The Buy Side: A Wall Street Trader's Tale of Spectacular Excess by Turney Duff

A chaotic recount of one man’s brief Wall Street career. Turney’s career began on the right path, taking advantage of a mediocre job and working his way up to a full time trader. But as he became successful and increased his earnings, he also indulged in the wild parties and drug culture of the Wall Street finance world. He fought addiction and finally became clean, at least at the time of writing, when he left Wall Street.

The book is named the Buy Side because the people who manage funds and place large trades are continually courted by the Wall Street brokers (the Sell side). The brokers will spend inordinate amounts of money to reel in clients. Duff’s drug addiction appears to begin when hanging out with the brokers and partaking in wild nights out.

The book also does a good job illustrating how nonchalantly people commit crimes such as front running and insider trading.