The Ascent Of Money: A Financial History Of The World

3.78 out of 5 (16 ratings)

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Format:: Paperback
Pages:: 448
Publisher:: Penguin Books Ltd
Publication Date:: 04 June 2009
Category:: Economic History
ISBN:: 9780141035482

Description

Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot. Call it what you like, it matters now more than ever. In "The Ascent of Money", Niall Ferguson shows that finance is the foundation of all human progress and the lifeblood of history. From the cash injection that funded the Italian Renaissance to the stock market bubble that sparked the French Revolution, from the bonds that fueled Britain's war effort to the Wall Street Crash and today's meltdown, this is the story of boom and bust as it's never been told before. Whether you're scraping by or rolling in it, there's no better time to understand the ascent of money.

Reader Reviews

Showing 1-4 out of 18 reviews. Previous | Next

I was drawn to this book after watching BBC documentary from same author. There are lots of facts presented in understandable and logical manner. Great book for financial education. Last part, prologue, added recently is explaining problems running in monetary world during financial crisis of 2008 with fine explanations of mistakes people are doing in their research and analysis which is worth of book alone.I would like that author tried to incorporate Veblen thoughts more into this work although he is citing Veblen in this book. Veblen theories of conspicuous consumption would increase quality of explanations in chapters about houses and Chinamerica.

5.00 out of 5

vidra
A well written history of the development of financial history, The Ascent of Money, does a great job to explain how our current economic system grew up. It is very detailed in coverage, but doesn't go into every detail of financial history by only going over the big concepts over time - banking, debts, equities, risk, future/derivatives, real estate. The reader will definitely get a heavy Anglo-centric view of the world, specifically in discussing modern times. It would have been nice to bring in over happenings or the lack of happenings into the picture to give the full idea of how financial development affects nations.Highly recommended. You will not be disappointed.

5.00 out of 5

nscocozzo
An excellent exposition by an expert on a difficult subject. Very convincing. Has to be read.

5.00 out of 5

rajaratnam
Excellent book that delivers on its title. Great introduction to the how’s and whys of hedge funds, stocks, bonds etc. as well as financial systems that succeeded and failed in the past. This also adds another angle to view history by. There is also a TV tie in.

4.50 out of 5

GShuk