In American Sucker, the book I’m reading now, David Denby describes the run-up of the NASDAQ to over 5000 in March of the year 2000 and its subsequent collapse. When I think back to that time, I don’t remember giving it a second thought. I was totally oblivious and indifferent to what was going on. This was more because of my own ignorance than anything else, but I’m really glad I had no interest at that time in what was happening. In the book it had a huge effect on the author, and it made him a not-so-likable character.

David Denby got to know a guy named Henry Blodget, who was an Internet stock analyst at the time. Blodget got famous for correctly predicting that Amazon’s stock would surpass $400. An interesting fact revealed in the book is that before Blodget became a stock analyst, he was an English teacher in Japan for a year and tried unsuccessfully to publish a novel based on the experience.

Tags: American Sucker, David Denby, NASDAQ, Henry Blodget, book, books