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Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon Kindle Edition
AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
With a new afterword on Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial and its aftermath
One of the New Yorker’s Best Books of 2023 • One of PureWow’s 42 Books to Gift in 2023 This Year • One of Fortune’s Best Crypto Books of 2023
“Going Infinite is in many ways Lewis at his best. He marshals a complex global story without losing sight of the delightful and revealing human details. He is a world-class noticer.” —Jesse Armstrong, writer and creator of HBO’s Succession, Times Literary Supplement
“A stupefyingly pleasurable book to read.” —Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker
“Going Infinite is an instant classic.” —Helen Lewis, The Atlantic
“Going Infinite is wildly entertaining, surprising multiple times on pretty much every page, but it adds up to a sad story, even a tragedy, for its central character and for all the people who lost so much thanks to his actions.” —John Lanchester, London Review of Books
“Will join Digital Gold as one of the all-time best crypto books.”—Jeff John Roberts, Fortune
“A wry, engaging writer and a gifted storyteller.” —Julia M. Klein, Los Angeles Times
“It may be easy to take for granted how entertainingly [Michael Lewis] pulls it off again in Going Infinite.” —Brett Martin, GQ
From the best-selling author of The Big Short and Flash Boys, the story of FTX’s spectacular collapse and the enigmatic founder at its center.
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?
In Going Infinite Lewis sets out to answer this question, taking readers into the mind of Bankman-Fried, whose rise and fall offers an education in high-frequency trading, cryptocurrencies, philanthropy, bankruptcy, and the justice system. Both psychological portrait and financial roller-coaster ride, Going Infinite is Michael Lewis at the top of his game, tracing the mind-bending trajectory of a character who never liked the rules and was allowed to live by his own—until it all came undone.

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From the Publisher


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The Undoing Project
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Flash Boys
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The Big Short
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The Blind Side
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Moneyball
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Liar's Poker
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Customer Reviews |
4.4 out of 5 stars 11,774
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4.5 out of 5 stars 18,316
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4.6 out of 5 stars 16,625
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4.6 out of 5 stars 2,382
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4.6 out of 5 stars 7,148
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4.4 out of 5 stars 9,543
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Price | $11.99$11.99 | $9.74$9.74 | $10.17$10.17 | $12.98$12.98 | $13.87$13.87 | $14.23$14.23 |
More from Michael Lewis | "A spectacular account of two great men who faced up to uncertainty and the limits of human reason.” ―William Easterly, Wall Street Journal | A small group of Wall Street iconoclasts realize that the U.S. stock market has been rigged for the benefit of insiders. | The #1 New York Times bestseller: "It is the work of our greatest financial journalist, at the top of his game. And it's essential reading."―Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair | "Lewis has such a gift for storytelling…he writes as lucidly for sports fans as for those who read him for other reasons." ―Janet Maslin, New York Times | "This delightfully written, lesson-laden book deserves a place of its own in the Baseball Hall of Fame." ―Forbes | The time was the 1980s. The place was Wall Street. The game was called Liar’s Poker. |
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Lewis at his best. . . .You could easily make a savage satire on the crazy snakes and ladders of the crypto wild west described in Going Infinite. But if you have a feeling for the lives of these young people, it is a tragedy too. Whatever the precise proportions inside Sam Bankman-Fried of sincerity and moral seriousness versus malignity, deception and self-deception, I would defy anyone to read Lewis’s book and conclude its subject to be a grifter."
― Jesse Armstrong, writer and creator of HBO’s Succession, Times Literary Supplement
"Going Infinite is a stupefyingly pleasurable book to read. It’s perfectly paced, extremely funny, and fills in many gaps in a story that has been subjected to an unholy amount of reporting... What he began with Moneyball has come into full flower with Going Infinite. Lewis has surveyed a landscape taken by convention as settled and found it destabilized, at least here and there, by uneven and unreliable information. Perhaps Lewis’s book should encourage an update, however minuscule, in our own priors."
― Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker
"Going Infinite is a portrait of grandiose ambitions, youthful arrogance, and the distorting power of money...[Lewis] remains the greatest living exponent of the plain style in reporting. His eye for detail is unsurpassed... And as a chronicle of collective delusion - a modern version of the Dutch tulip mania -Going Infinite is an instant classic... Michael Lewis deserves huge credit for capturing [SBF] in all his infinite weirdness... Mark Zuckerberg, another boy genius in ratty shoes, once described Twitter as a clown car that fell into a gold mine. Sam Bankman-Fried was a Seth Rogen character who fell into a tulip field circa 1634. Another one will be along in a minute. We never learn."
― Helen Lewis, The Atlantic
"Leave it to [Lewis] to have unfettered access to one of the best financial stories to come around in years…. There are, of course, the priceless anecdotes from the book… including S.B.F.’s inane conversation with Anna Wintour about whether he would attend and potentially sponsor the annual Met Gala―“Yup!”―and the revelations about his relationship with Ellison, the consequences of which are now playing out in court….Going Infinite, is a delightful read, highly entertaining, often insightful and amusing. It’s a character study of one of the most notorious financial figures of our time…. [Lewis] does not attempt in any way to try to figure out how S.B.F. pulled off what he is accused of doing, other than by revealing that he is one strange dude, lacking empathy, and capable, apparently, of fleecing billions from his customers."
― Willam Cohan, Puck
"Lewis’ storytelling is as good as ever… In the past, Mr Lewis has focused on little-known people doing extraordinary things. This time his subject is notorious… Mr Bankman-Fried’s hyper-rationality sets him apart from everyone. He views people not as good or bad, but as “probability distributions” around a mean… By tolerating the idea that hyper-rationalists cannot make sense of the rules of the game the way most people do, Mr Lewis implicitly asks readers to reconsider whatever they thought they knew about Mr Bankman-Fried. In the court of public opinion, he is already convicted. That’s reason enough to give this book a read."
― Economist
"Michael Lewis has an uncanny instinct for a big story, and is now right in the thick of the action again... Reading Lewis can feel like being a passenger in an expertly piloted bobsleigh. You’re moving so fast down the mountain, but you know you’re going to be delivered safe and sound – hot chocolate waiting at the bottom. There is no need to stress, only to thrill to the scenery as it hurtles past."
― New Statesman
"In November 2022, FTX collapsed in a matter of days after it suffered billions of dollars in customer withdrawals, sending shockwaves through the crypto world. To make sense of all this, with perfect timing, comes Michael Lewis…Going Infinite is his superbly detailed picture of the man behind it...So where might the money have gone? We still don’t entirely know, though Lewis offers some preliminary balance sheet calculations ? which remain more detailed than anything FTX ever published."
― Evening Strandard
"Michael Lewis is the world’s finest financial storyteller…Going Infinite is at its best in describing Bankman-Fried’s rise… Lewis is equally sharp on how the effective altruism movement shifted its priorities, from donating to prevent disease and mortality in the global south to worrying about (putative) trillions of human lives across the galaxy in the distant future."
― Steven Poole, Daily Telegraph
"Going Infinite is insanely readable and I devoured it, marvelling at Lewis’s ability to pace, structure and humanise a story about something as dense and unfriendly as crypto… As with previous outings such as Moneyball (nerdy baseball stats), The Big Short (credit default swaps), and Flash Boys (high-frequency trading) Going Infinite shows off Lewis’s peculiar genius for making arcane information as transporting as fantasy fiction. ? Guardian"
― Guardian
"Going Infinite is wildly entertaining, surprising multiple times on pretty much every page, but it adds up to a sad story, even a tragedy, for its central character and for all the people who lost so much thanks to his actions… Lewis tries to answer the first question he was asked about Bankman-Fried: who was this guy? The question of his guilt or innocence Lewis leaves to the criminal justice system. I think that’s good practice, given that the trial is happening right now. For what it’s worth, I see no contradiction between the person described in Going Infinite and the things SBF is accused of having done. In fact I think the book makes it easier to understand how and why he did what he allegedly did."
― John Lanchester, London Review of Books
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B0C5DNW987
- Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company (October 3, 2023)
- Publication date : October 3, 2023
- Language : English
- File size : 4.7 MB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 261 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #20,199 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Michael Lewis, the best-selling author of The Undoing Project, Liar's Poker, Flash Boys, Moneyball, The Blind Side, Home Game and The Big Short, among other works, lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife, Tabitha Soren, and their three children.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book highly informative and entertaining, with one review noting it provides fascinating depth on the crypto industry. The writing quality and storytelling receive mixed reactions - while some find it well written and engaging, others describe it as ridiculous and boring. Customers appreciate the character development, particularly Michael Lewis's portrayal of SBF, and find it a timely and detailed read. The book receives criticism for its focus on SBF's frivolous expenses.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book highly readable and entertaining, comparing it to a Stooges short, with one customer noting it provides a unique view of events.
"...best explanations of what really happened, and offers some really cool perspectives and insight...." Read more
"...Besides being an interesting, well-researched read, this book is a valuable reminder that hype and wishful thinking cannot overcome the age-old..." Read more
"...Intriguing story and excellent book." Read more
"...Engaging and entertaining read for sure - especially as a gossipy business drama...." Read more
Customers find the book provides valuable insights, with one customer highlighting its thorough research and another noting how it explains the history behind crypto.
"...It's an easy read, probably provides one of the best explanations of what really happened, and offers some really cool perspectives and insight...." Read more
"...being an interesting, well-researched read, this book is a valuable reminder that hype and wishful thinking cannot overcome the age-old needs for..." Read more
"...a compelling and highly readable narrative as well as enough background on finance and crypto to grasp the basics of what happened...." Read more
"...SBF the son of upper-class parents with exceptional mathematical, analytical , and video game skills which set him apart from his peers such that..." Read more
Customers appreciate the character development in the book, with one review highlighting the complex personality of FTX, while another describes it as a brilliant but wildly eccentric entrepreneur.
"...This story has many fascinating elements: a brilliant but wildly eccentric entrepreneur, a cast of rogue characters across the globe pursuing..." Read more
"...and provide analysis of complex institutions and the highly specialized individuals who create and work in such institutions...." Read more
"Great look into the mind of one 21st century’s most interesting characters. Michael Lewis does a great job pulling chaos into order." Read more
"...Love the inimitable Micheal Lewis...." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's pacing, describing it as a detailed and fairly quick read, with one customer noting its fast-paced compelling narrative.
"Great look into the mind of one 21st century’s most interesting characters. Michael Lewis does a great job pulling chaos into order." Read more
"...main character in any of Lewis' books, but the usual fast paced compelling narrative shows that Lewis does not need his books to have a traditional..." Read more
"...The early history of Sam is well written and quite cool...." Read more
"This was a good read (pretty quick) and similar to other Michael Lewis books...." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the writing quality of the book, with some finding it very well written and easy to read, while others describe it as ridiculously unreadable.
"...It's an easy read, probably provides one of the best explanations of what really happened, and offers some really cool perspectives and insight...." Read more
"...Why not? The next third is more documentary and less explaination. Something happened, nobody is really sure what...." Read more
"Michael Lewis is a master at making complex issues not only easy to understand, but extremely entertaining. Intriguing story and excellent book." Read more
"...Michael Lewis is a very engaging writer. He especially excels in narrative interspersed with piercing insights...." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the entertainment value of the book, with some finding it extremely entertaining and engaging, while others describe it as boring.
"...He is a person who cares very much about mankind but has little interest in people. Read the book to understand the implied contradiction...." Read more
"...at making complex issues not only easy to understand, but extremely entertaining. Intriguing story and excellent book." Read more
"...But the biggest problem with this book was the banality of it all - again, something that was not properly explored by Lewis...." Read more
"...Engaging and entertaining read for sure - especially as a gossipy business drama...." Read more
Customers criticize the book's storytelling, with multiple reviews noting that the narrative gets lost in the details and takes too long to get to the main points.
"...Why not? The next third is more documentary and less explaination. Something happened, nobody is really sure what...." Read more
"...flow as well as most of his other books, perhaps because the subject itself is chaotic and he probably wanted to get it out before the trial...." Read more
"...I recommend the book, even if the subject is a jerk, the writing is excellent." Read more
"...Less so in explaining the downfall which he overcomplicated in an effort to absolve SBF, who appears to be a sponsor of the book...." Read more
Customers express concern about the financial losses detailed in the book, mentioning billions of dollars spent on frivolous expenses and one customer noting an 8 billion dollar mistake.
"...This isn’t some fun little story, it’s a tragedy where real people lost real money...." Read more
"...fraudulent balance sheets, zero accountability, and billions of dollars in frivolous expenses all seem like easy low hanging fruit for Mr Lewis...." Read more
"...This whole thing is framed as if SBF made a mistake and lost 8 billion dollars on accident...." Read more
"Overpriced, nothing new, rushed to print to take advantage of trial…if thinking of buying…DON’t…, nothing on par with previous books…….ver..." Read more
Reviews with images

Great Book but hard cover sleeve was quite dirty for a NEW book
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2023The Big Short was one of the best books I'd ever read. I was very excited when news came out the Michael Lewis was present to witness the collapse first-hand and in the process of writing about FTX.
Much of the book is written exactly how he intended it, prior to the news of the fraud that was occurring. The book then offers a brilliant first hand experience of the downfall as it happens. This was an excellent approach. It sets the standard for how so many people felt. It's easy for many people who only heard about FTX upon news of it's bankruptcy to go, "Oh yeah, of course that was a scam!". It takes a lot of integrity and provides a much greater lesson to share all the ways SBF was perceived as a eccentric genius then explain all the mechanisms contributing to his failure, and how so many people elected to overlook those problems, including SBF himself.
It's an easy read, probably provides one of the best explanations of what really happened, and offers some really cool perspectives and insight. The book is broken up into ten chapters and it's around chapter eight that things start to get damning, because that's the time in the story when it all falls apart.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2023Reading this book is like watching a movie where the storyline and characters seem so unbelievable that you search for something else to watch. But then you get sucked in by the very absurdity of some unkept, introverted twenty-something in cargo shorts and a tee shirt becoming the richest person in the world under 30, and doing it in only three years with a ragtag group of colleagues, billions of other peoples’ money and no CFO or chief risk officer.
Unbelievable as it is, Lewis' story of FTX is fascinating, the numbers are staggering and the failures of corporate governance and business management—both at FTX and its investors and customers—are stunning. The only thing harder to believe than the storyline and the characters is the number of seemingly smart people who failed to do the slightest due diligence needed to see just how unbelievable the whole morass was. Their gullibility alone makes the book worth reading.
Lewis says he spent more than a year with “unparalleled access” to Bankman-Fried, watching him amass a $22.5 billion fortune in record time. He also watched FTX crumble, remaining with Bankman-Fried as his employees fled and the authorities moved in on FTX’s headquarters in the Bahamas. Some critics have suggested that Lewis became too close to Bankman-Fried and foolishly bought into his claims that the FTX crash resulted from innocent lapses of management and not intentional efforts to defraud anyone. Many of Lewis' excellent earlier books focus on underdogs who make contrarian bets and become heroes in the end. It's easy to believe that Lewis expected Bankman-Fried to be vindicated.
You can make your own judgment about whether Lewis' time with Bankman-Fried unduly influenced the author's journalism. The jury in Bankman-Fried's fraud trial this month was clear about its judgment. After only four hours of deliberation, the jury convicted Bankman-Fried of seven counts, including fraud and money laundering. Five of those counts carry a maximum of 20 years of prison sentence each, while two others could earn him maximum jail time of 5 years.
Regardless of what Lewis may have concluded about Bankman-Fried, his book makes clear how the global hype surrounding Bankman-Fried and FTX caused investors, customers, celebrities and politicians to blindly hitch their stars to a story that, at best, was a disaster waiting to happen. Besides being an interesting, well-researched read, this book is a valuable reminder that hype and wishful thinking cannot overcome the age-old needs for investor due diligence, competent business management, transparency and honesty.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2025Michael Lewis is a master at making complex issues not only easy to understand, but extremely entertaining.
Intriguing story and excellent book.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2023I read somewhere that pestilence was disease of the agricultural revolution, cancer of industrial revolution and insanity is of the information revolution. "Going Infinite.." is such a story of insanity.
In 1643, a single bulb of Tulip could cost well over a million dollars in today's currency. Tulip mania raged for decades till the fever broke. Between 2020-21, FTX/Alameda - the exchange and "research farm" founded by SBF - was worth well over $100B. It declared bankruptcy in 2022. History repeats itself. These days, with social media, it rather fast forwards at 32x speed by skipping the boring bits! This book is a narrative of what happened.
Michael Lewis is a very engaging writer. He especially excels in narrative interspersed with piercing insights. Manfred, the tattered childhood comfort toy of SBF, as his lone company in the week of 11 November, 2022 is such a brilliant piece in this relatively short book. Another was his treatment of EA - Effective Altruism, and his thesis of how that made SBF into whatever he became. In software, we have a so called 'fundamental theorem' - "any problem can be solved by adding an extra layer of indirection". For many high IQ people disaffected with rampant capitalism -- blindly chasing money -- EA was THIS layer of indirection. Rather than run after billions, try to maximize the "utility value" of your life - e.g., by saving maximum possible lives in Bangladesh. Now, to do so, maximize your money! Going for the infinite dollars now has pride associated, not guilt. SBF and his co-worker/Alameda Research chief/romantic interest's "life/work memos" were highly illuminating as well.
Where the book, I think, significantly falls short of is last of the three questions it tried to answer - one, who is SBF and what he wanted to do; two, what happened with FTX - from $100B to 0 in under a year; three, who or what is responsible for that fortune reversal, if not fraud. The final question is being answered in the court - but Lewis mostly hand-waved at it with a few superficial theories. In the very last chapter, he even posited that - essentially - all the "missing $8B is mostly there". I am not an expert in finance, and one of the 84% of Americans who never invested in crypto, but Lewis's theory sounded a lot like "Twinkie Defense". It read like another case of "if it does not fit, acquit".
His theory stands on shaky ground because few very similar "serious FTX accounting gaps" surfaced even within the book and "mysteriously resolved" on their own. The "missing $440M" Ripple/Bitcoin exchange value and Turkey/Mauritius "hacker" stolen value are two such examples. Why was there no board of directors for FTX? Why did no one ever tallied the money in/money out in a simple spreadsheet like Lewis did, leave alone appoint a proper CFO? Who took the conscious decision to not write any "risk engine" - an essential primitive to move or store money? With obvious sympathy to the central character, author bypasses these critical "RCA" questions.
Engaging and entertaining read for sure - especially as a gossipy business drama. But a little less focus on naming conventions of superrich people's yachts (bad puns!) and little more on balance sheet, or lack thereof, could have made this a good case study to learn from. Especially for those who - these days - seem to genuinely abhor capitalism!
Top reviews from other countries
- DanielReviewed in Canada on October 31, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars Michael Lewis Does It Again!
How does one man keep finding himself in the middle of some of best business stories of the past 40 years? Part of it has to do with his unmatched story-telling ability. But Lewis also excels at explaining difficult financial concepts with the upmost simplicity. In short, this is another masterpiece. One downside though: the book may be too timely; an epilogue may be needed in the paperback version to tell the rest of the story!
- Anand RamchandaniReviewed in Singapore on November 6, 2023
2.0 out of 5 stars Going Infinite? More like Going to barely scratch the surface...
Going Infinite? More like Going to barely scratch the surface...
It pains me to give this such a poor score as I'm an avid Michael Lewis reader, and I sincerely believe he demonstrates in this book, in terms of sheer prose and story telling prowess, he's on the top of his game...
Having said that it seems like he's incapable of writing critically about his protagonist. I wasn't expecting him to villainize SBF, but I was expecting depth and introspection...instead I got bloated descriptions on how quirky SBF is. To name a few instances of this; we get detailed descriptions on Storybook Brawl (the video game SBF played while engaging in Bloomberg live interviews and important meetings), how quaint it is he stumbles out of vehicles with a rumpled suit under his arm without shoes or a belt cause someone told him Mitch McConnel "cares about how he looks", or detailed memos of cost-benefit analysis of office sexual affairs, and there's even a Rosebud moment with a stuffed toy called Manfred (I kid you not).
I understand Lewis is trying to paint a picture here and I did find the sections on Jane Street, Effective Altruism and the John Ray investigation fascinating...but I really feel let down by this book and to a certain extent I feel non the wiser. It's worth a read for the prose or if you have a great deal of interest in this Crypto catastrophe...otherwise give this a skip
- RobbieReviewed in the Netherlands on December 19, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars great insight in SBF
Another great Michael Lewis book, can’t wait till the next.
Sad story really about SBF and the fall of FTX.
- Nicholas GregoryReviewed in the United Kingdom on March 8, 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating read
As with all Michael Lewis books, this is captivating, interesting, and detailed. Lewis delves deep into the motivations of SBF and the history of FTX, exploring all aspects of why the institution failed.
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tomasReviewed in Italy on October 26, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars storia incredibile
una storia incredibile raccontata benissimo come al solito da Michael Lewis