METRO READ Ugly Americans- Ben Mezrich

For those of you who don't know Ben Mezrich, he is known for writing books about Ivy League kids doing remarkable things. His first book was Bringing Down the House: The Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. It was later turned into the movie 21. Maybe even more well known is his recent book, The Accidental Billionaires, which chronicles Mark Zuckerberg and a behind the scenes look at Facebook. (I read this book as well, while it was good- I'd suggest just seeing the movie.) What I have grown to appreciate about Ben Mezrich is that his books, while highly entertaining-- are still non-fiction. If you continue to read this blog you'll quickly learn that I rarely read fiction. Nothing against it-- I just have found that there are plenty of interesting things to read about that are real, and those are the things that I prefer.

Ugly Americans is about a Princeton Alumni named John Malcolm (a pseudonym), who ends up working as an assistant daytime trader in Japan, after a fluke meeting at a Princeton football game(Malcolm played for the Princeton). Basically this book highlights a time in the 1990's where American Hedge Fund Cowboys were taking advantage of loopholes that existed in the outdated and inefficient Japanese Stock Market-- the Nikkei. The Yakuza, which is basically the Japanese mob gets involved, and things get dodgy. There's also a sideline developing love story between Malcolm and a native Japanese girl named Sayo. I'd say-o there's something for everyone in this book.