📖 Did Michael Lewis go too easy on SBF?

Happy Sunday! It’s October 8 — people are talking about Michael Lewis’s SBF book, friendship bracelets made by Taylor Swift fans, and more.

As always, we’ve summarized and organized the different shades of perspective, so you can see the big picture quickly.

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📖 In the news: Michael Lewis’s SBF book

Famous finance writer Michael Lewis wrote “Going Infinite” about Sam Bankman-Fried (aka SBF), who was arrested for defrauding crypto consumers. Did he go too easy on SBF?

📖 Coindesk said the book jeopardizes Lewis's reputation. Lewis has built his career on simplifying financial fraud, but he seems completely blind to the schemes SBF used to build FTX.

📖 The LA Times wrote a scathing review of the book: Lewis fell for SBF’s lies. SBF could've used this as a defense brief in his fraud trial!

📖 But Bloomberg was more forgiving: The book is good! It's a character study of SBF, and it's plenty incriminating.

📖 The New Yorker also defended the book: Lewis is asking his readers to challenge what they think they know about SBF — it's a contrarian account.

📖 Wired didn't hate the book, but said it was still overhyped. Instead, it recommended that people read Zeke Faux's “Number Go Up”.

👯‍♀️ Cultural trend: TSwift friendship bracelets

A song lyric inspired Swifties to craft and share friendship bracelets. Is it sweet, or a little weird?

👯‍♀️ Today covers the details: The lyric that inspired the trend was in Taylor's song You're on Your Own, Kid: “Make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it”.

👯‍♀️ CNN says Swifties were paying thousands of dollars for Etsy friendship bracelets. And the Travis-Taylor relationship might've started with a bracelet!

👯‍♀️ Vogue notes that the friendship bracelet trend has expanded to other celebs. The Lionesses wore them to the World Cup. It's nostalgic and sweet!

👯‍♀️ But of course, not everyone is a fan. Redditors in r/SwiftieCircleJerk think the act of trading friendship bracelets is corny, dumb, and a little wasteful.

Quick hits

⚫ The Israeli death toll from Hamas attacks rose to 600 as fighting continued in the south of Israel and Gaza. (The Guardian)

💰 The Powerball jackpot climbed to $1.55 billion after there was no winner in Saturday's drawing. (CBS News)

📣 California Gov. Gavin Newsom deemed a ban on caste discrimination “unnecessary”, saying state laws already offer protections. (The Guardian)

📈 The Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls rose by 336,000 in September. (CNBC)

That’s it for today. Reply at [email protected] to let me know what you think of our newsletter, or to suggest a topic for next time.

Here at Shades we’re trying something new – quick summaries from different points of view. We think it’s a better way to stay informed and see the big picture. Please reach out if you’re curious to learn more!

- Jeff (co-founder of Shades)