Listen to a sample
The Trick
- Author
- William Leith
- Narrator
- Rich Keeble
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Publish Date
- 16 April 2020
- Run Time
- 7 hours 45 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Memoirs, Personal finance
Not available in your country
We don't have the rights to sell this audiobook where you are. If it's already in your library you can still listen to it in My Books.
What to expect
Some people can make money. Other people can’t. It’s a thought that makes William Leith wake up in a cold sweat.
He doesn’t know why it makes him feel anxious. After all, money isn’t real. We created it. Humans did. It’s our masterpiece.
But the desire for it is killing us.
It is this dilemma that sets William Leith off on an adventure into the bizarre, morally dubious, yet highly desirable world of the mega-rich.
He spends several days with the real-life Wolf of Wall Street who, not content with his hundreds of millions, devised a fraud so he could make hundreds of millions more. He visits a Baroque mansion where a Russian half-billionaire lives alone with his butler. He tours the estate of Felix Dennis, the maverick tycoon who commissioned an avenue of statues to tell the story of his life. He flies to private islands on private jets, meets private men in private clubs, experiencing the dizzy highs of a life without limits – but all it does is give him crippling anxiety.
Throughout it all he asks himself: what makes these people wealthy? And how come I’m not?
Critics Review
-
The Trick takes all of Leith’s writing habits – his mazy streams of consciousness (few writers are quite so enamoured of, or good at, watching themselves think) and his love of axiom – and, if anything, ups the ante... Hugely enjoyable
Observer
-
Part Hunter S. Thompson, part Montaigne: a blend of gonzo journalism and rambling reflection interspersed with learned references
Spectator
-
Chummy, funny and genuinely interesting, The Trick has to be one of the best books about money around
Tatler
-
Spectacular ... The Trick takes us on a fevered thrill ride through the heads of the richest people in the world, plus some of the most accomplished risk-takers, to answer the eternal question, why does money stick to thee, and not to me?
Aaron Brown, author of 'The Poker Face of Wall Street'
See more reviews See fewer reviews
-
Most books about the uber-wealthy portray them either as superheroes to be unquestioningly admired or as obsessive psychopathic idiots. The joy of this book is how beautifully it walks the narrow line between the two
Rory Sutherland, author of Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense
-
A superb book ... Leith has always been one of our best non-fiction writers and this is his crowning achievement
Praise for 'The Hungry Years', Jon Ronson
-
As a memoir and as comedy, it succeeds beautifully ... As a confessional, it is pretty much a masterclass – frank, tough-minded, funny, generous
New Statesman
-
Resembles an expertly-paced stand-up routine ... Positively Izzard-esque
Time Out
-
Leith offers a tour of his own frantic inner world, reflecting on a dizzying array of subjects ... These range from cowboys and gangsters to the feeding habits of chimpanzees. His metastasising anecdotes and revelations are deeply personal, often wilfully tangential and always thought-provoking
Economist
-
[Leith’s] passages about his multiple overlapping neuroses are touched by comic genius … Leith offers sharply comical observations about both the lure and absurdity of great wealth
Mail on Sunday
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- William Leith
- Narrator
- Rich Keeble
- Duration
- 7 hours 45 minutes
- Release Date
- 16 April 2020
- ISBN
- 9781526621085
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Genre
- Memoirs, Personal finance
Synopsis
Some people can make money. Other people can’t. It’s a thought that makes William Leith wake up in a cold sweat. He doesn’t know why it makes him feel anxious. After all, money isn’t real. We created it. Humans did. It’s our masterpiece. But the desire for it is killing us. It is this dilemma that sets William Leith off on an adventure into the bizarre, morally dubious, yet highly desirable world of the mega-rich. He spends several days with the real-life Wolf of Wall Street who, not content with his hundreds of millions, devised a fraud so he could make hundreds of millions more. He visits a Baroque mansion where a Russian half-billionaire lives alone with his butler. He tours the estate of Felix Dennis, the maverick tycoon who commissioned an avenue of statues to tell the story of his life. He flies to private islands on private jets, meets private men in private clubs, experiencing the dizzy highs of a life without limits – but all it does is give him crippling anxiety. Throughout it all he asks himself: what makes these people wealthy? And how come I’m not?
About xigxag
xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK's only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.
There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at $13.95. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from $7.95. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.
Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.
Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.