Howard

Szpiro is a rare combination, a journalist, a story teller and a mathematician. For a person such as myself with with some mathematical background, i appreciated the simplified explanation of statistics. His lively history and anecdotes make it a good read for the general reader, anyone who would like something stimulating and different. Brian tried hard to deal with the French and German quotations.

Roger Penrose is a world famous cosmologist with interesting things to say. Unfortunately, the spoken language by itself is not adequate. The serious reader or listener must have at hand the charts if he is to make any sense of his arguments.

From the first sentence, the author reveals his abysmal ignorance of economics, banking and international finance. The book has nothing to contribute to an understanding of "the debt crisis" A total waste of a credit.

A really bad book. Just the childish ravings of a mixed up, bitter and frustrated man. Absolutely devoid of any value, literary, philosophical or otherwise.

This audiobook was a delightful surprise for me. I have read numerous books on economics beginning with Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations." I remember suffering through Samuelson's classic text - somehow I was uncomfortable with unrestrained free market capitalism without knowing exactly why. Smith's 'Invisible Hand" has never delivered on its promises. Even today economists such as Murray Rothbard of the Austrian School insist that government intervention has always prevented the "hand" from performing its magic.
Then, we have the Keynesians who recognize the need for some government intervetion to moderate the business and economic cycles. It, too, in its various versions such as the Neokeynesians
have failed to deliver.
To lead up to his main argument about the need for regulating banks, Cassidy has written a clear readable summary and history of economic thought. This, by itself, makes the book a must listen for everyone with interest in such things.
Cassidy goes on to explain why unfettered free market competition in the.financial world cannot work. With the passage of the bloated financial regulatory bill, we'll how things work out. To have some insight into history as it is happening, the book is an essential audit.

A Fascinating Listen but somewhat flawed. 2 comments
1. If Amazonized Audible insists on competing with its suppliers, it needs to hire some editors. Turgid, repetitive and the epilog worthless.
2. Barry ignores the machinery (back office) which makes the whole monetaryand financial system work
a. How is the Fed funds target rate translate into the interest rate structure. The money market?
b. What exactly do the 19 primary dealers do?
c. The Treasury uses two monster banks to handle its money. JPMChase and BoNY Mellon. How do they work? Political implications?
d. There are some 9K subscribers to the FedWire system. Who are they? Why?
e. What about repos and reverse repos?
f. The role of the DTCC and its nephew, FICC?
All of my questions underpin the system. Why is it ignored by all financial writers?

This is a superbly written account of a turbulent time in European history

Of the many excellent historical books now available on Audible, this is one of the best. Reynolds provides a panoramic view of life in the first half of the 19th century. His account weaves together the politics, mores, religious ferment, medical and cultural aspects of life in this era. The medical details were of particular interest to this 88 year old listener. During the 20s my mother used the practice of "blistering" - mustard plasters - for chest colds and anything else. Calomel - a poisonous mercury purgative was still employed. Medicine really didn't change much until the first real antibiotic, sulfanilamide, was developed in the 1940s. A fascinating and meticulously researched book.

This book is religious propaganda for Buddhaism clothed in pseudo-scientific jargon. It belongs alongside of Scientology.

A really rotten book, It belongs with Scientoloy and other pseudo-scientific garbage. You obviously won;t post this.