Debunking myths, economy, philosophy, 26 Nov 2008
I really don't know what the people giving one star only to this book are smoking.

First things first. If you expect to read this book casually like you would read an easy novel, then this certainly is not the book for you.

What Soros is asking from you is to read, take pause, and think.

Soros is not only bringing into question the fundamental paradigms about how capitalism works, he is also bringing into question the whole foundation of enlightened Western thinking since the Renaissance. Another reviewer said Soros was delaing in platitudes. Phwa! He obviously skimmed a bit too much...

That my friends is not a small fish to fry, it is the first book or article I have seen linking the failure of markets to a misconception at the very heart of rational thinking.

Soros makes reference to philosophy in order to explain why economists use mathematics models based on bogus assumptions. This is important and is worth thinking about.

If anything, you get a valuable insight in how a guy that is making tons of money is thinking. That by itself should be enough reason to read this book.



Philosophy and Finance, 06 Oct 2008
This is very much like Soros's other books: a mix of (his own) Philosophy in PART I, and its possible applicability to the Finance markets of the time in PART II.

If you like Taleb's mix of Philosophy and Finance in Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets and The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable then you'll Soros's approach.

If you're looking to emulate Soros's success, this book doesn't tell you how to do this in concrete steps. The theory of reflexivity explains the nature of financial markets (the problem) but doesn't give a solution.

Tony Loton, author --
DON'T LOSE MONEY! (in the Stock Markets)
Financial Trading Patterns

He's got the answer, 05 Oct 2008
Hidden inside the book, towards the end, Mr. Soros points out that when those who create credit are in trouble the government has to bail them out, as credit creation is too important. Therefore they should accept that since they are at government protection and they need to pay a price. And the price is anti-bubble-cycle regulation (my words, he puts it much more elegantly in the book).

With this acceptance on both sides we can work towards minimal effective regulation, not just petty throwing of insults between 'hippies' and 'capitalists'.

This issue is way to important to be left to the extremes to deal with. All of us, in the more moderate middle ground, need to get in on this debate at a finer level of discourse.

And Mr. Soros provides a very useful framework for this.

Waste of time, 09 Sep 2008
Starts off ambitiously attempting to explain the credit crunch, spends a few chapters reiterating why his ideology was not accepted earlier on, and ends proposing a philosophical view of the financial markets....just to say that market performance is a function of what other people do...hardly a revelation and more importantly, no suggestion as to what to do with this "revelation". Last section explains his portfolio performance with market events, which was interesting.

I'll say that again, 29 Aug 2008
As this was by George Soros, whom I respect greatly, I felt I had to read it but ended up very disappointed. In short, Soros feels his theory on reflexivity has been ignored and therefore needs to be repeated. This he does and further fills the book with the reasons why he needs to repeat it, particularly because he thinks the credit crunch vidicates his argument.

Very repetitive to the extent that some comments are even repeated on the same page. This is a book which says very little and, to be frank, is not really worth reading.

Debunking myths, economy, philosophy, 26 Nov 2008
I really don't know what the people giving one star only to this book are smoking.

First things first. If you expect to read this book casually like you would read an easy novel, then this certainly is not the book for you.

What Soros is asking from you is to read, take pause, and think.

Soros is not only bringing into question the fundamental paradigms about how capitalism works, he is also bringing into question the whole foundation of enlightened Western thinking since the Renaissance. Another reviewer said Soros was delaing in platitudes. Phwa! He obviously skimmed a bit too much...

That my friends is not a small fish to fry, it is the first book or article I have seen linking the failure of markets to a misconception at the very heart of rational thinking.

Soros makes reference to philosophy in order to explain why economists use mathematics models based on bogus assumptions. This is important and is worth thinking about.

If anything, you get a valuable insight in how a guy that is making tons of money is thinking. That by itself should be enough reason to read this book.



Philosophy and Finance, 06 Oct 2008
This is very much like Soros's other books: a mix of (his own) Philosophy in PART I, and its possible applicability to the Finance markets of the time in PART II.

If you like Taleb's mix of Philosophy and Finance in Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets and The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable then you'll Soros's approach.

If you're looking to emulate Soros's success, this book doesn't tell you how to do this in concrete steps. The theory of reflexivity explains the nature of financial markets (the problem) but doesn't give a solution.

Tony Loton, author --
DON'T LOSE MONEY! (in the Stock Markets)
Financial Trading Patterns

He's got the answer, 05 Oct 2008
Hidden inside the book, towards the end, Mr. Soros points out that when those who create credit are in trouble the government has to bail them out, as credit creation is too important. Therefore they should accept that since they are at government protection and they need to pay a price. And the price is anti-bubble-cycle regulation (my words, he puts it much more elegantly in the book).

With this acceptance on both sides we can work towards minimal effective regulation, not just petty throwing of insults between 'hippies' and 'capitalists'.

This issue is way to important to be left to the extremes to deal with. All of us, in the more moderate middle ground, need to get in on this debate at a finer level of discourse.

And Mr. Soros provides a very useful framework for this.

Waste of time, 09 Sep 2008
Starts off ambitiously attempting to explain the credit crunch, spends a few chapters reiterating why his ideology was not accepted earlier on, and ends proposing a philosophical view of the financial markets....just to say that market performance is a function of what other people do...hardly a revelation and more importantly, no suggestion as to what to do with this "revelation". Last section explains his portfolio performance with market events, which was interesting.

I'll say that again, 29 Aug 2008
As this was by George Soros, whom I respect greatly, I felt I had to read it but ended up very disappointed. In short, Soros feels his theory on reflexivity has been ignored and therefore needs to be repeated. This he does and further fills the book with the reasons why he needs to repeat it, particularly because he thinks the credit crunch vidicates his argument.

Very repetitive to the extent that some comments are even repeated on the same page. This is a book which says very little and, to be frank, is not really worth reading.

A difficult read, 08 Nov 2008
I found this very hard to get through - probably because I probably am one of those pro-business zealots.
Just reading the introduction will give you a very good idea of the book to come:- polemics against evil business; weak, poorly argued points built on data that don't always support the point; and breathless repetition of the same arguments and the same polemics. For someone not brought up on Marxist economics, it all gets very tiring and tiresome.

But there is value here. While most people reading the book will know about Japan's deflationary problems in the '90s, it is useful to have it told again in reasonable detail. And the sections on global capital flows are interesting and provoke thought.

But in the end I was convinced neither that the author's reading of the credit crunch was useful or correct, nor that he had any useful answers. It may just be my zealotry clouding my reading, but I think there are better and more useful books on the subject.

Credit Crunch, 17 Oct 2008
I found this in an incredibly informative and insightful book about the present economic situation. It makes sense - though I am sure that some aspects of the book are controversial. The author challenges the reader to consider the origins of the credit crunch. The roots are found in free trade and the endless cost cutting pursuits of large corporations in advanced nations who are preoccupied with driving down costs in order to inflate their bottom line; hence the burgeoning trend towards outsourcing to low waged economies. But that is just the start. The book is highly comprehensive and readable.

Informative, insightful and thought provoking, 14 Jul 2008
The outline in the Amazon `product description' above is a fair summary, but it should be stressed that there is nothing sensational or overtly political about this book. It tries to be a reasoned economic assessment of our current plight, although doubtless it will upset some `free market' and `pro-business' zealots. It is a very timely and its predictions seem to be being born out - for example on page 191 we read `the US Treasury .... will be forced to act, rescuing more banks by injecting public sector capital and, ultimately, taking many into public ownership'. I write this on the same day that the US Treasury has proposed to provide as much support as is required to `Fanny May' and `Freddie Mac' and a couple of days after the Californian bank Indy Mac was nationalised.

Some may consider that the two chapters that discuss what happened to Japan after its speculative bubble went bang in 1990 have their longeuers. However, they give us some insight into how difficult it is to get out of a post bubble slump - particularly given the mindsets of economists and central bankers - and what we might have to look forward to (not a lot if Japan is anything to go by).

This book should be readily understood by anybody with an interest in economic and political affairs. There are lots of clear and very informative graphs and not too much heavy economic theory. It explains a lot but is hardly cheering - perhaps Gordon Brown (of whom the author has remarked elsewhere [Spectator Business website] `I think he will go down as the worst Chancellor in history') has seen a copy - it would explain his current demeanour!

The idea that money makes the world go round has become so ingrained in popular consciousness that it has almost acquired the status of eternal truth. Which is possibly by why it has escaped close examination. Until now. And as Niall Ferguson's The Cash Nexus makes clear it is one that doesn't stand up to close scrutiny. That there is a link between money and politics is unarguable. In the early 1700s, when governments discovered the black art of servicing debt through bond issues and a central bank, they unlocked the doors to warfare and empire building on a grand scale, and the ability to raise money has remained integral to domestic and international politics ever since. The question that Ferguson asks is whether the link always holds good and that, as both Marxist and right-wing historians continue to maintain, all political life is driven by economic forces. Indeed, so entrenched is the belief that governments themselves believe it. Bill Clinton's electioneering slogan, "It's the economy, stupid" has become such a given that the Labour government appear to be using it as the basis for their new campaign. And yet, as Ferguson points out, if you look at the results of recent elections, you see that the axiom carries little weight. If it had, John Major would have been re-elected in 1997 and Al Gore would have swept home in 2000. Similarly, if poor economic performance was a guarantee of electoral disaster, Margaret Thatcher would have been voted out of office in 1983. So politics--or the pursuit of power--do exist as a separate entity. Partly this may be because most people are catastrophically hopeless at assessing their economic self-interest, and partly because people are motivated by forces over and beyond money. Whatever the reason, the consequences for the way we view the world are immense, and as in The Pity of War, where Ferguson challenged some of the conventional wisdoms of the First World War, he takes a provocative pen to many of the accepted norms of the 21st century. Class war is replaced by age war, with the teens losing out; the Americans have been too timid rather than too aggressive in their global policing; and petrol tax revolts are a political inevitability. The Cash Nexus is ambitious, entertaining and thought-provoking. What it isn't is a populist history-lite easy read. Some of the ideas are just too complex to be broadbrushed; but don't give up. --John Crace

Debunking myths, economy, philosophy, 26 Nov 2008
I really don't know what the people giving one star only to this book are smoking.

First things first. If you expect to read this book casually like you would read an easy novel, then this certainly is not the book for you.

What Soros is asking from you is to read, take pause, and think.

Soros is not only bringing into question the fundamental paradigms about how capitalism works, he is also bringing into question the whole foundation of enlightened Western thinking since the Renaissance. Another reviewer said Soros was delaing in platitudes. Phwa! He obviously skimmed a bit too much...

That my friends is not a small fish to fry, it is the first book or article I have seen linking the failure of markets to a misconception at the very heart of rational thinking.

Soros makes reference to philosophy in order to explain why economists use mathematics models based on bogus assumptions. This is important and is worth thinking about.

If anything, you get a valuable insight in how a guy that is making tons of money is thinking. That by itself should be enough reason to read this book.



Philosophy and Finance, 06 Oct 2008
This is very much like Soros's other books: a mix of (his own) Philosophy in PART I, and its possible applicability to the Finance markets of the time in PART II.

If you like Taleb's mix of Philosophy and Finance in Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets and The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable then you'll Soros's approach.

If you're looking to emulate Soros's success, this book doesn't tell you how to do this in concrete steps. The theory of reflexivity explains the nature of financial markets (the problem) but doesn't give a solution.

Tony Loton, author --
DON'T LOSE MONEY! (in the Stock Markets)
Financial Trading Patterns

He's got the answer, 05 Oct 2008
Hidden inside the book, towards the end, Mr. Soros points out that when those who create credit are in trouble the government has to bail them out, as credit creation is too important. Therefore they should accept that since they are at government protection and they need to pay a price. And the price is anti-bubble-cycle regulation (my words, he puts it much more elegantly in the book).

With this acceptance on both sides we can work towards minimal effective regulation, not just petty throwing of insults between 'hippies' and 'capitalists'.

This issue is way to important to be left to the extremes to deal with. All of us, in the more moderate middle ground, need to get in on this debate at a finer level of discourse.

And Mr. Soros provides a very useful framework for this.

Waste of time, 09 Sep 2008
Starts off ambitiously attempting to explain the credit crunch, spends a few chapters reiterating why his ideology was not accepted earlier on, and ends proposing a philosophical view of the financial markets....just to say that market performance is a function of what other people do...hardly a revelation and more importantly, no suggestion as to what to do with this "revelation". Last section explains his portfolio performance with market events, which was interesting.

I'll say that again, 29 Aug 2008
As this was by George Soros, whom I respect greatly, I felt I had to read it but ended up very disappointed. In short, Soros feels his theory on reflexivity has been ignored and therefore needs to be repeated. This he does and further fills the book with the reasons why he needs to repeat it, particularly because he thinks the credit crunch vidicates his argument.

Very repetitive to the extent that some comments are even repeated on the same page. This is a book which says very little and, to be frank, is not really worth reading.

A difficult read, 08 Nov 2008
I found this very hard to get through - probably because I probably am one of those pro-business zealots.
Just reading the introduction will give you a very good idea of the book to come:- polemics against evil business; weak, poorly argued points built on data that don't always support the point; and breathless repetition of the same arguments and the same polemics. For someone not brought up on Marxist economics, it all gets very tiring and tiresome.

But there is value here. While most people reading the book will know about Japan's deflationary problems in the '90s, it is useful to have it told again in reasonable detail. And the sections on global capital flows are interesting and provoke thought.

But in the end I was convinced neither that the author's reading of the credit crunch was useful or correct, nor that he had any useful answers. It may just be my zealotry clouding my reading, but I think there are better and more useful books on the subject.

Credit Crunch, 17 Oct 2008
I found this in an incredibly informative and insightful book about the present economic situation. It makes sense - though I am sure that some aspects of the book are controversial. The author challenges the reader to consider the origins of the credit crunch. The roots are found in free trade and the endless cost cutting pursuits of large corporations in advanced nations who are preoccupied with driving down costs in order to inflate their bottom line; hence the burgeoning trend towards outsourcing to low waged economies. But that is just the start. The book is highly comprehensive and readable.

Informative, insightful and thought provoking, 14 Jul 2008
The outline in the Amazon `product description' above is a fair summary, but it should be stressed that there is nothing sensational or overtly political about this book. It tries to be a reasoned economic assessment of our current plight, although doubtless it will upset some `free market' and `pro-business' zealots. It is a very timely and its predictions seem to be being born out - for example on page 191 we read `the US Treasury .... will be forced to act, rescuing more banks by injecting public sector capital and, ultimately, taking many into public ownership'. I write this on the same day that the US Treasury has proposed to provide as much support as is required to `Fanny May' and `Freddie Mac' and a couple of days after the Californian bank Indy Mac was nationalised.

Some may consider that the two chapters that discuss what happened to Japan after its speculative bubble went bang in 1990 have their longeuers. However, they give us some insight into how difficult it is to get out of a post bubble slump - particularly given the mindsets of economists and central bankers - and what we might have to look forward to (not a lot if Japan is anything to go by).

This book should be readily understood by anybody with an interest in economic and political affairs. There are lots of clear and very informative graphs and not too much heavy economic theory. It explains a lot but is hardly cheering - perhaps Gordon Brown (of whom the author has remarked elsewhere [Spectator Business website] `I think he will go down as the worst Chancellor in history') has seen a copy - it would explain his current demeanour!


The cash nebulous, 30 Mar 2006
I purchased this book on the basis of the on-line reviews anticipating a study of financial history.

Whilst it is reasonable on the history of currency, banking, and international finance it drifts off badly into loose discussions of UK politics, democracy and development, and the rise of the US economy. None of this material is particularly convincing and is based far too much on citations.

Overall I found it a frustrating read. There is a too much of a feeling that the author is a moderator in a debate which he doesn't fully understand.

Hard going but worth the effort, 22 Jun 2003
The book's scope is much wider than its title would imply. The author analyzes why some regimes have been more successful than others during past 300 years. The book emphasizes importance of four institutions as the bases of financial strength (and long-term success) of the state:
- a tax-collecting bureaucracy
- a representative parliament
- a national debt
- a central bank

There is lot of intellectual gymnastics with figures and facts in the middle of the book that test your determination to go on. Those who persevere get rewarded with the interesting discussion in the end of the book about defense expenses as a insurance policy for the state and a need for a superpower policeman for the free world in order to make peace and prosperity to last.

Read and find out if you agree with the conclusions of the author.

An excellent book but it does tend to drift off in places, 28 Feb 2001
Overall an excellent book that look at the link of bond prices democracy, politics and a nation-states power. It is very informative and contains alot of data simply set out; especially useful if you just happening to be doing a degree at the time.

My favourite aspect of this book is the completely fresh look ( even if I don't agree with all of it ) it takes at national power rather than rehashing old books with little, if anything, new to say.

Saying that the book at times does drift off losing all sense of structure especially in the middle covering the links between political parties and various lobby groups.

This does not stop being easy to read and comprehend while still being extremely informative.

Debunking myths, economy, philosophy, 26 Nov 2008
I really don't know what the people giving one star only to this book are smoking.

First things first. If you expect to read this book casually like you would read an easy novel, then this certainly is not the book for you.

What Soros is asking from you is to read, take pause, and think.

Soros is not only bringing into question the fundamental paradigms about how capitalism works, he is also bringing into question the whole foundation of enlightened Western thinking since the Renaissance. Another reviewer said Soros was delaing in platitudes. Phwa! He obviously skimmed a bit too much...

That my friends is not a small fish to fry, it is the first book or article I have seen linking the failure of markets to a misconception at the very heart of rational thinking.

Soros makes reference to philosophy in order to explain why economists use mathematics models based on bogus assumptions. This is important and is worth thinking about.

If anything, you get a valuable insight in how a guy that is making tons of money is thinking. That by itself should be enough reason to read this book.



Philosophy and Finance, 06 Oct 2008
This is very much like Soros's other books: a mix of (his own) Philosophy in PART I, and its possible applicability to the Finance markets of the time in PART II.

If you like Taleb's mix of Philosophy and Finance in Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets and The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable then you'll Soros's approach.

If you're looking to emulate Soros's success, this book doesn't tell you how to do this in concrete steps. The theory of reflexivity explains the nature of financial markets (the problem) but doesn't give a solution.

Tony Loton, author --
DON'T LOSE MONEY! (in the Stock Markets)
Financial Trading Patterns

He's got the answer, 05 Oct 2008
Hidden inside the book, towards the end, Mr. Soros points out that when those who create credit are in trouble the government has to bail them out, as credit creation is too important. Therefore they should accept that since they are at government protection and they need to pay a price. And the price is anti-bubble-cycle regulation (my words, he puts it much more elegantly in the book).

With this acceptance on both sides we can work towards minimal effective regulation, not just petty throwing of insults between 'hippies' and 'capitalists'.

This issue is way to important to be left to the extremes to deal with. All of us, in the more moderate middle ground, need to get in on this debate at a finer level of discourse.

And Mr. Soros provides a very useful framework for this.

Waste of time, 09 Sep 2008
Starts off ambitiously attempting to explain the credit crunch, spends a few chapters reiterating why his ideology was not accepted earlier on, and ends proposing a philosophical view of the financial markets....just to say that market performance is a function of what other people do...hardly a revelation and more importantly, no suggestion as to what to do with this "revelation". Last section explains his portfolio performance with market events, which was interesting.

I'll say that again, 29 Aug 2008
As this was by George Soros, whom I respect greatly, I felt I had to read it but ended up very disappointed. In short, Soros feels his theory on reflexivity has been ignored and therefore needs to be repeated. This he does and further fills the book with the reasons why he needs to repeat it, particularly because he thinks the credit crunch vidicates his argument.

Very repetitive to the extent that some comments are even repeated on the same page. This is a book which says very little and, to be frank, is not really worth reading.

A difficult read, 08 Nov 2008
I found this very hard to get through - probably because I probably am one of those pro-business zealots.
Just reading the introduction will give you a very good idea of the book to come:- polemics against evil business; weak, poorly argued points built on data that don't always support the point; and breathless repetition of the same arguments and the same polemics. For someone not brought up on Marxist economics, it all gets very tiring and tiresome.

But there is value here. While most people reading the book will know about Japan's deflationary problems in the '90s, it is useful to have it told again in reasonable detail. And the sections on global capital flows are interesting and provoke thought.

But in the end I was convinced neither that the author's reading of the credit crunch was useful or correct, nor that he had any useful answers. It may just be my zealotry clouding my reading, but I think there are better and more useful books on the subject.

Credit Crunch, 17 Oct 2008
I found this in an incredibly informative and insightful book about the present economic situation. It makes sense - though I am sure that some aspects of the book are controversial. The author challenges the reader to consider the origins of the credit crunch. The roots are found in free trade and the endless cost cutting pursuits of large corporations in advanced nations who are preoccupied with driving down costs in order to inflate their bottom line; hence the burgeoning trend towards outsourcing to low waged economies. But that is just the start. The book is highly comprehensive and readable.

Informative, insightful and thought provoking, 14 Jul 2008
The outline in the Amazon `product description' above is a fair summary, but it should be stressed that there is nothing sensational or overtly political about this book. It tries to be a reasoned economic assessment of our current plight, although doubtless it will upset some `free market' and `pro-business' zealots. It is a very timely and its predictions seem to be being born out - for example on page 191 we read `the US Treasury .... will be forced to act, rescuing more banks by injecting public sector capital and, ultimately, taking many into public ownership'. I write this on the same day that the US Treasury has proposed to provide as much support as is required to `Fanny May' and `Freddie Mac' and a couple of days after the Californian bank Indy Mac was nationalised.

Some may consider that the two chapters that discuss what happened to Japan after its speculative bubble went bang in 1990 have their longeuers. However, they give us some insight into how difficult it is to get out of a post bubble slump - particularly given the mindsets of economists and central bankers - and what we might have to look forward to (not a lot if Japan is anything to go by).

This book should be readily understood by anybody with an interest in economic and political affairs. There are lots of clear and very informative graphs and not too much heavy economic theory. It explains a lot but is hardly cheering - perhaps Gordon Brown (of whom the author has remarked elsewhere [Spectator Business website] `I think he will go down as the worst Chancellor in history') has seen a copy - it would explain his current demeanour!


The cash nebulous, 30 Mar 2006
I purchased this book on the basis of the on-line reviews anticipating a study of financial history.

Whilst it is reasonable on the history of currency, banking, and international finance it drifts off badly into loose discussions of UK politics, democracy and development, and the rise of the US economy. None of this material is particularly convincing and is based far too much on citations.

Overall I found it a frustrating read. There is a too much of a feeling that the author is a moderator in a debate which he doesn't fully understand.

Hard going but worth the effort, 22 Jun 2003
The book's scope is much wider than its title would imply. The author analyzes why some regimes have been more successful than others during past 300 years. The book emphasizes importance of four institutions as the bases of financial strength (and long-term success) of the state:
- a tax-collecting bureaucracy
- a representative parliament
- a national debt
- a central bank

There is lot of intellectual gymnastics with figures and facts in the middle of the book that test your determination to go on. Those who persevere get rewarded with the interesting discussion in the end of the book about defense expenses as a insurance policy for the state and a need for a superpower policeman for the free world in order to make peace and prosperity to last.

Read and find out if you agree with the conclusions of the author.

An excellent book but it does tend to drift off in places, 28 Feb 2001
Overall an excellent book that look at the link of bond prices democracy, politics and a nation-states power. It is very informative and contains alot of data simply set out; especially useful if you just happening to be doing a degree at the time.

My favourite aspect of this book is the completely fresh look ( even if I don't agree with all of it ) it takes at national power rather than rehashing old books with little, if anything, new to say.

Saying that the book at times does drift off losing all sense of structure especially in the middle covering the links between political parties and various lobby groups.

This does not stop being easy to read and comprehend while still being extremely informative.

Nobody tells it like Philip Coggan..., 31 Jan 2006
Years of experience writing for the FT definitely makes Philip Coggan an authoritative voice on the way the city works...

A great overview of the London market, and the development of the various different financial and investment instruments/products that exist within the city.

A recommended read for anybody seeking to extend their knowledge of the London financial market.

Excellent, 02 Jul 2003
An excellent book. Most people hear loads of finacial terms every day, but don't really know what they mean. They maybe semi understand.

It is not at all hard to learn the basics of economics. It's a subject where if you can grasp about say, 7 rules, then you can figure out what's going on with all the others without bothering too much.

This book concentrates on expressing these rules with simple examples in plain english, which is all you need to understand a great deal of financial jargon.

Buy this book and be a veritable fountain of knowledge for the rest of your life!

Excellent insight into the growth of the City of London, 27 Nov 2001
This book is a must for anyone new to financial markets, and particularly to the City of London.
It describes the history of finance in the City and how the different markets came about, what they're about, and how government policy shaped the competitive and busy financial centre that it is now.
This book isn't an in-depth study of the markets, and its easy style will appeal to anyone wishing to gain an insight into what makes the City tick.
I read this book 3 years after I started working in financial IT, and I wished I'd read it much sooner.
Buy it for your train journey.

Debunking myths, economy, philosophy, 26 Nov 2008
I really don't know what the people giving one star only to this book are smoking.

First things first. If you expect to read this book casually like you would read an easy novel, then this certainly is not the book for you.

What Soros is asking from you is to read, take pause, and think.

Soros is not only bringing into question the fundamental paradigms about how capitalism works, he is also bringing into question the whole foundation of enlightened Western thinking since the Renaissance. Another reviewer said Soros was delaing in platitudes. Phwa! He obviously skimmed a bit too much...

That my friends is not a small fish to fry, it is the first book or article I have seen linking the failure of markets to a misconception at the very heart of rational thinking.

Soros makes reference to philosophy in order to explain why economists use mathematics models based on bogus assumptions. This is important and is worth thinking about.

If anything, you get a valuable insight in how a guy that is making tons of money is thinking. That by itself should be enough reason to read this book.



Philosophy and Finance, 06 Oct 2008
This is very much like Soros's other books: a mix of (his own) Philosophy in PART I, and its possible applicability to the Finance markets of the time in PART II.

If you like Taleb's mix of Philosophy and Finance in Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets and The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable then you'll Soros's approach.

If you're looking to emulate Soros's success, this book doesn't tell you how to do this in concrete steps. The theory of reflexivity explains the nature of financial markets (the problem) but doesn't give a solution.

Tony Loton, author --
DON'T LOSE MONEY! (in the Stock Markets)
Financial Trading Patterns

He's got the answer, 05 Oct 2008
Hidden inside the book, towards the end, Mr. Soros points out that when those who create credit are in trouble the government has to bail them out, as credit creation is too important. Therefore they should accept that since they are at government protection and they need to pay a price. And the price is anti-bubble-cycle regulation (my words, he puts it much more elegantly in the book).

With this acceptance on both sides we can work towards minimal effective regulation, not just petty throwing of insults between 'hippies' and 'capitalists'.

This issue is way to important to be left to the extremes to deal with. All of us, in the more moderate middle ground, need to get in on this debate at a finer level of discourse.

And Mr. Soros provides a very useful framework for this.

Waste of time, 09 Sep 2008
Starts off ambitiously attempting to explain the credit crunch, spends a few chapters reiterating why his ideology was not accepted earlier on, and ends proposing a philosophical view of the financial markets....just to say that market performance is a function of what other people do...hardly a revelation and more importantly, no suggestion as to what to do with this "revelation". Last section explains his portfolio performance with market events, which was interesting.

I'll say that again, 29 Aug 2008
As this was by George Soros, whom I respect greatly, I felt I had to read it but ended up very disappointed. In short, Soros feels his theory on reflexivity has been ignored and therefore needs to be repeated. This he does and further fills the book with the reasons why he needs to repeat it, particularly because he thinks the credit crunch vidicates his argument.

Very repetitive to the extent that some comments are even repeated on the same page. This is a book which says very little and, to be frank, is not really worth reading.

A difficult read, 08 Nov 2008
I found this very hard to get through - probably because I probably am one of those pro-business zealots.
Just reading the introduction will give you a very good idea of the book to come:- polemics against evil business; weak, poorly argued points built on data that don't always support the point; and breathless repetition of the same arguments and the same polemics. For someone not brought up on Marxist economics, it all gets very tiring and tiresome.

But there is value here. While most people reading the book will know about Japan's deflationary problems in the '90s, it is useful to have it told again in reasonable detail. And the sections on global capital flows are interesting and provoke thought.

But in the end I was convinced neither that the author's reading of the credit crunch was useful or correct, nor that he had any useful answers. It may just be my zealotry clouding my reading, but I think there are better and more useful books on the subject.

Credit Crunch, 17 Oct 2008
I found this in an incredibly informative and insightful book about the present economic situation. It makes sense - though I am sure that some aspects of the book are controversial. The author challenges the reader to consider the origins of the credit crunch. The roots are found in free trade and the endless cost cutting pursuits of large corporations in advanced nations who are preoccupied with driving down costs in order to inflate their bottom line; hence the burgeoning trend towards outsourcing to low waged economies. But that is just the start. The book is highly comprehensive and readable.

Informative, insightful and thought provoking, 14 Jul 2008
The outline in the Amazon `product description' above is a fair summary, but it should be stressed that there is nothing sensational or overtly political about this book. It tries to be a reasoned economic assessment of our current plight, although doubtless it will upset some `free market' and `pro-business' zealots. It is a very timely and its predictions seem to be being born out - for example on page 191 we read `the US Treasury .... will be forced to act, rescuing more banks by injecting public sector capital and, ultimately, taking many into public ownership'. I write this on the same day that the US Treasury has proposed to provide as much support as is required to `Fanny May' and `Freddie Mac' and a couple of days after the Californian bank Indy Mac was nationalised.

Some may consider that the two chapters that discuss what happened to Japan after its speculative bubble went bang in 1990 have their longeuers. However, they give us some insight into how difficult it is to get out of a post bubble slump - particularly given the mindsets of economists and central bankers - and what we might have to look forward to (not a lot if Japan is anything to go by).

This book should be readily understood by anybody with an interest in economic and political affairs. There are lots of clear and very informative graphs and not too much heavy economic theory. It explains a lot but is hardly cheering - perhaps Gordon Brown (of whom the author has remarked elsewhere [Spectator Business website] `I think he will go down as the worst Chancellor in history') has seen a copy - it would explain his current demeanour!


The cash nebulous, 30 Mar 2006
I purchased this book on the basis of the on-line reviews anticipating a study of financial history.

Whilst it is reasonable on the history of currency, banking, and international finance it drifts off badly into loose discussions of UK politics, democracy and development, and the rise of the US economy. None of this material is particularly convincing and is based far too much on citations.

Overall I found it a frustrating read. There is a too much of a feeling that the author is a moderator in a debate which he doesn't fully understand.

Hard going but worth the effort, 22 Jun 2003
The book's scope is much wider than its title would imply. The author analyzes why some regimes have been more successful than others during past 300 years. The book emphasizes importance of four institutions as the bases of financial strength (and long-term success) of the state:
- a tax-collecting bureaucracy
- a representative parliament
- a national debt
- a central bank

There is lot of intellectual gymnastics with figures and facts in the middle of the book that test your determination to go on. Those who persevere get rewarded with the interesting discussion in the end of the book about defense expenses as a insurance policy for the state and a need for a superpower policeman for the free world in order to make peace and prosperity to last.

Read and find out if you agree with the conclusions of the author.

An excellent book but it does tend to drift off in places, 28 Feb 2001
Overall an excellent book that look at the link of bond prices democracy, politics and a nation-states power. It is very informative and contains alot of data simply set out; especially useful if you just happening to be doing a degree at the time.

My favourite aspect of this book is the completely fresh look ( even if I don't agree with all of it ) it takes at national power rather than rehashing old books with little, if anything, new to say.

Saying that the book at times does drift off losing all sense of structure especially in the middle covering the links between political parties and various lobby groups.

This does not stop being easy to read and comprehend while still being extremely informative.

Nobody tells it like Philip Coggan..., 31 Jan 2006
Years of experience writing for the FT definitely makes Philip Coggan an authoritative voice on the way the city works...

A great overview of the London market, and the development of the various different financial and investment instruments/products that exist within the city.

A recommended read for anybody seeking to extend their knowledge of the London financial market.

Excellent, 02 Jul 2003
An excellent book. Most people hear loads of finacial terms every day, but don't really know what they mean. They maybe semi understand.

It is not at all hard to learn the basics of economics. It's a subject where if you can grasp about say, 7 rules, then you can figure out what's going on with all the others without bothering too much.

This book concentrates on expressing these rules with simple examples in plain english, which is all you need to understand a great deal of financial jargon.

Buy this book and be a veritable fountain of knowledge for the rest of your life!

Excellent insight into the growth of the City of London, 27 Nov 2001
This book is a must for anyone new to financial markets, and particularly to the City of London.
It describes the history of finance in the City and how the different markets came about, what they're about, and how government policy shaped the competitive and busy financial centre that it is now.
This book isn't an in-depth study of the markets, and its easy style will appeal to anyone wishing to gain an insight into what makes the City tick.
I read this book 3 years after I started working in financial IT, and I wished I'd read it much sooner.
Buy it for your train journey.

Excellent introduction with enough detail for the lay person, 23 Sep 2008
I found this book after searching long and hard for some information about financial instruments in general. Having heard some of the terms described in the book, I was at a loss to know what the heck they were used for. For example SWAPS and Repos where terms I had heard in the financial media but had no idea why they would be used. This book answered my questions and more. It also placed the financial markets into a global context, as the markets are truely world-wide. Thankfully, for me anyway, there are no complex formulae or mathematical terms in the book. It is an "Introduction", therefore high level. Having said that, it still takes some time to put the pieces together, but that is not the fault of the author. Financial markets are complex and hence difficult to understand. In my opinion this book is the best available if you require a high-level, not too detailed, Introduction to Global Financial Markets.

At Last ! A book that has it all for finance newbies, 03 Feb 2008
A FANTASTIC book for all newcomers to finance and a briliant refresher for commercial and investment bankers who need to get a bird eye's view of the markets. How do markets inter-relate? What is the history behind the players, the products and the regulators? Stephen Valdez' years of experience as a financial markets trainer are distilled into a jargon-free guidebook. This book should be recommended reading for all new banking graduate trainees. And anyone selling to the "city" or working in a support role eg: Audit, Regulation, Compliance, Risk, Middle Office, Back Office, Law, HR, Sales/Marketing, Public/Investor Relations etc. Get it ! It's worth every cent.

The best book on finance I've ever read, 27 Sep 2007
This is the best book on finance I've ever read. It's a comprehensive introduction to financial markets written in simple language. BUY IT.

A good readable intro, 20 Feb 2007
This is a great grounding in global markets & written in a plain., straightforward style. I've got this new (5th) edition which has good - broad, but interesting - coverage of Chinese and Indian markets. And the further reading at the back gives good links to books on more specific ares.

Good job, well done., 30 May 2006
The book is an Introduction - a very useful one, which outlines in reasonable detail all the areas of the financial world you are likely to need to know about.

For a beginner, i.e. someone looking to study the industry, or someone looking to make a career in the industry (like me), the book is excellent because the writing is clear and the content jolly interesting!

No, it is NOT a comprehensive guide to risk management, to valuation, or to derivatives trading, or whatever else you hoped it would be. But it IS the place to start - if you happen to have half a brain, you will know after reading it which book(s) to buy next!

Debunking myths, economy, philosophy, 26 Nov 2008
I really don't know what the people giving one star only to this book are smoking.

First things first. If you expect to read this book casually like you would read an easy novel, then this certainly is not the book for you.

What Soros is asking from you is to read, take pause, and think.

Soros is not only bringing into question the fundamental paradigms about how capitalism works, he is also bringing into question the whole foundation of enlightened Western thinking since the Renaissance. Another reviewer said Soros was delaing in platitudes. Phwa! He obviously skimmed a bit too much...

That my friends is not a small fish to fry, it is the first book or article I have seen linking the failure of markets to a misconception at the very heart of rational thinking.

Soros makes reference to philosophy in order to explain why economists use mathematics models based on bogus assumptions. This is important and is worth thinking about.

If anything, you get a valuable insight in how a guy that is making tons of money is thinking. That by itself should be enough reason to read this book.



Philosophy and Finance, 06 Oct 2008
This is very much like Soros's other books: a mix of (his own) Philosophy in PART I, and its possible applicability to the Finance markets of the time in PART II.

If you like Taleb's mix of Philosophy and Finance in Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets and The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable then you'll Soros's approach.

If you're looking to emulate Soros's success, this book doesn't tell you how to do this in concrete steps. The theory of reflexivity explains the nature of financial markets (the problem) but doesn't give a solution.

Tony Loton, author --
DON'T LOSE MONEY! (in the Stock Markets)
Financial Trading Patterns

He's got the answer, 05 Oct 2008
Hidden inside the book, towards the end, Mr. Soros points out that when those who create credit are in trouble the government has to bail them out, as credit creation is too important. Therefore they should accept that since they are at government protection and they need to pay a price. And the price is anti-bubble-cycle regulation (my words, he puts it much more elegantly in the book).

With this acceptance on both sides we can work towards minimal effective regulation, not just petty throwing of insults between 'hippies' and 'capitalists'.

This issue is way to important to be left to the extremes to deal with. All of us, in the more moderate middle ground, need to get in on this debate at a finer level of discourse.

And Mr. Soros provides a very useful framework for this.

Waste of time, 09 Sep 2008
Starts off ambitiously attempting to explain the credit crunch, spends a few chapters reiterating why his ideology was not accepted earlier on, and ends proposing a philosophical view of the financial markets....just to say that market performance is a function of what other people do...hardly a revelation and more importantly, no suggestion as to what to do with this "revelation". Last section explains his portfolio performance with market events, which was interesting.

I'll say that again, 29 Aug 2008
As this was by George Soros, whom I respect greatly, I felt I had to read it but ended up very disappointed. In short, Soros feels his theory on reflexivity has been ignored and therefore needs to be repeated. This he does and further fills the book with the reasons why he needs to repeat it, particularly because he thinks the credit crunch vidicates his argument.

Very repetitive to the extent that some comments are even repeated on the same page. This is a book which says very little and, to be frank, is not really worth reading.

A difficult read, 08 Nov 2008
I found this very hard to get through - probably because I probably am one of those pro-business zealots.
Just reading the introduction will give you a very good idea of the book to come:- polemics against evil business; weak, poorly argued points built on data that don't always support the point; and breathless repetition of the same arguments and the same polemics. For someone not brought up on Marxist economics, it all gets very tiring and tiresome.

But there is value here. While most people reading the book will know about Japan's deflationary problems in the '90s, it is useful to have it told again in reasonable detail. And the sections on global capital flows are interesting and provoke thought.

But in the end I was convinced neither that the author's reading of the credit crunch was useful or correct, nor that he had any useful answers. It may just be my zealotry clouding my reading, but I think there are better and more useful books on the subject.

Credit Crunch, 17 Oct 2008
I found this in an incredibly informative and insightful book about the present economic situation. It makes sense - though I am sure that some aspects of the book are controversial. The author challenges the reader to consider the origins of the credit crunch. The roots are found in free trade and the endless cost cutting pursuits of large corporations in advanced nations who are preoccupied with driving down costs in order to inflate their bottom line; hence the burgeoning trend towards outsourcing to low waged economies. But that is just the start. The book is highly comprehensive and readable.

Informative, insightful and thought provoking, 14 Jul 2008
The outline in the Amazon `product description' above is a fair summary, but it should be stressed that there is nothing sensational or overtly political about this book. It tries to be a reasoned economic assessment of our current plight, although doubtless it will upset some `free market' and `pro-business' zealots. It is a very timely and its predictions seem to be being born out - for example on page 191 we read `the US Treasury .... will be forced to act, rescuing more banks by injecting public sector capital and, ultimately, taking many into public ownership'. I write this on the same day that the US Treasury has proposed to provide as much support as is required to `Fanny May' and `Freddie Mac' and a couple of days after the Californian bank Indy Mac was nationalised.

Some may consider that the two chapters that discuss what happened to Japan after its speculative bubble went bang in 1990 have their longeuers. However, they give us some insight into how difficult it is to get out of a post bubble slump - particularly given the mindsets of economists and central bankers - and what we might have to look forward to (not a lot if Japan is anything to go by).

This book should be readily understood by anybody with an interest in economic and political affairs. There are lots of clear and very informative graphs and not too much heavy economic theory. It explains a lot but is hardly cheering - perhaps Gordon Brown (of whom the author has remarked elsewhere [Spectator Business website] `I think he will go down as the worst Chancellor in history') has seen a copy - it would explain his current demeanour!


The cash nebulous, 30 Mar 2006
I purchased this book on the basis of the on-line reviews anticipating a study of financial history.

Whilst it is reasonable on the history of currency, banking, and international finance it drifts off badly into loose discussions of UK politics, democracy and development, and the rise of the US economy. None of this material is particularly convincing and is based far too much on citations.

Overall I found it a frustrating read. There is a too much of a feeling that the author is a moderator in a debate which he doesn't fully understand.

Hard going but worth the effort, 22 Jun 2003
The book's scope is much wider than its title would imply. The author analyzes why some regimes have been more successful than others during past 300 years. The book emphasizes importance of four institutions as the bases of financial strength (and long-term success) of the state:
- a tax-collecting bureaucracy
- a representative parliament
- a national debt
- a central bank

There is lot of intellectual gymnastics with figures and facts in the middle of the book that test your determination to go on. Those who persevere get rewarded with the interesting discussion in the end of the book about defense expenses as a insurance policy for the state and a need for a superpower policeman for the free world in order to make peace and prosperity to last.

Read and find out if you agree with the conclusions of the author.

An excellent book but it does tend to drift off in places, 28 Feb 2001
Overall an excellent book that look at the link of bond prices democracy, politics and a nation-states power. It is very informative and contains alot of data simply set out; especially useful if you just happening to be doing a degree at the time.

My favourite aspect of this book is the completely fresh look ( even if I don't agree with all of it ) it takes at national power rather than rehashing old books with little, if anything, new to say.

Saying that the book at times does drift off losing all sense of structure especially in the middle covering the links between political parties and various lobby groups.

This does not stop being easy to read and comprehend while still being extremely informative.

Nobody tells it like Philip Coggan..., 31 Jan 2006
Years of experience writing for the FT definitely makes Philip Coggan an authoritative voice on the way the city works...

A great overview of the London market, and the development of the various different financial and investment instruments/products that exist within the city.

A recommended read for anybody seeking to extend their knowledge of the London financial market.

Excellent, 02 Jul 2003
An excellent book. Most people hear loads of finacial terms every day, but don't really know what they mean. They maybe semi understand.

It is not at all hard to learn the basics of economics. It's a subject where if you can grasp about say, 7 rules, then you can figure out what's going on with all the others without bothering too much.

This book concentrates on expressing these rules with simple examples in plain english, which is all you need to understand a great deal of financial jargon.

Buy this book and be a veritable fountain of knowledge for the rest of your life!

Excellent insight into the growth of the City of London, 27 Nov 2001
This book is a must for anyone new to financial markets, and particularly to the City of London.
It describes the history of finance in the City and how the different markets came about, what they're about, and how government policy shaped the competitive and busy financial centre that it is now.
This book isn't an in-depth study of the markets, and its easy style will appeal to anyone wishing to gain an insight into what makes the City tick.
I read this book 3 years after I started working in financial IT, and I wished I'd read it much sooner.
Buy it for your train journey.

Excellent introduction with enough detail for the lay person, 23 Sep 2008
I found this book after searching long and hard for some information about financial instruments in general. Having heard some of the terms described in the book, I was at a loss to know what the heck they were used for. For example SWAPS and Repos where terms I had heard in the financial media but had no idea why they would be used. This book answered my questions and more. It also placed the financial markets into a global context, as the markets are truely world-wide. Thankfully, for me anyway, there are no complex formulae or mathematical terms in the book. It is an "Introduction", therefore high level. Having said that, it still takes some time to put the pieces together, but that is not the fault of the author. Financial markets are complex and hence difficult to understand. In my opinion this book is the best available if you require a high-level, not too detailed, Introduction to Global Financial Markets.

At Last ! A book that has it all for finance newbies, 03 Feb 2008
A FANTASTIC book for all newcomers to finance and a briliant refresher for commercial and investment bankers who need to get a bird eye's view of the markets. How do markets inter-relate? What is the history behind the players, the products and the regulators? Stephen Valdez' years of experience as a financial markets trainer are distilled into a jargon-free guidebook. This book should be recommended reading for all new banking graduate trainees. And anyone selling to the "city" or working in a support role eg: Audit, Regulation, Compliance, Risk, Middle Office, Back Office, Law, HR, Sales/Marketing, Public/Investor Relations etc. Get it ! It's worth every cent.

The best book on finance I've ever read, 27 Sep 2007
This is the best book on finance I've ever read. It's a comprehensive introduction to financial markets written in simple language. BUY IT.

A good readable intro, 20 Feb 2007
This is a great grounding in global markets & written in a plain., straightforward style. I've got this new (5th) edition which has good - broad, but interesting - coverage of Chinese and Indian markets. And the further reading at the back gives good links to books on more specific ares.

Good job, well done., 30 May 2006
The book is an Introduction - a very useful one, which outlines in reasonable detail all the areas of the financial world you are likely to need to know about.

For a beginner, i.e. someone looking to study the industry, or someone looking to make a career in the industry (like me), the book is excellent because the writing is clear and the content jolly interesting!

No, it is NOT a comprehensive guide to risk management, to valuation, or to derivatives trading, or whatever else you hoped it would be. But it IS the place to start - if you happen to have half a brain, you will know after reading it which book(s) to buy next!


Our Generations 'Common Sense'., 14 Jul 2008
If you have just come across the topic of monetary reform or have been investigating the matter for some time, I urge you buy this book now, please. There will be information even ardent researchers will not know.

This book has it all in one read, from the history of how 'civilisation' has become increasingly divided between a corporate elite and the common man on the street, to the very solutions the world and humanity needs to solve the problems of society and the increasing environmental degredation.

Web of debt explains that we, society, are on the cusp of great social abyss, caused by the impending implosion of the monetary/banking system at its final limits of risk, return and reliance. So please buy this book, read it and give it to a friend. Ellens recommmendations are the only way we the people can step out of the black and white world of monetary restriction and into the technicolor world of abundance and prosperity beyond our imaginations.

This books existence and its revelations are indeed timely, society doesn't have long and if the monetary changes are not made soon nor do you or I.

Plausible predictions, questionable reasoning, 09 Jul 2008
Her basic point, that the current economic and financial system is unstable, and headed into an immediate and immense crisis, is very well-founded. Her suggestion that some kind of "Greenback"-style fiat currency would be far preferable also seems very plausible. The book is written in a very accessible positive style, in the same kind of can-do tone of a popular self-help book.

However, Hodgson Brown's grasp of history and economics is a bit shaky. Various minor historical howlers (William and Mary coming to English throne when "Duke of York" dies, etc.) make me a bit leery of accepting statements she makes when she is talking about areas on which I am less knowledgeable. Her understanding of economics is very vague and hazy: at points where I didn't already know what she was trying to explain, such as with the medieval tally system, she was very hard to follow. I suspect that someone with only a little economics background would not gain much real understanding from this. I hate to criticise a 450-page book for excessive brevity, but she does skim over many topics that really need to be handled in a great more depth.

The economic theory she is propounding is similar to that more rigorously put forward by Michael Rowbotham, that fractional reserve banking involves banks creating money out of nothing, and that the money returns to banks as profit. It suffers of course from the same potential defects, for example, that inflation and default could potentially eat away all those profits.

Her book is far stronger when it leaves general theory and history, and gets on to the intricate details of the current crisis. The financial system is currently breaking down, with vast sums of essentially worthless money being pumped into the financial markets to desperately try to keep the major financial institutions afloat. It seems clear that this is a game that can't last much longer. She has plenty of well-informed insights in this area, at least as far as I've been able to check them.

Despite her occasional reliance on characters like LaRouche, she writes very readably with great enthusiasm, and covers a vast amount of ground, and brings up some fascinating topics. By all means read it, because it will give you ideas, and introduce you to new facts and theories, whoever you are. I'd suggest however, checking what she says to ensure you get a more informed view of each particular area she covers.

highly recommended, 13 Aug 2007
If you wish to learn more about who really runs this troubled world, then read this book and reflect carefully upon its contents. If you have wondered, as I have, why the whole world - governments, corporations and individuals alike - is increasingly mired in debt, then read this book. If you think naively that banks are basically brokers who mediate between depositors and borrowers, then read this book. It will show you how you are fundamentally mistaken. If you think that you understand what money is and how it comes into being then you are probably wrong again and this book will tell you how and why. Its publication is timely as the debt-ridden world financial system now strains to cope with the US subprime debacle. If you have been lured into borrowing more than you can repay and you are about to lose your house, then read this book to understand more deeply your predicament. If your pension fund or your savings have been disastrously invested in risky and maybe now worthless securitized debt then this book will help you to see where your hard earned money has gone and who has benefited.

Although The Web of Debt is mainly about the US banking system and the US dollar, its message that the money supply is in the hands of a private banking cartel and is not in the hands of elected governments is applicable to many countries. It shows how money is created from nothing and then lent to governments at interest, for no good reason other than the historical usurping of this all important function by powerful and ambitious men for their own private gain. Absurdly, governments must then tax their citizens to pay interest to the private bankers, foregoing the obvious alternative of issuing debt-free money themselves. This fascinating book is highly readable, accessible to the layperson and, as a theme, explains the allegorical meaning of the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum (the basis of the film The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland).

During the next very few years it seems likely that we will all be affected severely by the now looming and potentially catastrophic breakdown of our debt-based money system. All is not quite hopeless however, and Ellen Brown shows towards the end of the book how, given the political will, we could change to debt-free money issued and spent into the economy by governments directly for the benefit of their citizens. Of course, the elite few who currently control our global money system are not going to give up their immense power voluntarily or easily. Indeed Ellen Brown indicates that they might well be planning to perpetuate and firmly consolidate that power worldwide in a New World Order.

Considering how deeply entangled we all are by debt-based money, it is both amazing and rather sinister that the subject is never analysed and debated openly in the main stream media. We should ponder and query why this is so. With access to the internet and to books such as The Web of Debt we can however now educate ourselves about the fundamentals of our money system. We need to do so urgently. We need also to educate and lobby our politicians, most of whom seem to be just as uninformed as the rest of us about the workings and consequences of arguably the biggest scam ever perpetrated on humanity. READ THIS BOOK.

Debunking myths, economy, philosophy, 26 Nov 2008
I really don't know what the people giving one star only to this book are smoking.

First things first. If you expect to read this book casually like you would read an easy novel, then this certainly is not the book for you.

What Soros is asking from you is to read, take pause, and think.

Soros is not only bringing into question the fundamental paradigms about how capitalism works, he is also bringing into question the whole foundation of enlightened Western thinking since the Renaissance. Another reviewer said Soros was delaing in platitudes. Phwa! He obviously skimmed a bit too much...

That my friends is not a small fish to fry, it is the first book or article I have seen linking the failure of markets to a misconception at the very heart of rational thinking.

Soros makes reference to philosophy in order to explain why economists use mathematics models based on bogus assumptions. This is important and is worth thinking about.

If anything, you get a valuable insight in how a guy that is making tons of money is thinking. That by itself should be enough reason to read this book.



Philosophy and Finance, 06 Oct 2008
This is very much like Soros's other books: a mix of (his own) Philosophy in PART I, and its possible applicability to the Finance markets of the time in PART II.

If you like Taleb's mix of Philosophy and Finance in Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets and The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable then you'll Soros's approach.

If you're looking to emulate Soros's success, this book doesn't tell you how to do this in concrete steps. The theory of reflexivity explains the nature of financial markets (the problem) but doesn't give a solution.

Tony Loton, author --
DON'T LOSE MONEY! (in the Stock Markets)
Financial Trading Patterns

He's got the answer, 05 Oct 2008
Hidden inside the book, towards the end, Mr. Soros points out that when those who create credit are in trouble the government has to bail them out, as credit creation is too important. Therefore they should accept that since they are at government protection and they need to pay a price. And the price is anti-bubble-cycle regulation (my words, he puts it much more elegantly in the book).

With this acceptance on both sides we can work towards minimal effective regulation, not just petty throwing of insults between 'hippies' and 'capitalists'.

This issue is way to important to be left to the extremes to deal with. All of us, in the more moderate middle ground, need to get in on this debate at a finer level of discourse.

And Mr. Soros provides a very useful framework for this.

Waste of time, 09 Sep 2008
Starts off ambitiously attempting to explain the credit crunch, spends a few chapters reiterating why his ideology was not accepted earlier on, and ends proposing a philosophical view of the financial markets....just to say that market performance is a function of what other people do...hardly a revelation and more importantly, no suggestion as to what to do with this "revelation". Last section explains his portfolio performance with market events, which was interesting.

I'll say that again, 29 Aug 2008
As this was by George Soros, whom I respect greatly, I felt I had to read it but ended up very disappointed. In short, Soros feels his theory on reflexivity has been ignored and therefore needs to be repeated. This he does and further fills the book with the reasons why he needs to repeat it, particularly because he thinks the credit crunch vidicates his argument.

Very repetitive to the extent that some comments are even repeated on the same page. This is a book which says very little and, to be frank, is not really worth reading.

A difficult read, 08 Nov 2008
I found this very hard to get through - probably because I probably am one of those pro-business zealots.
Just reading the introduction will give you a very good idea of the book to come:- polemics against evil business; weak, poorly argued points built on data that don't always support the point; and breathless repetition of the same arguments and the same polemics. For someone not brought up on Marxist economics, it all gets very tiring and tiresome.

But there is value here. While most people reading the book will know about Japan's deflationary problems in the '90s, it is useful to have it told again in reasonable detail. And the sections on global capital flows are interesting and provoke thought.

But in the end I was convinced neither that the author's reading of the credit crunch was useful or correct, nor that he had any useful answers. It may just be my zealotry clouding my reading, but I think there are better and more useful books on the subject.

Credit Crunch, 17 Oct 2008
I found this in an incredibly informative and insightful book about the present economic situation. It makes sense - though I am sure that some aspects of the book are controversial. The author challenges the reader to consider the origins of the credit crunch. The roots are found in free trade and the endless cost cutting pursuits of large corporations in advanced nations who are preoccupied with driving down costs in order to inflate their bottom line; hence the burgeoning trend towards outsourcing to low waged economies. But that is just the start. The book is highly comprehensive and readable.

Informative, insightful and thought provoking, 14 Jul 2008
The outline in the Amazon `product description' above is a fair summary, but it should be stressed that there is nothing sensational or overtly political about this book. It tries to be a reasoned economic assessment of our current plight, although doubtless it will upset some `free market' and `pro-business' zealots. It is a very timely and its predictions seem to be being born out - for example on page 191 we read `the US Treasury .... will be forced to act, rescuing more banks by injecting public sector capital and, ultimately, taking many into public ownership'. I write this on the same day that the US Treasury has proposed to provide as much support as is required to `Fanny May' and `Freddie Mac' and a couple of days after the Californian bank Indy Mac was nationalised.

Some may consider that the two chapters that discuss what happened to Japan after its speculative bubble went bang in 1990 have their longeuers. However, they give us some insight into how difficult it is to get out of a post bubble slump - particularly given the mindsets of economists and central bankers - and what we might have to look forward to (not a lot if Japan is anything to go by).

This book should be readily understood by anybody with an interest in economic and political affairs. There are lots of clear and very informative graphs and not too much heavy economic theory. It explains a lot but is hardly cheering - perhaps Gordon Brown (of whom the author has remarked elsewhere [Spectator Business website] `I think he will go down as the worst Chancellor in history') has seen a copy - it would explain his current demeanour!


The cash nebulous, 30 Mar 2006
I purchased this book on the basis of the on-line reviews anticipating a study of financial history.

Whilst it is reasonable on the history of currency, banking, and international finance it drifts off badly into loose discussions of UK politics, democracy and development, and the rise of the US economy. None of this material is particularly convincing and is based far too much on citations.

Overall I found it a frustrating read. There is a too much of a feeling that the author is a moderator in a debate which he doesn't fully understand.

Hard going but worth the effort, 22 Jun 2003
The book's scope is much wider than its title would imply. The author analyzes why some regimes have been more successful than others during past 300 years. The book emphasizes importance of four institutions as the bases of financial strength (and long-term success) of the state:
- a tax-collecting bureaucracy
- a representative parliament
- a national debt
- a central bank

There is lot of intellectual gymnastics with figures and facts in the middle of the book that test your determination to go on. Those who persevere get rewarded with the interesting discussion in the end of the book about defense expenses as a insurance policy for the state and a need for a superpower policeman for the free world in order to make peace and prosperity to last.

Read and find out if you agree with the conclusions of the author.

An excellent book but it does tend to drift off in places, 28 Feb 2001
Overall an excellent book that look at the link of bond prices democracy, politics and a nation-states power. It is very informative and contains alot of data simply set out; especially useful if you just happening to be doing a degree at the time.

My favourite aspect of this book is the completely fresh look ( even if I don't agree with all of it ) it takes at national power rather than rehashing old books with little, if anything, new to say.

Saying that the book at times does drift off losing all sense of structure especially in the middle covering the links between political parties and various lobby groups.

This does not stop being easy to read and comprehend while still being extremely informative.

Nobody tells it like Philip Coggan..., 31 Jan 2006
Years of experience writing for the FT definitely makes Philip Coggan an authoritative voice on the way the city works...

A great overview of the London market, and the development of the various different financial and investment instruments/products that exist within the city.

A recommended read for anybody seeking to extend their knowledge of the London financial market.

Excellent, 02 Jul 2003
An excellent book. Most people hear loads of finacial terms every day, but don't really know what they mean. They maybe semi understand.

It is not at all hard to learn the basics of economics. It's a subject where if you can grasp about say, 7 rules, then you can figure out what's going on with all the others without bothering too much.

This book concentrates on expressing these rules with simple examples in plain english, which is all you need to understand a great deal of financial jargon.

Buy this book and be a veritable fountain of knowledge for the rest of your life!

Excellent insight into the growth of the City of London, 27 Nov 2001
This book is a must for anyone new to financial markets, and particularly to the City of London.
It describes the history of finance in the City and how the different markets came about, what they're about, and how government policy shaped the competitive and busy financial centre that it is now.
This book isn't an in-depth study of the markets, and its easy style will appeal to anyone wishing to gain an insight into what makes the City tick.
I read this book 3 years after I started working in financial IT, and I wished I'd read it much sooner.
Buy it for your train journey.

Excellent introduction with enough detail for the lay person, 23 Sep 2008
I found this book after searching long and hard for some information about financial instruments in general. Having heard some of the terms described in the book, I was at a loss to know what the heck they were used for. For example SWAPS and Repos where terms I had heard in the financial media but had no idea why they would be used. This book answered my questions and more. It also placed the financial markets into a global context, as the markets are truely world-wide. Thankfully, for me anyway, there are no complex formulae or mathematical terms in the book. It is an "Introduction", therefore high level. Having said that, it still takes some time to put the pieces together, but that is not the fault of the author. Financial markets are complex and hence difficult to understand. In my opinion this book is the best available if you require a high-level, not too detailed, Introduction to Global Financial Markets.

At Last ! A book that has it all for finance newbies, 03 Feb 2008
A FANTASTIC book for all newcomers to finance and a briliant refresher for commercial and investment bankers who need to get a bird eye's view of the markets. How do markets inter-relate? What is the history behind the players, the products and the regulators? Stephen Valdez' years of experience as a financial markets trainer are distilled into a jargon-free guidebook. This book should be recommended reading for all new banking graduate trainees. And anyone selling to the "city" or working in a support role eg: Audit, Regulation, Compliance, Risk, Middle Office, Back Office, Law, HR, Sales/Marketing, Public/Investor Relations etc. Get it ! It's worth every cent.

The best book on finance I've ever read, 27 Sep 2007
This is the best book on finance I've ever read. It's a comprehensive introduction to financial markets written in simple language. BUY IT.

A good readable intro, 20 Feb 2007
This is a great grounding in global markets & written in a plain., straightforward style. I've got this new (5th) edition which has good - broad, but interesting - coverage of Chinese and Indian markets. And the further reading at the back gives good links to books on more specific ares.

Good job, well done., 30 May 2006
The book is an Introduction - a very useful one, which outlines in reasonable detail all the areas of the financial world you are likely to need to know about.

For a beginner, i.e. someone looking to study the industry, or someone looking to make a career in the industry (like me), the book is excellent because the writing is clear and the content jolly interesting!

No, it is NOT a comprehensive guide to risk management, to valuation, or to derivatives trading, or whatever else you hoped it would be. But it IS the place to start - if you happen to have half a brain, you will know after reading it which book(s) to buy next!


Our Generations 'Common Sense'., 14 Jul 2008
If you have just come across the topic of monetary reform or have been investigating the matter for some time, I urge you buy this book now, please. There will be information even ardent researchers will not know.

This book has it all in one read, from the history of how 'civilisation' has become increasingly divided between a corporate elite and the common man on the street, to the very solutions the world and humanity needs to solve the problems of society and the increasing environmental degredation.

Web of debt explains that we, society, are on the cusp of great social abyss, caused by the impending implosion of the monetary/banking system at its final limits of risk, return and reliance. So please buy this book, read it and give it to a friend. Ellens recommmendations are the only way we the people can step out of the black and white world of monetary restriction and into the technicolor world of abundance and prosperity beyond our imaginations.

This books existence and its revelations are indeed timely, society doesn't have long and if the monetary changes are not made soon nor do you or I.

Plausible predictions, questionable reasoning, 09 Jul 2008
Her basic point, that the current economic and financial system is unstable, and headed into an immediate and immense crisis, is very well-founded. Her suggestion that some kind of "Greenback"-style fiat currency would be far preferable also seems very plausible. The book is written in a very accessible positive style, in the same kind of can-do tone of a popular self-help book.

However, Hodgson Brown's grasp of history and economics is a bit shaky. Various minor historical howlers (William and Mary coming to English throne when "Duke of York" dies, etc.) make me a bit leery of accepting statements she makes when she is talking about areas on which I am less knowledgeable. Her understanding of economics is very vague and hazy: at points where I didn't already know what she was trying to explain, such as with the medieval tally system, she was very hard to follow. I suspect that someone with only a little economics background would not gain much real understanding from this. I hate to criticise a 450-page book for excessive brevity, but she does skim over many topics that really need to be handled in a great more depth.

The economic theory she is propounding is similar to that more rigorously put forward by Michael Rowbotham, that fractional reserve banking involves banks creating money out of nothing, and that the money returns to banks as profit. It suffers of course from the same potential defects, for example, that inflation and default could potentially eat away all those profits.

Her book is far stronger when it leaves general theory and history, and gets on to the intricate details of the current crisis. The financial system is currently breaking down, with vast sums of essentially worthless money being pumped into the financial markets to desperately try to keep the major financial institutions afloat. It seems clear that this is a game that can't last much longer. She has plenty of well-informed insights in this area, at least as far as I've been able to check them.

Despite her occasional reliance on characters like LaRouche, she writes very readably with great enthusiasm, and covers a vast amount of ground, and brings up some fascinating topics. By all means read it, because it will give you ideas, and introduce you to new facts and theories, whoever you are. I'd suggest however, checking what she says to ensure you get a more informed view of each particular area she covers.

highly recommended, 13 Aug 2007
If you wish to learn more about who really runs this troubled world, then read this book and reflect carefully upon its contents. If you have wondered, as I have, why the whole world - governments, corporations and individuals alike - is increasingly mired in debt, then read this book. If you think naively that banks are basically brokers who mediate between depositors and borrowers, then read this book. It will show you how you are fundamentally mistaken. If you think that you understand what money is and how it comes into being then you are probably wrong again and this book will tell you how and why. Its publication is timely as the debt-ridden world financial system now strains to cope with the US subprime debacle. If you have been lured into borrowing more than you can repay and you are about to lose your house, then read this book to understand more deeply your predicament. If your pension fund or your savings have been disastrously invested in risky and maybe now worthless securitized debt then this book will help you to see where your hard earned money has gone and who has benefited.

Although The Web of Debt is mainly about the US banking system and the US dollar, its message that the money supply is in the hands of a private banking cartel and is not in the hands of elected governments is applicable to many countries. It shows how money is created from nothing and then lent to governments at interest, for no good reason other than the historical usurping of this all important function by powerful and ambitious men for their own private gain. Absurdly, governments must then tax their citizens to pay interest to the private bankers, foregoing the obvious alternative of issuing debt-free money themselves. This fascinating book is highly readable, accessible to the layperson and, as a theme, explains the allegorical meaning of the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum (the basis of the film The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland).

During the next very few years it seems likely that we will all be affected severely by the now looming and potentially catastrophic breakdown of our debt-based money system. All is not quite hopeless however, and Ellen Brown shows towards the end of the book how, given the political will, we could change to debt-free money issued and spent into the economy by governments directly for the benefit of their citizens. Of course, the elite few who currently control our global money system are not going to give up their immense power voluntarily or easily. Indeed Ellen Brown indicates that they might well be planning to perpetuate and firmly consolidate that power worldwide in a New World Order.

Considering how deeply entangled we all are by debt-based money, it is both amazing and rather sinister that the subject is never analysed and debated openly in the main stream media. We should ponder and query why this is so. With access to the internet and to books such as The Web of Debt we can however now educate ourselves about the fundamentals of our money system. We need to do so urgently. We need also to educate and lobby our politicians, most of whom seem to be just as uninformed as the rest of us about the workings and consequences of arguably the biggest scam ever perpetrated on humanity. READ THIS BOOK.



Its awesome, 17 May 2006
Don't read any other text books on economics unless you want to cross reference, other textbooks tend to be somewhat poor, like Stanlake and Anderton, though they may help you pass a module at university, only Sloman is going to make the grade!

A gr