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"Ponzi's Scheme" by Mitchell Zuckoff Length: 9 hours and 58 min. ISBN: Listen to an excerpt with:     Windows Media Player     Real Player

You know that cartoon character that runs off a cliff and keeps running, falling only when it realizes that it’s walking on thin air? Well, reading Zuckoff’s interesting and entertaining book, Ponzi reminded me of that character… Except that in Ponzi’s case he managed to convince thousands of other people to run off the cliff with him and, when he finally started falling, Ponzi still continued running.

A spendthrift immigrant from Italy, Ponzi comes to the US to strike it rich only to fall on hard times from the start. With an optimism and a belief in himself verging on the pathological, Ponzi lives a rough life in Canada and the US while continuously dreaming up new money making ideas.

Ponzi’s eponimously named scheme was initially based on his belief that massive profits could be had through arbitrage in postal coupons. Unfortunately for Ponzi, his optimism took over long before he could figure out how to turn theory into practice. People just started lining up outside his office to hand him their cash for the promise of earning a 50% return in 45 days.

Zuckoff ably brings a fascinating character to life. On the one hand Ponzi is clearly a crook misleading his investors. On the other hand one can’t help but admire the man as he holds his course with such sang froid, running on thin air with style and bravado.

I enjoyed this book tremendously, starting each commute thinking “the investigators have to catch up with him now” and incredulously ending each commute shaking my head as Ponzi was still going. (Spoiler: justice does catch up with him in the end! :-)

Tags: ponzi scheme, mitchell zuckoff, audiobook, nonfiction, history, biography, ponzi, pyramid scheme, get rich quick