me one other author on this subject who had a committee composed of financial experts, a staff of about 100 researchers and accountants, and with full congressional subpoena power to view the books, emails and testimony from of all the major players in this story from CitiBank down to Moody's corporations?

I'm not asking you to take my word for it. I'm not even asking you agree with the conclusions of the book. But, I'll say this again. No one can claim ANY expertise in this subject without reading and fully digesting this book (and it's online component which has additional material). Period.

As an aside: In another book on this subject, The Great American Stickup, one woman plays prominently as a whistle blower to the Wall street abuses responsible for the crash. Her name is Brooksley Born. She single handed ran an effort to get Greenspan to wake up to what was happening in the unregulated derivatives market only to be diss'ed, shunted aside and poked fun of.

I was pleasantly surprised to see her name listed first as a committee member on the Financial Crisis report. Her facinating history you can read on Wikipedia. Some day they'll make a movie of her life like Erin Brokovitch.

[Kat Posing]

01:55 AM on 02/17/2011

Jason,

Thanks for the spoiler! You made my evening :D

PS. Keep up the good work. Hope to hear more about this whodunit, the names of the bad guys, how much they are going to have to pay in fines and penalties and how long they will be in jail for.

Kat

[Olderandwiser55]

12:31 AM on 02/17/2011

With technology, we also get transparency. The fact that this report is easily downloadable, free Kindle version at Amazon(on which it's easy to highlight and add notes)-I love it. I wish the Warren Commission report had been so available.

[Mafdet]

11:49 PM on 02/16/2011

The Commission determined that some individuals committed criminal fraud and should be prosecuted.  When does America get to see that part of their report?

[fopplssiegeparty]

11:19 PM on 02/16/2011

Jason, that spoiler alert is funny stuff! I would be laughing my @ss off if I wasn't so depressed.

Thanks for your tireless efforts to inform the public. I often wonder if it's too little, too late.

[ydrittmann]

12:49 AM on 02/17/2011

It is.

[TheCommons]

07:37 PM on 02/16/2011

Buy a hard copy if you must, or just download it here http://www.fcic.gov/report .

[Olderandwiser55]

12:27 AM on 02/17/2011

It's free on the Amazon Kindle.