Review: The Ascent of Money
General overview:
For any one that loves money and history, this is the book for you. Ferguson does a fantastic job of telling stories and recapturing the events that lead to the environment that we know today. He successfully takes us from the origin of the word “bank” all the way to the IMF and does an excellent job relating it to today’s financial atmosphere. Niall Ferguson has written a few other books and reading this makes me interested in reading his other work.
Excerpt:
Ferguson writes, all bubbles have followed five stages: 1) Displacement, as economic change brings a chance for extraordinary profits; 2) Euphoria, as investors take advantage of the opportunity, 3) Mania, as novices, crowds and swindlers rush in; 4) Distress, as insiders see their prospects for profit declining because of the mania and start selling; and 5) Revulsion, as all stampede for the exits.
Pros:
In almost any medium, there is a saying: “Content is king,” and this book is no different. It is rich with history and insight and is relatively easy to read provided you hold some interest in dollars and cents and how we came to use them and why. Even without an advanced background in finance, this will be enjoyable and in the years to come, it will still be relevant.
In addition to a full descriptive passage set, the author annotates notes on each major item so that in the event that you want to do further research you can. This is a nice feature that should be expected in a book of this magnitude. (Another where this is done well is Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins which I hope to review as well.)
Cons:
I don’t have many gripes about this book save that I wish it was longer. Of course that’s just me. Most will find that it might be too long, but that would be unacceptable for a book of this scope. As a hard back it might be a bit large for the average briefcase or purse and has few pictures. I think that this book would have done a better service to itself by having a larger full color image section but that can be hardly considered a legitimate negative.
There is some criticism that Ferguson is an elitist and a NWO advocate. I think that’s a bit of a stretch but you can form your own opinion. I think he is simply a great historian with a talent for writing.
Another criticsm that some seem to have is that this is a TV tie-in. There is a special on TV that can actually be viewed online but I cant imagine that this 448 page book was made with this original intent. Maybe after the fact it has had some marketing for that…
Summary:
It might simply be a personal opinion but I think I would recommend this book to almost anyone. I consider it a must read whether you borrow it or buy it yourself. Its fairly new so you will have some time before sales slow enough to warrant a paperback being published. In fact its not going to paper back until October 27, 2009. Take a look on Amazon…
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