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"The Ascent of Money" by Niall Ferguson

His background is economics and history, he's a professor at Harvard. This is the third of his books I've read. "Degeneration" is a good short read and "Civilization: The West and the Rest" is a good quasi- rebuttal to Guns, Germs, and Steel (his point wasn't to rebut Jared Diamond, but he points out some major flaws on his logic along the way). He seems to be a fan of and cites Nicholas Nassim Taleb quite often as well.

Anyone else read him?

No but I just put him on my list.

I've read both Ascent of Money and Civilization. Thought Civilization was spot on. Ascent of Money is a good historical timeline on finance evolution

USN_Hokie wrote:"The Ascent of Money" by Niall Ferguson

His background is economics and history, he's a professor at Harvard. This is the third of his books I've read. "Degeneration" is a good short read and "Civilization: The West and the Rest" is a good quasi- rebuttal to Guns, Germs, and Steel (his point wasn't to rebut Jared Diamond, but he points out some major flaws on his logic along the way). He seems to be a fan of and cites Nicholas Nassim Taleb quite often as well.

Anyone else read him?

I honestly haven't read a book in ages. Sounds like a good one to pick up.

USN_Hokie wrote:"The Ascent of Money" by Niall Ferguson

His background is economics and history, he's a professor at Harvard. This is the third of his books I've read. "Degeneration" is a good short read and "Civilization: The West and the Rest" is a good quasi- rebuttal to Guns, Germs, and Steel (his point wasn't to rebut Jared Diamond, but he points out some major flaws on his logic along the way). He seems to be a fan of and cites Nicholas Nassim Taleb quite often as well.

Anyone else read him?

Heading on a trip here and should actually have time to read a little. Need to pick something up - all I end up reading nowadays are technical books and management titles for work...

Got any other suggestions? Thinking about Three Felonies a Day.

awesome guy wrote:I honestly haven't read a book in ages. Sounds like a good one to pick up.

USN_Hokie wrote:"The Ascent of Money" by Niall Ferguson

His background is economics and history, he's a professor at Harvard. This is the third of his books I've read. "Degeneration" is a good short read and "Civilization: The West and the Rest" is a good quasi- rebuttal to Guns, Germs, and Steel (his point wasn't to rebut Jared Diamond, but he points out some major flaws on his logic along the way). He seems to be a fan of and cites Nicholas Nassim Taleb quite often as well.

Anyone else read him?

PolyTech wrote:Heading on a trip here and should actually have time to read a little. Need to pick something up - all I end up reading nowadays are technical books and management titles for work...

Got any other suggestions? Thinking about Three Felonies a Day.

awesome guy wrote:I honestly haven't read a book in ages. Sounds like a good one to pick up.

USN_Hokie wrote:"The Ascent of Money" by Niall Ferguson

His background is economics and history, he's a professor at Harvard. This is the third of his books I've read. "Degeneration" is a good short read and "Civilization: The West and the Rest" is a good quasi- rebuttal to Guns, Germs, and Steel (his point wasn't to rebut Jared Diamond, but he points out some major flaws on his logic along the way). He seems to be a fan of and cites Nicholas Nassim Taleb quite often as well.

Anyone else read him?

I would actually really like to read/listen to that (I do a lot of my "reading" in the car...long commute lets me go through 20-30 books a year) driving alone. I read a lot of history....Audible even has some lecture series which are awesome. I just finished an entire semester course lecture on Alexander the Great.

Yeah, this is a long driving trip. Normally we fly, but now I'll have a couple of days in the car.

Let the XM expire on the car when the 90 day trial was over - now I just stream TuneIn Radio through the cellphone. XM's gotta be toast soon.

But an audio book would be a good way to pass the time.


[quote="USN_Hokie"][quote="PolyTech"]Heading on a trip here and should actually have time to read a little. Need to pick something up - all I end up reading nowadays are technical books and management titles for work...

Got any other suggestions? Thinking about Three Felonies a Day.]

USN_Hokie wrote:"The Ascent of Money" by Niall Ferguson

His background is economics and history, he's a professor at Harvard. This is the third of his books I've read. "Degeneration" is a good short read and "Civilization: The West and the Rest" is a good quasi- rebuttal to Guns, Germs, and Steel (his point wasn't to rebut Jared Diamond, but he points out some major flaws on his logic along the way). He seems to be a fan of and cites Nicholas Nassim Taleb quite often as well.

Anyone else read him?

I think he was pretty solid on his take of the banking crisis. He is very good in interviews and is certainly intelligent.

He was dead wrong on inflation, even admitted as much (telling move and certainly speaks to his intelligence) so I'd be curious if he wrote this book before or after he realized he was wrong about inflation. The book is about money so any conclusion he draws would be tainted in my mind. However, it probably gives a good history lesson.

TheH2 wrote:

USN_Hokie wrote:"The Ascent of Money" by Niall Ferguson

His background is economics and history, he's a professor at Harvard. This is the third of his books I've read. "Degeneration" is a good short read and "Civilization: The West and the Rest" is a good quasi- rebuttal to Guns, Germs, and Steel (his point wasn't to rebut Jared Diamond, but he points out some major flaws on his logic along the way). He seems to be a fan of and cites Nicholas Nassim Taleb quite often as well.

Anyone else read him?

I think he was pretty solid on his take of the banking crisis. He is very good in interviews and is certainly intelligent.

He was dead wrong on inflation, even admitted as much (telling move and certainly speaks to his intelligence) so I'd be curious if he wrote this book before or after he realized he was wrong about inflation. The book is about money so any conclusion he draws would be tainted in my mind. However, it probably gives a good history lesson.

Published in 2008, IIRC....