SKU: 35631192486

The Trading Game: A Confession

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The Trading Game: A ConfessionThe Trading Game: A Confession *NO. 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER* 'An unforgettable story of greed, financial madness and moral decay' Rory Stewart 'Hilarious, shocking and deeply sad often in the same sentence' Sunday Times 'The Wolf of Wall Street with a moral compass' Irvine Welsh An outrageous, white knuckle journey to the dark heart of an intoxicating world from someone who survived the trading game and then blew it all wide open 'If you were gonna

The Trading Game: A Confession

*NO.1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*

'An unforgettable story of greed, financial madness and moral decay' Rory Stewart
'Hilarious, shocking and deeply sad — often in the same sentence' Sunday Times
'The Wolf of Wall Street with a moral compass' Irvine Welsh

An outrageous, white-knuckle journey to the dark heart of an intoxicating world - from someone who survived the trading game and then blew it all wide open

'If you were gonna rob a bank, and you saw the vault door there, left open, what would you do? Would you wait around?

Ever since he was a kid, kicking broken footballs on the streets of East London in the shadow of Canary Wharf's skyscrapers, Gary wanted something better. Something a whole lot bigger.

Then he won a competition run by a bank: 'The Trading Game'. The prize: a golden ticket to a new life, as the youngest trader in the whole city. A place where you could make more money than you'd ever imagined. Where your colleagues are dysfunctional maths geniuses, overfed public schoolboys and borderline psychopaths, yet they start to feel like family. Where soon you're the bank's most profitable trader, dealing in nearly a trillion dollars. A day. Where you dream of numbers in your sleep - and then stop sleeping at all.

But what happens when winning starts to feel like losing? When the easiest way to make money is to bet on millions becoming poorer and poorer - and, as the economy starts slipping off a precipice, your own sanity starts slipping with it? You want to stop, but you can't. Because nobody ever leaves.

Would you stick, or quit? Even if it meant risking everything?


Number 1 Sunday Times bestseller, March 2024

'A well written and often darkly funny book that makes a convincing case that high finance is as toxic, reckless and deeply cynical as ever.' - Guardian

'The Trading Game is Stevenson’s account — his confession — of how he achieved this dream, becoming Citibank’s most profitable trader, and how it made him angry, dejected and ill. There are parallels with Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis, an autobiographical account of a young man’s adventures in the financial markets… This dark but profitable vision is lightened by moments of comic self-importance.' - The Times

'Stevenson is a sharp observer, with a gift for colourful if merciless description… His breakdown started with trading mania and ended with his exile to the Tokyo office, pleading to be allowed to leave. His bonuses had brought him torment, not freedom.' - Financial Times

'For a self-proclaimed mathematics nerd, Stevenson is a fine wordsmith. His greatest strength is his ability to unravel complex concepts… Stevenson candidly shares his traumas and experiences… finance, for all its allure and excess, is a world where excess comes at a cost, a cost not measured in dollars but in the essence of who we become.' - Daily Telegraph

'As a critique of the monstrous modern evolutions of finance, Gary Stevenson’s account of the frenzy and follies of trading “trillions a day” on behalf of the US giant Citibank is powerful… Rude and funny… demotic fast-paced prose... he tells a vivid story and invites us to make our own judgement.' - TLS

'Gary Stevenson’s rags-to-riches memoir exposes a system where the rich can’t lose and the economy is choked by inequality.… Stevenson brings alive the unease of trying to survive in the purgatorial space between being an employee and an outsider…' - New Statesman

SPECIFICATIONS:

Author:Gary Stevenson - Гэри Стивенсон

Publisher:Penguin

Language:English

Publication Date:2025

Number of pages:432 pst

Format:Paperback

Width:127 mm / 5'

Height:197 mm / 7,8'

Weight:311 g

ISBN:9781802062731

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SKU: 35631192486

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4.8 ★★★★★
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M
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mad_buyer
Louisville, US
★★★★★ 5
Outstanding book that lays out a blueprint for communist China's war against the US
A short book that sometimes slips into expressions that take a little time to understand, the two political officers that wrote this book had truly studied US (and western) military campaigns and political movements in order to develop strategies to defeat the west without kinetic warfare. While I (like most others, I believe) understood that CCP wanted to take advantage of the US and have region dominance, this book really opened my eyes. I'll merely list the areas in which these two political officers promoted engagement against the US/west - actions that many (including myself) never realizing these were acts of "unrestricted" and comprehensive warfare. The list: diplomatic warfare financial warfare conventional warfare network warfare trade warfare bio-chemical warfare intelligence warfare resource warfare ecological warfare psychological warfare economic aid warfare space warfare tactical warfare regulatory warfare electronic warfare smuggling warfare sanction warfare guerrilla warfare drug warfare media warfare terrorist warfare virtual warfare (deterrence) ideological warfare fabrication warfare cultural warfare international law warfare atomic warfare Of course, as one recognizes these listed arenas of engagement communist China has with the US, remember that espionage and propaganda play key roles in all of these areas. While the US seeks to counter communist China individually in several of these areas, we have to realize that it is a comprehensive strategy that the CCP is pursuing. Remember this book was published in 1999. What has each side engaged in since then? Epiphanal!
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2022
W
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Walter W. Olson, Ph.D, P.E.
Waukegan, US
★★★★★ 3
A military reading: The cover is misleading
This book is purported to be a translation of China’s Masterplan to Destroy America written by two Colonels in the People’s Liberation Army in 1999. There is reason, but not confirmed, to doubt this. The authors of the book are clearly Chinese. Whether or not the authors are Colonels in the PLA, I feel, is in doubt, as such a plan would never be available to Western sources as quickly as it was after drafting. The book is no “master plan.” It is a discussion of modern warfare strategy written by readers of the worldwide military strategy publications. Most of the publications have been in the United States and China. The cover of this book is misleading with the statement, “Wake up, America.” This book should be little interest to the non-military American. But it should be read by anyone with potential requirements for field grade service (Major and above,) or higher (and equivalent strategy levels in the Marines, Air Force, and Navy.) As far as “Wake Up,” I can recall discussions about strategy that contained most of the information provided within the book as a staff field grade officer in the US Army. While as military officers, we need to be aware of these issues, we are not entirely ignorant of them. The book provides a somewhat different perspective of the issues from a Chinese viewpoint. The first point the authors make, how technology precedes its best employment in warfare. Most of the technology discussed concerns the information processing capabilities of both computers and software. It is more than computerized warfare. A large part of this is based on the technology to US Forces but not entirely. Part of the problem with technology is that mankind becomes so used to using technology to solve today’s problems that previous methods of solving problems are lost. Thus, if the technology can be crippled, it represents an exploitable weakness in war. The second point made, is that the military forces now must consider nonmilitary actions if it is to be effective in both defense and offense. Warfare developed from point battlefields (using swords, knives, etc.,) to linear battlefields (using machine guns and artillery,) to area battlefields, to 3D battlefields (using aircraft and missiles,) to modern infinite-dimensional battlefields which include space, electromagnetic spectrums, and civilian actions. If one can start a war in a computer room or a stock exchange, is there a non-battle space anywhere? Warfare that transcends military boundaries is “unrestricted warfare.” A “kinder warfare” with critical attacks that take no lives is now possible. Technology is providing a means to attack and enemy’s nerve centers without directly harming anything else. Such nerve centers exist in an enemy’s financial systems, their economic systems, their environmental systems, their public media systems, their political systems, their power and energy systems, and their logistics centers. A third point made is that coalitions of disparate forces, internationally, nationally, and military, are formed and broken very quickly, as quickly as within 24 hours! For example, in Desert Storm, the United States weaved together more than 30 nations in various roles. The author’s prescient comment foresaw the alignments that occurred immediately following the 9/11 attack, although this was after the book was written and not available to the authors to use as an example. There was also unity of command established. This, the authors say, stemmed from the US DoD Reorganization Act passed by Congress in 1986. All of the air forces and naval forces were under General Schwartzkopf despite the desires of the individual forces to operate independently. The air tasking order (a 300-page document) drafted in joint sessions by the Air Force, Navy and Marines, had to be approved by General Schwartzkopf before commands were issued to the various forces. The Kuwaiti Invasion Plan that the Marines wanted was put off in favor of the plan that General Schwartzkopf endorsed. Media personnel were incorporated into the military units but controlled with definitions of release timing and content. A fourth point is that Americans want wars which achieve its national interests while having no causalities. This promotes an over-reliance on technology and an unwillingness to support prolonged war. Americans have a blind faith in technology always thinking that the road to victory is with the highest technology weapons. American military budgets are based largely on the acquisition of expensive weapon systems, and little thought given to their integrated use within the military services. American military theory is behind (consistent with point one above.) But the overriding goal is victory without casualties. Thus, the authors recommend that the secret to war with America is to kill its rank and file soldiers. The style of the book is somewhat elliptical: it is written in the Chinese manner which often dances around a subject before coming to its subject. For example, there is a discussion of the Golden Ratio (1:0.618) before the authors show how it can be found in various ancient and modern military operations. There is considerable Chinese military philosophy discussed including the 36 Strategies, which most American military readers have not encountered ( did not at West Point when I was a Cadet studying Chinese!) I first encountered these after a reference from a Chinese Professor while I was teaching in China and then read Sun Tzu in Chinese. Sun Tzu was not the original author of these. In my personal opinion, an English translation this short book should be required reading for all Cadets at West Point. I rate the book 3 stars for several reasons. I don’t feel the book is well written. Many of the references are transliterations of the author’s names in Chinese which do not read as the real names. At this time, the book is somewhat dated having been written in 1999. I also doubt the attribution of the source and authors of the book. The concepts presented in the book are worth thinking about for a person developing military strategies.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2019
B
Verified Purchase
Beth Rohl
Whiting, US
★★★★★ 5
No complaints
Format: Paperback
Knowledge is power and everybody should read this book
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2025
C
Verified Purchase
Cita
Port Orchard, US
★★★★★ 5
Fascinating and beautifully written.
Format: Hardcover
Clear and compelling reading of the much-neglected history of Carthage -- all its histories had been written by the victors in Rome. BTEW y four-colour photo insert was missing a page....shame on Norton, the puboisher.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2026
N
Verified Purchase
Nana & Granddad
Lake Worth, US
★★★★★ 4
Excellent Overview of Carthage
Format: Hardcover
293 pages of text/maps/b&w figures; 8 pages of color plates; 15 pages of end notes (mostly citations); 20 page Bibliography; 6 page Primary Bibliography; 2 page Acknowledgements; 8 area maps; 1 battle map [Cannae]. This is a well written history of Carthage. It provides a one source overview of the background and history of the city/empire. As a reasonably well read layperson, I am familiar at an overview level with the Punic Wars, Rome, Alexander, and the Alexandrine successor states and this book packaged Carthaginian information very well while adding interesting information that I hadn't come across before. I was somewhat disappointed (hence the 4 star rather than 5 star rating) that there was a very limited drill down to a lower level of detail, particularly from such a noted author. However, this is probably an unfair criticism given the limited amount of archeological information available and the millennia of effort that has been spent in pigeonholing Carthage according to the desired perceptions. I recommend the book highly as a well written overview of Carthage.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2026

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