There have been dozens (hundreds?) of books written about the recent economic meltdown. Some are highly technical, some are simply boring, and some are okay but don’t seem to capture the human element. Some are completely wrong, like one that sits on my bookshelf because I refused to finish it after I caught a dozen mistakes in the first two chapters; it was obviously rushed to press to capture the moment. Frankly, I had stopped reading books on the current meltdown because none really captured the full story.

But after all the reviews and seeing several interviews with the author, I finally picked up a copy of The Big Short. Michael Lewis has written a book that deserves to be on the bestseller list as long as it has. The Big Short is simple enough for a non-financial person to understand, thorough enough to impress a skeptic, and human enough to tell a real story about real people. It may not be the best book on the economic meltdown, but it probably has the broadest appeal because Lewis has managed to balance so many things. It also helps that he is a first rate writer and a great story teller.

I’m in commercial real estate so I deal with banks and lenders all the time. Though I’d never present myself as an expert, I’m experienced enough to have a solid understanding of how high finance works. But I admit that some of the stuff Wall Street was doing was way beyond my understanding. It still is, to be honest. Yet Lewis has taken these exceptionally complicated issues and made them quite easy to understand. Of course, he doesn’t get into a lot of the detail and nuance that some might want — this is not a textbook nor a Harvard Business Review case study. And I’m glad for that, because Lewis has written a story that tells the human side of the meltdown. Too many technical books overlook that.

If you read just one book about what happened that caused the sub-prime mortgage market collapse and the subsequent economic meltdown, read this book. It will give you enough information to understand the flawed financial structure that was created, but it won’t require you to have an MBA. Best of all, it will tell the story of real people who did real things (both good and bad) and how all this mess has impacted them. I think you’ll enjoy it.