Named a top business book of the year by the Financial Times, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, and Library Journal Praise for A Demon of Our Own Design This book is powerful stuff. When the hero of the story is a cockroach, you are assured of a controversial, illuminating, and fascinating discovery of where the financial risks really lurk and how to avoid them. Bookstaber knows whereof he speaks. -Peter L. Bernstein, author of Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk Are you ready for the real deal? An insider, everysider view of the Wall Street calamities that have kept investing tantalizingly hot and frighteningly volatile since the crash of '87. For an in-depth, curtains-open, and coolly written exposition of Wall Street, Bookstaber is my man. -Mark Rubinstein Professor of Finance, UC Berkeley He understands the inner workings of the financial markets. . . . A liberal sparkling of juicy stories from the trading floor. -The Economist I cannot recommend this book too highly. It is a clear exposition of what the combination of derivatives, leverage, and hedge funds can do to the markets. -Forbes.com Preface. Acknowledgments. About the Author. CHAPTER 1 ~ Introduction: The Paradox of Market Risk. CHAPTER 2 ~ The Demons of 87. CHAPTER 3 ~ A New Sheriff in Town. CHAPTER 4 ~ How Salomon Rolled the Dice and Lost. CHAPTER 5 ~ They Bought Salomon, Then They Killed It. CHAPTER 6 ~ Long Term Capital Management Rides the Leverage Cycle to Hell. CHAPTER 7 ~ Colossus. CHAPTER 8 ~ Complexity, Tight Coupling, and Normal Accidents. CHAPTER 9 ~ The Brave New World of Hedge Funds. CHAPTER 10 ~ Cockroaches and Hedge Funds. CHAPTER 11 ~ Hedge Fund Existential. Conclusion: Built to Crash? Notes. Index.