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The Ascent of Money
- A Financial History of the World
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
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Editorial reviews
The Ascent of Money is a fast-paced, superbly written, and richly informative excursion through tableaus, themes, scenes, and events that mark the financial history of the world. Included are substantial details on the fiscal meltdown in progress in May 2008, before the book went to press, adding a 21st century variation on the theme of financial collapses detailed in The Ascent of Money. Niall Ferguson has written an exciting panorama of finance that is also very much a book for our times. This is history as global financial drama, of advancing financial development, and the always recurring back stories of financial decline and debacle. It is a book orchestrated as much as written. The Ascent of Money demands a narrator with the range of talents necessary for bringing to voice the rich orchestration of Ferguson's prose. Enter, stage right, Simon Prebble.
With his rich, versatile, and expressive British tenor voice (and his 300+ unabridged narrations in a variety of genres), Prebble is Ascent's perfect narrator. From the first sentence of the Introduction "Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot, lucre, moolah, readies, the wherewithal: call it what you like, money matters." to the last sentence of the Afterword "It is not the fault of the mirror if it reflects our blemishes as clearly as our beauty." Prebble delivers the authentic voice of this financial history. Applying here an altered nuance of phrasing, there the shortest of a shift of timing and slant of intonation, and everywhere present the voice's active tonal center, Prebble drives Ferguson's historical narrative forward. In a print book the reading eye catches, and the mind registers - at places only subliminally - meanings that are too subtle to be directly communicated. By his command and application of stored registries of articulation, expression, and ranges of emotion, Prebble clearly shows that he belongs with the best of narrators who can tap into and reflect and suggest the visual acuity that registers in the mind when reading and narrating. David Chasey
Publisher's summary
Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot, lucre, moolah, readies, the wherewithal: Call it what you like, it matters. To Christians, love of it is the root of all evil. To generals, it's the sinews of war. To revolutionaries, it's the chains of labor. But in The Ascent of Money, Niall Ferguson shows that finance is in fact the foundation of human progress. What's more, he reveals financial history as the essential back story behind all history.
Through Ferguson's expert lens familiar historical landmarks appear in a new and sharper financial focus. Suddenly, the civilization of the Renaissance looks very different: a boom in the market for art and architecture made possible when Italian bankers adopted Arabic mathematics. The rise of the Dutch republic is reinterpreted as the triumph of the world's first modern bond market over insolvent Habsburg absolutism. And the origins of the French Revolution are traced back to a stock market bubble caused by a convicted Scot murderer.
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By: Simon Johnson, and others
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The Age of Oversupply
- Overcoming the Greatest Challenge to the Global Economy
- By: Daniel Alpert
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 40
The governments and central banks of the developed world have tried every policy tool imaginable, yet our economies remain sluggish, or worse. How did we get here, and how can we emerge from the longest downturn in recent memory? Daniel Alpert, a progressive Wall Street banker and economist, argues that we are living in the age of oversupply.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Great book but now out of date
- By emory morsberger on 11-30-17
By: Daniel Alpert
-
Naked Money
- A Revealing Look at What It Is and Why It Matters
- By: Charles Wheelan
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 595
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 527
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 524
Consider the $20 bill. It has no more value, as a simple slip of paper, than Monopoly money. Yet even children recognize that tearing one into small pieces is an act of inconceivable stupidity. What makes a $20 bill actually worth $20? In the third volume of his best-selling Naked series, Charles Wheelan uses this seemingly simple question to open the door to the surprisingly colorful world of money and banking.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
This is a beautiful audiobook, and well-narrated.
- By Thirsty Mind on 11-10-18
By: Charles Wheelan
-
Wall Street
- A History, Updated Edition
- By: Charles R. Geisst
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 27 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 120
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 107
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 107
Wall Street is an unending source of legend - and nightmares. It is a universal symbol of both the highest aspirations of economic prosperity and the basest impulses of greed and deception. Charles R. Geisst's Wall Street is at once a chronicle of the street itself - from the days when the wall was merely a defensive barricade built by Peter Stuyvesant - and an engaging economic history of the United States, a tale of profits and losses, enterprising spirits, and key figures that transformed America into the most powerful economy in the world.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Many books in one; best linking of stories, eras
- By Philo on 03-23-14
-
Currency Wars
- The Making of the Next Global Crises
- By: James Rickards
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,768
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,500
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,506
In 1971, President Nixon imposed national price controls and took the United States off the gold standard, an extreme measure intended to end an ongoing currency war that had destroyed faith in the U.S. dollar. Today we are engaged in a new currency war, and this time the consequences will be far worse than those that confronted Nixon. Currency wars are one of the most destructive and feared outcomes in international economics.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
don't be misled
- By peter on 04-01-12
By: James Rickards
-
A Brief History of Doom
- Two Hundred Years of Financial Crises (Haney Foundation Series)
- By: Richard Vague
- Narrated by: Kevin Meyer
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
Financial crises happen time and again in post-industrial economies - and they are extraordinarily damaging. Building on insights gleaned from many years of work in the banking industry and drawing on a vast trove of data, Richard Vague argues that such crises follow a pattern that makes them both predictable and avoidable. A Brief History of Doom examines a series of major crises over the past 200 years in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Japan, and China - including the Great Depression and the economic meltdown of 2008.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Great Continuity
- By Anonymous User on 08-24-22
By: Richard Vague
-
Why Wall Street Matters
- By: William D. Cohan
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 55
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 50
William D. Cohan is no knee-jerk advocate for Wall Street and the big banks. He's one of America's most respected financial journalists and the progressive best-selling author of House of Cards. He has long been critical of the bad behavior that plagued much of Wall Street in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, and because he spent 17 years as an investment banker on Wall Street, he is an expert on its inner workings as well.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
An Inch Deep and A Mile Wide
- By Doug Sheridan on 04-26-17
By: William D. Cohan
-
The Death of Money
- The Coming Collapse of the International Monetary System
- By: James Rickards
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,090
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 932
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 929
The international monetary system has collapsed three times in the past hundred years, in 1914, 1939, and 1971. Each collapse was followed by a period of tumult: War, civil unrest, or significant damage to the stability of the global economy. Now James Rickards, the acclaimed author of Currency Wars, shows why another collapse is rapidly approaching - and why this time, nothing less than the institution of money itself is at risk.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
A good review of the global financial system
- By Jean on 04-22-14
By: James Rickards
-
Money
- The Unauthorized Biography
- By: Felix Martin
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 130
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 114
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 112
From ancient currency to Adam Smith, from the gold standard to shadow banking and the Great Recession: a sweeping historical epic that traces the development and evolution of one of humankind’s greatest inventions.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
Difficult to imagine how it could be worse
- By J. M. Batista on 09-19-17
By: Felix Martin
-
Borrowed Time
- Two Centuries of Booms, Busts, and Bailouts at Citi
- By: James Freeman, Vern McKinley
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33
To save the economy and keep Citi afloat in 2008, the government provided huge infusions of cash through multiple bailouts that frustrated and angered the American public. But, as Wall Street Journal writer James Freeman and financial expert Vern McKinley reveal, the 2008 crisis was just one of many disasters Citi has experienced since its founding more than 200 years ago. In Borrowed Time they reveal Citi’s disturbing history of instability and government support. It’s a story that neither Citi nor Washington wants told.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
Biased
- By CF on 08-09-19
By: James Freeman, and others
-
Dead Aid
- Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa
- By: Dambisa Moyo, Niall Ferguson - foreword
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 134
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 114
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 113
A national best-seller, Dead Aid unflinchingly confronts one of the greatest myths of our time: that billions of dollars in aid sent from wealthy countries to developing African nations has helped to reduce poverty and increase growth. In fact, poverty levels continue to escalate and growth rates have steadily declined - and millions continue to suffer. Debunking the current model of international aid promoted by both Hollywood celebrities and policy makers, Dambisa Moyo offers a bold new road map for financing the development of the world's poorest countries.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
Dangerous / Right Wing US view
- By David O'Donovan on 03-05-19
By: Dambisa Moyo, and others
-
The Shifts and the Shocks
- What We've Learned - and Have Still to Learn - from the Financial Crisis
- By: Martin Wolf
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 59
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 44
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
The Shifts and the Shocks is not another detailed history of the crisis, but the most persuasive and complete account yet published of what the crisis should teach us about modern economies and economics. The audiobook identifies the origin of the crisis in the complex interaction between globalization, hugely destabilizing global imbalances and our dangerously fragile financial system.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Good on Europe's problems, fair global update
- By Philo on 01-08-15
By: Martin Wolf
-
The End of Normal
- The Great Crisis and the Future of Growth
- By: James K. Galbraith
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
The years since the Great Crisis of 2008 have seen slow growth, high unemployment, falling home values, chronic deficits, a deepening disaster in Europe - and a stale argument between two false solutions, “austerity” on one side and “stimulus” on the other. Both sides and practically all analyses of the crisis so far take for granted that the economic growth from the early 1950s until 2000 - interrupted only by the troubled 1970s - represented a normal performance.
-
Other People's Money
- The Real Business of Finance
- By: John Kay
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 234
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 183
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 186
The finance sector of Western economies is too large and attracts too many of the smartest college graduates. Financialization over the past three decades has created a structure that lacks resilience and supports absurd volumes of trading. The finance sector devotes too little attention to the search for new investment opportunities and the stewardship of existing ones, and far too much to secondary-market dealing in existing assets. Regulation has contributed more to the problems than the solutions.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Listened twice. Everyone must read this.
- By Tristan on 01-18-16
By: John Kay
-
After the Music Stopped
- The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead
- By: Alan S. Blinder
- Narrated by: Graham Vick
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 167
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 147
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 146
Alan S. Blinder - esteemed Princeton professor, Wall Street Journal columnist, and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board under Alan Greenspan - is one of our wisest and most clear-eyed economic thinkers. In After the Music Stopped, he delivers a masterful narrative of how the worst economic crisis in postwar American history happened, what the government did to fight it, and what we must do to recover from it.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Irresponsible, corrupt, and confused book
- By Thomas on 12-22-14
By: Alan S. Blinder
-
An Extraordinary Time
- The End of the Postwar Boom and the Return of the Ordinary Economy
- By: Marc Levinson
- Narrated by: James Foster
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 55
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
A sweeping reappraisal of the last sixty years of world history, An Extraordinary Time describes how the postwar economic boom dissipated, undermining faith in government, destabilizing the global financial system, and forcing us to come to terms with how tumultuous our economy really is.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Good review of crucial turning point in history
- By Philo on 11-22-16
By: Marc Levinson
-
Fault Lines
- How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World's Economy
- By: Raghuram Rajan
- Narrated by: Richard Davidson
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 147
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 79
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 82
Raghuram Rajan was one of the few economists who warned of the global financial crisis before it hit. Now, as the world struggles to recover, it's tempting to blame what happened on just a few greedy bankers who took irrational risks and left the rest of us to foot the bill. In Fault Lines, Rajan argues that serious flaws in the economy are also to blame, and warns that a potentially more devastating crisis awaits us if they aren't fixed.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
A REAL SNOOZER
- By Frank on 12-02-10
By: Raghuram Rajan
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5 out of 5 stars
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Superb as always!
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not his best by a long chalk: Read Steven Pinker.
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Doom
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5 out of 5 stars
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Get through the first chapters
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4 out of 5 stars
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interesting insight into interwar period!
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Something is wrong with our banking system. We all sense that, but Mervyn King knows it firsthand; his 10 years at the helm of the Bank of England, including at the height of the financial crisis, revealed profound truths about the mechanisms of our capitalist society. In The End of Alchemy, he offers us an essential work about the history and future of money and banking, the keys to modern finance.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Two books in one, both very fine
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5 out of 5 stars
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Superb as always!
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not his best by a long chalk: Read Steven Pinker.
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5 out of 5 stars
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4 out of 5 stars
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Two books in one, both very fine
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The Price of Time
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In the beginning was the loan, and the loan carried interest. For at least five millennia people have been borrowing and lending at interest. Yet as capitalism became established from the late Middle Ages onwards, denunciations of interest were tempered because interest was a necessary reward for lenders to part with their capital. And interest performs many other vital functions: it encourages people to save; enables them to place a value on precious assets, such as houses and all manner of financial securities; and allows us to price risk.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Big landscape in time and subjects; Austrian view
- By Philo on 08-29-22
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The History of Money
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- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 548
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 395
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 396
From primitive man's cowrie shells to the electronic cash card, from the markets of Timbuktu to the New York Stock Exchange, The History of Money explores how money and the myriad forms of exchange have affected humanity, and how they will continue to shape all aspects of our lives--economic, political, and personal.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting annecdotes, but very biased reporting
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-
Empire
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- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 115
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 103
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 103
The British Empire was the largest in all history: the nearest thing to global domination ever achieved. The world we know today is in large measure the product of Britain's age of empire. The global spread of capitalism, telecommunications, the English language, and the institutions of representative government - all these can be traced back to the extraordinary expansion of Britain's economy, population, and culture from the 17th century until the mid-20th. On a vast and vividly colored canvas, Empire shows how the British Empire acted as midwife to modernity.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not Balanced till Conclusion
- By Hectoris on 08-13-20
By: Niall Ferguson
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A Monetary and Fiscal History of the United States, 1961-2021
- By: Alan S. Blinder
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 52
Alan Blinder, one of the world's most influential economists and one of the field's best writers, draws on his deep firsthand experience to provide an authoritative account of sixty years of monetary and fiscal policy in the United States. Spanning twelve presidents, from John F. Kennedy to Joe Biden, and eight Federal Reserve chairs, from William McChesney Martin to Jerome Powell, this is an insider's story of macroeconomic policy that hasn't been told before—one that is a pleasure to listen to, and as interesting as it is important.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Listen for Nixon's Sake
- By Tricia on 10-26-22
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The Pity of War
- Explaining World War I
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 21 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
The Pity of War makes a simple and provocative argument: the human atrocity known as the Great War was entirely England's fault. According to Niall Ferguson, England entered into war based on naive assumptions of German aims, thereby transforming a Continental conflict into a world war, which it then badly mishandled, necessitating American involvement. The war was not inevitable, Ferguson argues, but rather was the result of the mistaken decisions of individuals who would later claim to have been in the grip of huge impersonal forces.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Ferguson wouldn’t know history if it hit him in the head
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High Financier
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- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 17 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 72
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 48
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 48
In this groundbreaking new biography, based on more than 10,000 hitherto unavailable letters and diary entries, best-selling author Niall Ferguson returns to his roots as a financial historian to tell the story of Siegmund Warburg, an extraordinary man whose austere philosophy of finance offers much insight today.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A gem, if you are interested in these topics
- By Philo on 09-22-14
By: Niall Ferguson
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The House of Rothschild, Volume 1
- Money's Prophets: 1798-1848
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Alexander Adams
- Length: 28 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 260
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 227
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 225
In his rich and nuanced portrait of the remarkable, elusive Rothschild family, Niall Ferguson uncovers the secrets behind the family's phenomenal economic success. He reveals for the first time the details of the family's vast political network, which gave it access to and influence over many of the greatest statesmen of the age. And he tells a family saga, tracing the importance of unity and the profound role of Judaism in the lives of a dynasty that rose from the confines of the Frankfurt ghetto and later used its influence to assist oppressed Jews throughout Europe.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Great research, poor narrative
- By Amaze on 04-30-19
By: Niall Ferguson
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Devil Take the Hindmost
- A History of Financial Speculation
- By: Edward Chancellor
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 346
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 282
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 281
Devil Take the Hindmost is a lively, original, and challenging history of stock market speculation from the 17th century to the present day. Edward Chancellor traces the origins of the speculative spirit back to ancient Rome and chronicles its revival in the modern world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Well-picked scenes span tulips up to 20 years ago
- By Philo on 03-07-19
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Money
- The Unauthorized Biography
- By: Felix Martin
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 130
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 114
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 112
From ancient currency to Adam Smith, from the gold standard to shadow banking and the Great Recession: a sweeping historical epic that traces the development and evolution of one of humankind’s greatest inventions.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Difficult to imagine how it could be worse
- By J. M. Batista on 09-19-17
By: Felix Martin
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Boom and Bust
- A Global History of Financial Bubbles
- By: William Quinn, John D. Turner
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 65
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 55
Why do stock and housing markets sometimes experience amazing booms followed by massive busts, and why is this happening more and more frequently? In order to answer these questions, William Quinn and John D. Turner take us on a riveting ride through the history of financial bubbles. As they do so, they help us understand why bubbles happen and why some have catastrophic economic, social, and political consequences while others have actually benefited society.
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5 out of 5 stars
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better prepared to spot a bubble
- By Charles P on 09-07-22
By: William Quinn, and others
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Money
- The True Story of a Made-Up Thing
- By: Jacob Goldstein
- Narrated by: Jacob Goldstein
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,714
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,468
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,462
The cohost of the popular NPR podcast Planet Money provides a well-researched, entertaining, somewhat irreverent look at how money is a made-up thing that has evolved over time to suit humanity's changing needs.
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3 out of 5 stars
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well researched and written but,
- By C&S on 09-29-20
By: Jacob Goldstein
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This Time Is Different
- Eight Centuries of Financial Folly
- By: Carmen Reinhart, Kenneth Rogoff
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 492
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 313
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 308
Throughout history, rich and poor countries alike have been lending, borrowing, crashing - and recovering -their way through an extraordinary range of financial crises. Each time, the experts have chimed, "this time is different" - claiming that the old rules of valuation no longer apply and that the new situation bears little similarity to past disasters. This book proves that premise wrong.
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2 out of 5 stars
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necessary piece to understand the current crisis
- By D. Littman on 12-04-09
By: Carmen Reinhart, and others
What listeners say about The Ascent of Money
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Sojournalist
- 03-16-12
Interesting history and future of money
I really enjoyed this. First off, Niall Ferguson narrates and has a pleasant Scottish accent. He's energetic, and his read is a lot like hearing a well-done lecture.
The material is also timely and he ties the history of debt, leverage, and money into the things that are happening today. It's nice to know this isn't a one-off event, that it is merely an echo, perhaps a larger echo (which might not make physical sense, but you get what I mean) of past events.
I enjoyed listening to this book, and will probably listen to it again in the future. I usually pick up nuances I missed the first time around when I do that, and this is one book it would be easy to do that with.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- noelle
- 04-18-17
how history should be written
took me a year to finish, reading (listening) off and on. the history is well laid out, and the book has provided many more opportunities for me to research other topics. i will read this again
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- TheWildBoy
- 05-20-20
Tidbits of history!
I gave it four star because of the research, the content itself is not that interesting, I liked the few stories of scandals but the rest is just stuff most people dealing in financial sector already know.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- L P SCHUTT JR
- 06-25-20
decent
he gives the top bad actors in finance a pass but still a decent history book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Eric G
- 10-29-22
Excellent
I listened why I run and it is a wonderful masterpiece and explanation of the beginning of money.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ryan Raynor
- 04-08-23
Great overview of Finance and Money
Loved it.. High level overview of the history of money and finance, but also detailed enough to get into specific individuals, processes, and financial instruments.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- jholden
- 06-02-09
A worthy use of a credit
This book is timely and packed with information. The author puts our current "situation" in a historical context that proves very illuminating. I will be re-listening to the whole thing.
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Paul
- 05-16-13
A must read for anyone interested Money
Any additional comments?
This book could be named How Money Impacts History or Money is the root of Everything. Niall does a good job of taking the reader through history using many smaller sub stories. There are so many great insights on what money actually is, how it can be used, and how its invention is tied directly to the advancement of the human race.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the study of finances, history, or culture.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Susan D.
- 05-17-20
teaching moments
I learned much from this book! even with a graduate degree in finance, Ferguson helped me pull together many concepts and provided an integrated understanding.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jeff
- 04-24-13
Fresh Perspective
Would you listen to The Ascent of Money again? Why?
This book quickly shows you that the real wizard behind the curtain is the world of finance. It explains and exposes why countries failed and succeeded, and how simple financial incentives have changed the course of human history. I would love to listen to this book again to better understand the lessons it has to teach.
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1 person found this helpful