In 2020, Alexander was a 29-year-old American writer with no money, living in a cramped Paris flat-share. With the future of everything seeming deeply uncertain, he decided to do what so many millennials were doing: 'YOLO' his meagre savings into highly risky options trading. What followed was an eighteen month long psychological roller coaster. In a stunning display of unbelievable folly, Alexander had turned a small loan into $1.2 million and lost it all - but in its place, had gained a good story to tell.

In a book that's part-memoir, part-exploration of late capitalism, Hurst grapples with the vital questions of our age: how do you build a life when you're blocked from the means to do so? Are we still bound by class and social status, or has the internet freed us? Is it worth becoming a monstrous narcissist in the pursuit of wealth?