Michael Lewis

When asked if he was surprised by the media’s reaction to his 2014 book Flash Boys—which argues in part that high-frequency trading rigs the market—Michael Lewis replied, “Absolutely. I’ve never had a book get this big a reaction so quickly…The number of thoughtless responses is amazing to me.” He backed up his claims by saying that firms are using “their speed advantage to buy shares first and then selling them back at a higher price. The result is higher prices for investors in those shares. That’s rigged.” Lewis is the author of The Undoing Project, Moneyball, and Liar’s Poker, among other books.