The autobiography of the former Goldman Sachs chief executive and Treasury secretary falls flat because it glosses the important events of his career while abundantly criticising (succeeding) Bush administration policies. The book begins briskly with the Mexican currency crisis and quickly outlines Rubin’s belief that complex situations are fundamentally uncertain, so effective risk management is vital. After a useful outline of risk arbitrage trading, however, the book breezes past his rise and rise at Goldman. Then Clinton-era policies and landmarks are presented disjointedly: the Asian crises are not well connected to domestic events, whether economic or political. There is no substantive mention of the Lewinsky scandal. Nearly 20 percent of the book is devoted to criticizing his successors: though Rubin refrains from personalized, ad hominem attacks of the kind he professes disdain for, it is the details of his own decisions that are important and wanting.