Following the spectacular 2001 collapse of energy trading firm Enron, some excellent books were published. This, and the subsequently published McLean and Elkind (2003), are the best.

Bryce is a journalist who has been covering Enron since 1997. This means that he came to the task of writing this book well prepared. He already knew much of the history and a fair amount of the intrigue. He had plenty of contacts. He pulled these resources together and the result is Pipe Dreams, a remarkable book offering insights that are timely, deep and unavailable anywhere else. It is also a fun read.

The book traces the history of Enron back to 1901 when Henry Kirby, a timberman, entered the oil business. In 1985, Ken Lay merged Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth and named the combined firm Enron. An indication of his laissez-faires management style came in 1987 when there were strong indications that traders operating out of a Valhalla New York office were manipulating the books. Lay failed to confront them. Resulting losses almost bankrupted the firm.

Moving into the 1990s, the book charts the fierce rivalry between Rebecca Mark pursuing an "international" strategy and Jeff Skilling pursing an alternative "asset lite" strategy. It documents President and COO Rich Kinder's fall from power (it involved a woman) and hasty departure from Enron. This incident, more than any other, sealed the firm's fate. The book also delves into CFO Andy Fastow's off-balance-sheet special purpose vehicles that hid billions of dollars in debt and siphoned 45 million dollars into his own pockets. It details the firms network of political connections with both the Democratic and Republican parties; its fierce "rank and yank" corporate culture; its misguided initiative in bandwidth trading; and its ultimate descent into bankruptcy.

There are two aspects of this book that really recommend it. First, it ties things together well. There were many factors leading to the demise of Enron. Pipe Dreams, more than any other book, captures the interrelationships between these, allowing us to place events in context. Second, the book lets us get to know the players as real human beings. It takes us into their board rooms, living rooms and bed rooms and shares with us their personalities. It is humans that build companies, and humans tare them down. By showing us the personalities of Enron, Bryce allows us to understand what really went wrong.