The Asylum: The Renegades Who Hijacked the World's Oil Market - Hardcover

'A riveting tale of greed gone mad. Goodman nails the culture... A great ride for market fans.' --BusinessWeek

'Finance journalist Goodman traces Nymex's transformation into a colossus with a stranglehold on the sale of the world's energy. Goodman explores the lurid culture of Nymex traders, scruffy hustlers who shriek, swear and bring guns, drugs, and hookers right into the trading pit. One of the year's most colorful business histories.' --Publishers Weekly

'Welcome to a bet-on-anything, testosterone-drenched world...written with tremendous verve and insight.' --AR (Absolute Return + Alpha)

'Goodman wrote about Nymex for the Wall Street Journal before expanding her knowledge into a book...The inside look at a mostly closed institution is enlightening...Goodman's details about the infighting within Nymex membership are astounding, mainly because the members don t seem to realize they are destroying their path to wealth.' --Kirkus

'Goodman reveals a rough-and-tumble group with little formal education, who dress down, answer to no one, and are tougher than marines. Activities at the exchange are rife with cheating and overindulgence in drugs, prostitutes, and illegal gambling. Biting and infuriating, with even a 'Deep Throat' in the scoop.' --Booklist

'A seriously informative and amusing look into the oil trading pits.' --Huffington Post

'In the complex world of the energy markets where pit trading is a blue-collar profession, Goodman captures the grit and spirit of the floor and the personalities in the board room...her depiction of the players and the place to ring true.' --Reuters

'The Asylum is an inside look at how an underdog crew of uneducated, street-smart New York traders brawled and yelled, drank and drugged their way to control of the world s oil markets. With eye opening and entertaining first-hand accounts of life on the floor of the Nymex, Goodman explains why global catastrophes are nothing more than money-making opportunities for a small handful of traders. Newspapers report that the latest global catastrophe is pushing oil prices into the stratosphere, but Goodman and the residents of the Asylum know better...' --Fortune

'In the complex world of the energy markets where pit trading is a blue-collar profession, Goodman captures the grit and spirit of the floor and the personalities in the board room...her depiction of the players and the place to ring true.' --Reuters

'The Asylum is an inside look at how an underdog crew of uneducated, street-smart New York traders brawled and yelled, drank and drugged their way to control of the world s oil markets. With eye opening and entertaining first-hand accounts of life on the floor of the Nymex, Goodman explains why global catastrophes are nothing more than money-making opportunities for a small handful of traders. Newspapers report that the latest global catastrophe is pushing oil prices into the stratosphere, but Goodman and the residents of the Asylum know better...' --Fortune

Big-oil insiders reveal what went wrong with the oil industry, including why consumers have seen such record-high prices and who is profiting from the broken system. 50,000 first printing.