Author Guide · Narrative Nonfiction
Books Written by
In the 1980s Michael Lewis, with a degree in art history, got a job selling bonds at Salomon Brothers and found himself earning a fortune in a world he thought was absurd. He quit and wrote Liar's Poker about it. He has since written about a baseball team that used statistics to beat richer rivals, the handful of investors who bet against the housing market before 2008, traders who rigged the stock market with speed, and the rise and fall of a crypto billionaire. Three of his books became Hollywood films. This guide covers all seventeen of his books in order, and where to start.
By Lisanne Swart · 17 books · Narrative nonfiction · 1989–2023 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Michael Lewis has published seventeen books of his own since 1989, about Wall Street (Liar's Poker, The Big Short, Flash Boys, Going Infinite), sport (Moneyball, The Blind Side), Silicon Valley, psychology, politics, government and fatherhood. He has also edited two anthologies, most recently Who Is Government? (2025). Most readers start with Moneyball or The Big Short.
Where to Start with Michael Lewis
If you want the famous one
→ The Big Short (2010).
If you want sport
→ Moneyball (2003).
If you want where it started
→ Liar's Poker (1989).
If you want the most recent
→ Going Infinite (2023).
All 17 Michael Lewis Books, in Order
Liar's Poker
His years as a bond salesman at Salomon Brothers in the 1980s, the book that defined the excesses of Wall Street in that decade.
The Money Culture
A collection of his journalism about money and finance in the late 1980s.
Pacific Rift
A short book about American and Japanese business culture at the height of Japan's economic boom.
Trail Fever
The 1996 American presidential campaign, followed from the road. Later reissued as Losers.
The New New Thing
Silicon Valley in the dot-com boom, through the entrepreneur Jim Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics, Netscape and Healtheon.
Next
How the internet was changing power and authority, through ordinary people, including teenagers, who used it to upend established institutions.
Moneyball
How Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics used statistics to find undervalued players and compete with far richer teams. It changed how sports teams think and became the 2011 film with Brad Pitt.
Coach
A short book about Billy Fitzgerald, his high-school baseball coach in New Orleans.
The Blind Side
The story of Michael Oher, a homeless teenager from Memphis taken in by a wealthy family, set against the changing economics of American football and the rising value of the left tackle. It became the 2009 film with Sandra Bullock.
Home Game
Short pieces on becoming a father, written as his three children were born.
The Big Short
The handful of outsiders who saw the American housing bubble coming and bet against it before the financial crisis of 2008, and what their bets revealed about Wall Street. It became the 2015 film directed by Adam McKay, which won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay.
Boomerang
A tour of the countries hit by the debt crisis after 2008, from Iceland and Greece to Ireland and Germany.
Flash Boys
High-frequency trading and the small group of people who set out to build a fairer stock exchange after discovering how ultra-fast traders were profiting from ordinary orders.
The Undoing Project
The friendship and collaboration of the Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, whose work on how people make decisions under uncertainty underpinned behavioural economics.
The Fifth Risk
What federal departments such as Energy, Agriculture and Commerce actually do, and the risks of not understanding them, written around the 2016–17 presidential transition.
The Premonition
The doctors and scientists who saw the danger of the Covid-19 pandemic early and tried to get the American system to respond.
Going Infinite
Sam Bankman-Fried and the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, from his rise to the company's collapse in 2022. Lewis spent much of the period with him, and the book came out as his fraud trial began.
How Many Books Did Michael Lewis Write?
Seventeen books of his own between 1989 and 2023, besides two anthologies he edited.
- Wall Street and money — Liar's Poker, The Money Culture, The Big Short, Boomerang, Flash Boys and Going Infinite. Read the entries →
- Sport — Moneyball, Coach and The Blind Side. Read the entries →
- Ideas, technology and government — The New New Thing, Next, The Undoing Project, The Fifth Risk and The Premonition. Read the entries →
- Edited — listed further down. See the full list →
In What Order to Read Michael Lewis
His books are not a series. Liar's Poker, The Big Short and Flash Boys form a loose trilogy about Wall Street across three decades; The Fifth Risk and The Premonition are a pair about government.
A reading path
1. Moneyball (2003)
2. The Big Short (2010)
3. Liar's Poker (1989)
4. The Undoing Project (2016)
5. Flash Boys (2014)
Everything Else Michael Lewis Wrote: The Full List
Beyond his seventeen books, two anthologies he edited.
Open a form with the + to see every book in it.
As editor
2
2 books · 2008–2025
- 2008Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanityan anthology on financial crises
- 2025Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Serviceprofiles of federal employees by Lewis and other writers
The years · 1960–2023
Quick facts about Michael Lewis
- Known for
- Michael Lewis is known for narrative non-fiction about money, sport and power, especially Moneyball and The Big Short, both of which became films.
- 1960
- Born in New Orleans
- 1989
- First book, Liar's Poker
- 2003
- Moneyball
- 2023
- Latest, Going Infinite
- Born
- 1960, New Orleans
- Education
- Princeton University; London School of Economics
- Before writing
- Bond salesman at Salomon Brothers
- Films
- The Blind Side (2009), Moneyball (2011), The Big Short (2015)
- Podcast
- Against the Rules
- Books
- 17 of his own, 1989–2023
The red mark is 2003: Moneyball, one of the two books most readers start with.
How Michael Lewis Writes: The Outsider Who Sees It First
Lewis tells big, technical stories through a few unusual people, often outsiders who notice something the experts have missed: the general manager who trusted statistics, the investors who read the mortgage bonds, the traders who timed the market.
He explains complex subjects, from credit default swaps to high-frequency trading, through scenes and characters rather than charts, which is why so many of his books have become films.
Michael Lewis on Who Is Government?
Listen on the National Constitution Center's We the People →
Michael Lewis in conversation with Jeffrey Rosen about the anthology he edited, Who Is Government?, March 2025.Frequently asked questions about Michael Lewis's books
How many books has Michael Lewis written?
Michael Lewis has written seventeen books of his own, from Liar's Poker (1989) to Going Infinite (2023), and edited two anthologies, the latest Who Is Government? (2025).
What is Michael Lewis's newest book?
His most recent book as author is Going Infinite (2023), about Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX. In 2025 he edited Who Is Government?, a collection of profiles of federal employees.
Which Michael Lewis books became films?
The Blind Side (2009), Moneyball (2011) and The Big Short (2015) were all adapted as feature films.
Where should I start with Michael Lewis?
Start with Moneyball (2003) or The Big Short (2010). If you want his first book, Liar's Poker (1989) is still widely read.
Footnotes
Bibliography last verified 1 October 2026.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
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