Rating: 
Summary: Finally, some perspective
Review: Thank you, Alex Berenson - who refers, in print no less, to Larry Ellison as an options "pig" - and gives executives their due in "The Number" as Berenson adeptly explains how we got into the financial mess of today.What becomes clear when reading this informative and incisive book is that history, especially financial history, is bound to repeat itself. If you don't want to come out on the losing end the next time the bubble begins to look suspiciously big and shiny - then read "The Number," You'll walk away from this book a smarter investor.
Rating:
Summary: Number One!
Review: The Number is first rate! Berenson provides real analysis for once - rather than the drivel and blather we here from the talking heads and market pundits, on TV and radio. It's a sober assessment of what is really amiss with finance. Unlike the soundbytes you constantly hear, The Number realizes that the financial mess we're in is a problem 80 years in the making. Here's to hoping some of the guys on wall street, the ceos, and the accountants actually read this book - then maybe things will change...
Rating:
Summary: Superb!
Review: There's a reason Mr. Berenson's one of the top financial reporters in the country. In "The Number," Berenson draws upon his vast experience and keen intellect to create a sharp, in-depth analysis of the late 1990's market turbulence. Despite the fact that his recent birthday will cap his appearances on the list of the top 30 reporters under 30 at three, I expect we'll be seeing much more from this talented young writer. Pick this up today!
Rating: 
Summary: Interpretive Accounting... A History
Review: This book takes the reader from the early days of the stock market to the recent scandals of corporate giants such as Enron and Tyco while weaving a common thread of accounting manipulation and political influence (or the lack thereof) of the SEC. Mr. Berenson explains in detail how pressures from a myriad of sources created an environment where investors only focused on earnings, aka "The Number" and how corporate leadership bent the rules to give the investors what they wanted (and helped themselves along the way). This is an enlightening book if you want to learn a little more on the motivation for all those "restated earnings" we all have heard about in the market recently.
Rating: 
Summary: Worthless and Misleading
Review: What makes this wrongheaded book so bad is that it is well researched and well written but completely lacking in common sense. Gullible people will fall for it and more's the pity. Mr. Berenson focuses on a tiny aspect of the massive frauds of the nineties, confusing symptoms with causes. It is like blaming the invention of the torpedo for the start of World War II. The real cause of the frauds and bubbles of the nineties was the apparently conscious decision of the Securities and Exchange Commission to let fraud go unchecked. Mr. Berenson mentions the SEC briefly, blaming its inactivity on budget cuts, but that just isn't true. The SEC budget rose 31% in the 1990s and the budgeted amount was never used. Dozens of jobs provided for in the budget for inspectors and lawyers at the SEC weren't filled and there was a lot of activity on such silly things as the plain English rule, while the SEC shut down investigations into wrong doing. As soon as the new administration came in - and before the frauds were discovered and the SEC budget was increased - the number of investigations doubled. Any securities lawyer will tell you that the SEC simply didn't care. Mr. Berenson would absolve the SEC from all this, when it was the SEC which sent out the message that the cat was away. Like The New York Times, the newspaper Mr. Berenson works for, given the choice between defending liberal principles and shilling for the reactionaries running the Democratic Party, his choice is to become Bill Clinton's bootlick. You will learn a heck of a lot about very little in this book. You will learn nothing, however, about the economy. For that you must look elsewhere. I would recommend Infectious Greed by Partnoy, even if it, too, is only a partial picture of the 90s. I haven't finished Partnoy's book yet, so cannot give an unqualified endorsement yet, but it seems to be honest, sensible and accurate, all of which is missing from The Number. Partnoy is not just a Clinton basher, either. He levels blame where blame is due. He points out, for instance, that Clinton's SEC Commissioner was initially a Reagan Administration candidate for the post. If Clinton's appointees receive the lion's share of the blame, that is because they deserve it. Unlike Mr. Berenson, Partnoy is honest with his readership and is an intelligent observer.
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