Need some suggestions for a spring-break reading list? Check out these recent business titles:
• “Greece’s Odious’ Debt,” by Jason Manolopoulos (Anthem Press). A hedge-fund manager explains how his Greek compatriots gambled away their future — and how German and French bankers egged them on. Who’s bailing out whom?
• “Guaranteed to Fail,” by Viral Acharya, Matthew Richardson, Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh and Lawrence White (Princeton). Four professors at New York University’s Stern School of Business explain how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac got so big, and why they must be fixed.
• “The Hedge Fund Mirage,” by Simon Lack (Wiley). The former JPMorgan banker says average hedge-fund investors would have done better socking their money into Treasury bills.
• “The High-Beta Rich,” by Robert Frank (Crown Business). The Wall Street Journal wealth reporter returns to “Richistan,” only to find billionaires flailing in debt and repo men seizing their Gulfstreams.
• “Idea Man,” by Paul Allen (Portfolio/Penguin). This memoir by Microsoft’s co-founder offers a fascinating look at what it took to build the software behemoth.
