Status
Available
Call number
Publication
New York : Bantam Books, 2007.
Description
Biography & Autobiography. Business. Nonfiction. Economics. HTML:NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER � Now a major motion picture directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio By day he made thousands of dollars a minute. By night he spent it as fast as he could. From the binge that sank a 170-foot motor yacht and ran up a $700,000 hotel tab, to the wife and kids waiting at home and the fast-talking, hard-partying young stockbrokers who called him king, here, in Jordan Belfort�s own words, is the story of the ill-fated genius they called the Wolf of Wall Street. In the 1990s, Belfort became one of the most infamous kingpins in American finance: a brilliant, conniving stock-chopper who led his merry mob on a wild ride out of Wall Street and into a massive office on Long Island. It�s an extraordinary story of greed, power, and excess that no one could invent: the tale of an ordinary guy who went from hustling Italian ices to making hundreds of millions�until it all came crashing down. Praise for The Wolf of Wall Street �Raw and frequently hilarious.��The New York Times �A rollicking tale of [Jordan Belfort�s] rise to riches as head of the infamous boiler room Stratton Oakmont . . . proof that there are indeed second acts in American lives.��Forbes �A cross between Tom Wolfe�s The Bonfire of the Vanities and Scorsese�s GoodFellas . . . Belfort has the Midas touch.��The Sunday Times (London) �Entertaining as pulp fiction, real as a federal indictment . . . a hell of a read.��Kirkus Reviews.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member sci901
Exemplar of the rare case where the movie is far better. I can only read so many tales of a guy getting high on Quaaludes and having sex with prostitutes before I get bored. I suppose that's because I find this guy completely un-relatable
LibraryThing member dudara
Jordan Belfort was living proof of the American dream in the heady days of Wall Street. Nicknamed the "Wolf of Wall Street", he lived in a fabulous mansion, with his beautiful wife and child, flew his helicopter, indulged in copious amounts of drugs, all while running a busy brokerage firm,
Stratton Oakmount found fame as one of the biggest "boiler room" brokerage firms. Belfort was eventually convicted of selling purpotedly profitable stocks at inflated prices and spent two years in jail. This book attempts to tell the tale of his high life and how it all fell apart around him as his drug addiction spiralled out of control.
There is no doubting what this man, and his company did, was odious. But as you read the book, what really comes across are Belfort's superb skills as a salesman and motivator. This is evident in every description of his motivational sessions at Stratton Oakmount, and even later when he was in rehab. You can only imagine what he was like to listen to in real life.
Also apparent from the book is the scale of Jordan's intelligence. He comes across as quite a clever person, who however, devoted a significant part of his life to circumventing stock trading laws. His descrption of how he bugged the SEC personnel who were investigating his books is quite amusing and novel.
His descriptions of his drug taking make you realise how easy it can be for an intelligent person to persuade themselves that their drug problem is under control not a problem at all.
This book is quite a quick-paced, interesting and amusing read. Granted, the subject matter is unpleasant to some, but it is entertaining and quite an interesting insight into the mind of Jordan Belfort.
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Stratton Oakmount, which he had founded.Stratton Oakmount found fame as one of the biggest "boiler room" brokerage firms. Belfort was eventually convicted of selling purpotedly profitable stocks at inflated prices and spent two years in jail. This book attempts to tell the tale of his high life and how it all fell apart around him as his drug addiction spiralled out of control.
There is no doubting what this man, and his company did, was odious. But as you read the book, what really comes across are Belfort's superb skills as a salesman and motivator. This is evident in every description of his motivational sessions at Stratton Oakmount, and even later when he was in rehab. You can only imagine what he was like to listen to in real life.
Also apparent from the book is the scale of Jordan's intelligence. He comes across as quite a clever person, who however, devoted a significant part of his life to circumventing stock trading laws. His descrption of how he bugged the SEC personnel who were investigating his books is quite amusing and novel.
His descriptions of his drug taking make you realise how easy it can be for an intelligent person to persuade themselves that their drug problem is under control not a problem at all.
This book is quite a quick-paced, interesting and amusing read. Granted, the subject matter is unpleasant to some, but it is entertaining and quite an interesting insight into the mind of Jordan Belfort.
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LibraryThing member tikilights
After having read The Bonfire of the Vanities, I'm curious whether Jordan Belfort had not also read it before writing his memoir, because his vernacular is very similar to Bonfire's Wall Street character. "Loamy loins", "Master of the Universe", same reasoning behind his philandering,
Hmm..
(Update 12/21/13): After having read Belfort's second book he talked about having gotten inspiration for his writing style from The Bonfire of the Vanities, so there you go.
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etc.Hmm..
(Update 12/21/13): After having read Belfort's second book he talked about having gotten inspiration for his writing style from The Bonfire of the Vanities, so there you go.
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LibraryThing member ShavonJones
I chose this book because I thoroughly enjoyed [The Buy Side] by Tourney Duff, a loveable screw up who I rooted for from beginning to end. But Jordan Belfont in The Wolf of Wall Street is a different character. He's a real asshole but you keep reading out of sheer curiosity about Wall Street.
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Although I follow the business community, I wasn't familiar with his story - which made the book suspenseful until the crooked end. I also enjoyed the B-School analysis of how to run Steve Madden's shoe company. And I have to admit, I warmed to Belfont toward the end. I like second chances, but if I met him today, I think he's still an asshole - utterly unredeemable. Show Less
LibraryThing member knightlight777
One thing you have to hand Jordan Belfort, he is quite the self promoter. His books remind me a lot of Lance Armstrong's many promo books before his downfall. This book encompasses Belfort's odyssey through his drug drenched ride to fame and fortune while bilking thousands out of hundreds of
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millions. The self proclaimed "Wolf of Wall Street" was invincible and continues his ride with books and a movie, and as a motivational speaker and sales trainer. His self indulgent lifestyle eventually costs him his marriage but he gets off relatively unscathed with a very light sentence at a country club Fed prison for "cooperating." Through it all he demonstrates his key trait, no remorse for what he did. Unfortunately he may be a role model for some. Show Less
LibraryThing member rlangston
An awful book. Badly written, a protagonist with no redeeming features and too little focus on the mechanics of what he actually did. Perhaps because he never really understood it himself. Scores 1.5 because somehow I managed to read all 500+ pages.
LibraryThing member snibbs17
Couldn't really enjoy this book.
LibraryThing member polarbear123
Not bad really. Thought I would not really like this after the first couple of chapters. The writing was not that great. But it did grab me and I found myself interested in the story. No it is not one of the greats but I have to admit I found my self chuckling away. At least he is fairly honest
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about his life. Although I will say that the ending is fairly deflatory, like a balloon losing air over a week or so: fairly unexciting. But still worth a read on this beach this summer. Show Less
LibraryThing member RBarfuss
Gutter-writing at it's worst. This was painful to get through.
LibraryThing member ursula
I just can't. I listened to the first several chapters, and I cannot bring myself to turn it back on. The author is incredibly unlikeable - he is supposedly hoping that his children will one day understand his actions, but he talks in way-too-graphic detail about his wife's body (the mother of at
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least one of his children!), and in way-too-proud-of-himself detail about his drug use. And the narrator is just as awful, although I admit he has a thankless job - he has to narrate just about an entire chapter between Belfort and his wife during which they threaten and say vile things to each other in cloying babytalk. I only hope I can eradicate the memory of the narration and the book quickly. Show Less
LibraryThing member jbarr5
Wolf of Wall Street
1987 This is the story of Jordan Belfort and he's new on the job at Wall Street where commodities are bought and sold continuously during the day.
Follows his life as he learns from others how to get ahead. Many marriages, hookers, drugs, liquor help him succeed.
Liberties that
Loved the action and descriptive details on furnishings and surroundings. Travel and adventures are great to read about and the downfall and every element
that happened to them both and the outcome.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
1987 This is the story of Jordan Belfort and he's new on the job at Wall Street where commodities are bought and sold continuously during the day.
Follows his life as he learns from others how to get ahead. Many marriages, hookers, drugs, liquor help him succeed.
Liberties that
Show More
come with power he feels are his and thus that gets him in trouble on many fields. Loved the action and descriptive details on furnishings and surroundings. Travel and adventures are great to read about and the downfall and every element
that happened to them both and the outcome.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Show Less
LibraryThing member browner56
The Wolf of Wall Street chronicles the professional and personal rise and subsequent fall of Jordan Belfort, a world-class stock market manipulator, money launderer, drug addict, serial philanderer, disloyal colleague, and all-around moral vacuum. Billed as a “rollicking tale” and a real-world
Belfort’s story of frequently depraved and often criminal activity is by now well known, primarily because of the film adaptation that followed the publication of this volume by a few years. However, it is nowhere close to a story of redemption—certainly, I found the author’s myriad reprehensible actions to be far less charming and heroic than he himself does—nor does it even serve as a useful cautionary tale for how not to live one’s life. After all, what do we learn from someone who willfully—gleefully, even—cheats on and lies to two different wives (the second of whom he repeatedly refers to as the “luscious Duchess” for some vague reason), endangers the children he considers to be his possessions, defrauds thousands of investors out of millions of dollars, enlists relatives to engage in self-serving illegal schemes, and betrays numerous friends and business associates? Further, the book’s entire premise appears to another lie: Belfort’s financial activities were far removed from what is traditionally considered to be Wall Street and, as the prosecutor of his legal case recently revealed in a New York Times article, the author was never even called “The Wolf” until he wrote this memoir!
I am not sure when I had such a strongly negative reaction to a book as I did to this one. As a personal guideline, I do not like to abandon any book I begin before reaching the conclusion, but I must confess to questioning the wisdom of that rule for the last 150 pages of The Wolf of Wall Street. Throughout the time I was reading about Belfort’s exploits, I had to fight the frequent urge to put it down and take a long shower with plenty of industrial-strength soap in order to remove the slime. Ultimately, I found absolutely nothing in this sordid narrative that redeemed any part of the experience of reading it. It now represents several days of my life that I will never get back and I would encourage other potential readers to avoid falling victim to the same fate.
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complement to Tom Wolfe’s superb social satire The Bonfire of the Vanities, this book is really neither of those two things. Instead, it is little more than a tawdry, delusional, and self-aggrandizing memoir written by a very unreliable narrator. Indeed, I found this to be a truly execrable account of one of the most despicable characters I’ve ever encountered in print.Belfort’s story of frequently depraved and often criminal activity is by now well known, primarily because of the film adaptation that followed the publication of this volume by a few years. However, it is nowhere close to a story of redemption—certainly, I found the author’s myriad reprehensible actions to be far less charming and heroic than he himself does—nor does it even serve as a useful cautionary tale for how not to live one’s life. After all, what do we learn from someone who willfully—gleefully, even—cheats on and lies to two different wives (the second of whom he repeatedly refers to as the “luscious Duchess” for some vague reason), endangers the children he considers to be his possessions, defrauds thousands of investors out of millions of dollars, enlists relatives to engage in self-serving illegal schemes, and betrays numerous friends and business associates? Further, the book’s entire premise appears to another lie: Belfort’s financial activities were far removed from what is traditionally considered to be Wall Street and, as the prosecutor of his legal case recently revealed in a New York Times article, the author was never even called “The Wolf” until he wrote this memoir!
I am not sure when I had such a strongly negative reaction to a book as I did to this one. As a personal guideline, I do not like to abandon any book I begin before reaching the conclusion, but I must confess to questioning the wisdom of that rule for the last 150 pages of The Wolf of Wall Street. Throughout the time I was reading about Belfort’s exploits, I had to fight the frequent urge to put it down and take a long shower with plenty of industrial-strength soap in order to remove the slime. Ultimately, I found absolutely nothing in this sordid narrative that redeemed any part of the experience of reading it. It now represents several days of my life that I will never get back and I would encourage other potential readers to avoid falling victim to the same fate.
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LibraryThing member MHanover10
This book solidifies why I don't like Wall Street. The excessiveness, the drug abuse, the entitlement. It turns my stomach and Jordan Belfort is one of the worse. Don't know if I want to see the movie because I have no sympathy for him or any other Wall Street types who abuse their access to
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trading. I have no sympathy for someone who thinks they are above the law and can get away with everything and who thinks it's nothing to throw money away like Jordan did. I actually skimmed the last 30 pages as I got tired of reading about all the drug use, money abuse and just the stupidity of a smart, young man. Show Less
LibraryThing member OscarWilde87
Jordan Belfort is a self-made man. Starting out with almost nothing and selling ice cream to pay for tuition, he soon realizes his knack for the stock market and gaming the system. Under his leadership, his brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont becomes both famous and notorious. Belfort, the Wolf of Wall
I liked the book for the tale it tells and how it is told. At points it made me want to vomit and I wanted to put the book away entirely, but I found myself unable to quit. Eventually, though, the narrative is exciting, even it is - luckily - far removed from what I expect life to be like. 4 stars.
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Street, exploits the system to make a fortune every day. His lifestyle is equally fast and reckless. Starting with drugs to get some relief from his back pain, he enters a downward spiral that makes him become an addict whose life merely consists of taking drugs and spending money as soon as he entered his thirties. The Wolf of Wall Street relates the events in his life from his own perspective and in a very vivid way. I liked the book for the tale it tells and how it is told. At points it made me want to vomit and I wanted to put the book away entirely, but I found myself unable to quit. Eventually, though, the narrative is exciting, even it is - luckily - far removed from what I expect life to be like. 4 stars.
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LibraryThing member Briars_Reviews
The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort was an interesting novel that left me completely disinterested.
As someone going into business, this book intrigued me. I also really want to watch the movie, but I wanted to read the book beforehand, so that helped me with picking this read. I thought this
This book is said to be non-fiction, but Jordan Belfort's opening lines at the beginning of the book also say he may or may not have changed the timelines, which lead me to believe it's not 100% accurate. (But is anything 100% accurate in a memoir? You are relying on memory, which can tell some pretty epic lies...but that's another story). Reading about all the antics within his career was definitely interesting - it's not something I really thought about. All the drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, etc and all the craziness tied in together was definitely the basis of a really cool read. But, this book fell flat. The first "book" (it's separated into books that have chapters in each) was fast paced and epic! I was hooked to every word I read! But Book two and onward left me feeling "meh". It was slow paced, then it would suddenly pick up pace for two pages, and go back to boring again.
That being said, Jordan's life is definitely worth a read - but maybe by a different author? This is Jordan's first book, so with a little more experience and skill this book could have knocked it out of the park. Jordan definitely has talent in writing, it just needs a little more tweaking before he becomes a really great author.
As the narrator, Jordan does come off as that wealthy rich kid stereotype everyone hates. It is sometimes annoying listening to his ranting about how much money he makes, and his hot wife, and how he cheats and does drugs and will absolutely quit but never does. That felt like it was 60% of this book - the same comments being repeated in different ways. "I'll quit..." then he doesn't, "I'll stop!..." then he doesn't, and so on. There's also no remorse for what he does. He is destroying lives, but hey, I'm rich so whatever! That's what I got out of this book. There was no life lessons at the end, no big "Ta Da! I've done well!", it's just him being rich and all of the bad things he does in his life, and the end! His penis, erection and everything about his sex life is mentioned numerous times - and of course, according to him it's god walking on earth. He rarely insults or looks down on himself, but will quickly do it to anybody else.
Overall, I'm sure Jordan's life was and is interesting, but his story could have been told better. It's almost as if he hasn't learned anything in his life, or at least that's how it's portrayed. And, better yet, there's another book in this series if you want to continue reading because HE DOESN'T FINISH HIS STORY IN THIS BOOK.
2 out of five stars.
Why? It had so much potential, and was so great in the beginning, but tumbled far down about one quarter into the book.
As someone going into business, this book intrigued me. I also really want to watch the movie, but I wanted to read the book beforehand, so that helped me with picking this read. I thought this
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book would be over the top exciting, since that's all I've heard about the movie, but alas it was not. This book was probably my most boring read of the year, and that's not an over-exaggeration. This book is said to be non-fiction, but Jordan Belfort's opening lines at the beginning of the book also say he may or may not have changed the timelines, which lead me to believe it's not 100% accurate. (But is anything 100% accurate in a memoir? You are relying on memory, which can tell some pretty epic lies...but that's another story). Reading about all the antics within his career was definitely interesting - it's not something I really thought about. All the drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, etc and all the craziness tied in together was definitely the basis of a really cool read. But, this book fell flat. The first "book" (it's separated into books that have chapters in each) was fast paced and epic! I was hooked to every word I read! But Book two and onward left me feeling "meh". It was slow paced, then it would suddenly pick up pace for two pages, and go back to boring again.
That being said, Jordan's life is definitely worth a read - but maybe by a different author? This is Jordan's first book, so with a little more experience and skill this book could have knocked it out of the park. Jordan definitely has talent in writing, it just needs a little more tweaking before he becomes a really great author.
As the narrator, Jordan does come off as that wealthy rich kid stereotype everyone hates. It is sometimes annoying listening to his ranting about how much money he makes, and his hot wife, and how he cheats and does drugs and will absolutely quit but never does. That felt like it was 60% of this book - the same comments being repeated in different ways. "I'll quit..." then he doesn't, "I'll stop!..." then he doesn't, and so on. There's also no remorse for what he does. He is destroying lives, but hey, I'm rich so whatever! That's what I got out of this book. There was no life lessons at the end, no big "Ta Da! I've done well!", it's just him being rich and all of the bad things he does in his life, and the end! His penis, erection and everything about his sex life is mentioned numerous times - and of course, according to him it's god walking on earth. He rarely insults or looks down on himself, but will quickly do it to anybody else.
Overall, I'm sure Jordan's life was and is interesting, but his story could have been told better. It's almost as if he hasn't learned anything in his life, or at least that's how it's portrayed. And, better yet, there's another book in this series if you want to continue reading because HE DOESN'T FINISH HIS STORY IN THIS BOOK.
2 out of five stars.
Why? It had so much potential, and was so great in the beginning, but tumbled far down about one quarter into the book.
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ISBN
0553904248 / 9780553904246
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