"Monkey Business: Swinging Through The Wall Street Jungle", by John Rolfe and Peter Troob (2001)

I picked this up in a second-hand book sale on the weekend. I guess I could sum up what I thought of it by saying I'm glad I only paid 2 bucks for it...

The book is the true story of the authors' brief careers as investment banking associates in a Wall St investment bank, fresh out of business school. They shamelessly and irreverently "lift the lid" on the frenzied and mind-numbing culture that they experienced during their two and a half years in the "jungle". All the usual cliches are trotted out: marathon working hours spent pandering to the whims of arrogant and ruthless managing directors and vice presidents; sordid company parties and outings to strip bars; and the ultimate realisation that there's more to life than money. 

As such, it's not terribly interesting or original, and you can't avoid the impression that the authors have read "Liar's Poker" (by Michael Lewis -- an excellent read that I _would_ recommend to people outside of finance) and tried to jump on the same gravy train.

Based on my own limited experience in the IB world, much of what they describe rings true. However, I suspect they have embellished quite liberally in the name of trying to tell a good story. There's not a lot of real substance or insight beneath the fluff, and the locker-room-style humour gets tedious fairly quickly. 

In the plus column, some of the anecdotes _are_ amusing -- even if of dubious credibility. One highlight was the account of an interview which took place in a hotel room and during which the author had to excuse himself to take a dump in the bathroom; the foul smell that hung in the air for the remainder of the interview guaranteed his failure, but left him with the consolation of knowing that the candidate after him would assume that it had come from one of the interviewers. 

And the book does give some insight into what investment bankers (as opposed to traders) actually do, which may be of interest to anyone thinking of getting into the business: it certainly strips away the aura and reveals investment banking as the parasitic industry that it surely is. The reality is that the huge bonuses and lavish corporate perks are scant compensation for the complete subservience and misery that the job entails.