Michael Burry

Character Analysis

Not only is Michael Burry is a one-man math department; he's also the first person to see the approaching subprime-pocalypse and use credit default swaps to bet against mortgage bonds. Burry is super intelligent, persistent, and creative, but he has one gigantic Achilles heel: social interaction. As in, he can barely do it.

Whiz Kid

Seriously, Burry gets into finance in the first place because he hates the human aspect of his job as a neurologist. On the one hand, that alone is evidence of his prodigious intelligence: he becomes a brain doctor not because he's interested in the subject, but because he finds it easy.

Yup. Really.

On the other hand, Burry just doesn't like dealing with patients. It's just not his thing.

In his free time, Burry channels his "lifelong obsession" with "the inner workings of the stock market" by making investments that he documents on a blog (2.19). He becomes so wildly successful—popular—that he quits his M.D. gig to start his own fund: Scion Capitol.

Burry learns the hard way that it's impossible to escape people altogether. Things are great for the first few years: he posts record returns, and his investors are happier than a clan of clams. Then he makes his big bet against the subprime market. Burry makes this bet knowing that he'll lose money over the next few years—but also that this loss will be completely offset by a massive profit once the market collapses. His investors aren't so patient, however, and many threaten to withdraw their funds entirely.

As you probably expected, Michael Burry doesn't handle this well.

Insider the Investor Studio

At first, Burry attributes his lack of social skills to his glass eye, which he's worn since a childhood bout with cancer that took one of his eyes out. That's a good guess: it certainly makes sense to a degree, especially if Burry personally feels insecure about it when interacting with other people. As he learns near the end of the book, however, the answer is a bit more complicated.

That's because Burry has Asperger's Syndrome, which he only learns after his son is diagnosed with the condition. Asperger's explains everything: Burry's difficulty interacting with others, his obsessive nature, his love for numbers—even his simple choice of clothing. The whole shebang. Here's his reaction:

"How many people can pick up a book and find an instruction manual for their life?" he said. "I hated reading a book telling me who I was. I thought I was different, but this was saying I was the same as other people." (8.23)

Although Burry is troubled by the news at first, he manages to embrace it with time. The Asperger's diagnosis helps him understand the qualities that others find frustrating about him—and hopefully gives him the tools he needs to deal with it. What's more, Burry would never describe Asperger's as an "illness" or "disability"—without it, he wouldn't have the insane intelligence and laser focus that make him such a financial dynamo. It's simply a part of who he is.

Time to Chillax

Eventually, Burry's big bet against the subprime market pays off, though his investors never give him credit for being right. Most of them are completely silent, in fact. Check out Burry's reaction:

"Even when it was clear it was a big year and I was proven right, there was no triumph in it," he said. "Making money was nothing like I thought it would be. (9.54)

It's a cold world, the world of finance. Intelligence isn't necessary appreciated or rewarded; all that people seem to really understand and respect is greed and moolah. Not particularly fulfilling for someone like Burry, who'd like to be appreciated for his accomplishments.

In the end, Burry's dissatisfaction takes its toll on him, leading him to close Scion Capitol and quit the investment game altogether. While in real life Burry has since gone back to financial world, his final actions in the book represent the stress that the financial industry can take on its participants, especially when the participant in question is as sensitive, intelligent, and passionate as Michael Burry.