Financial Reckoning Day

Like a couple of Chicken Lickens, Bill Bonner and Addison Wiggin are convinced the sky is going to fall in at any moment. The USA is up to its eyeballs in debt, the dollar is in danger of being exposed as a con trick and the runes are beginning to read like the story of Japan, a decade earlier.  A couple of cooky contrarian nutcases?  Well, no actually. There is a great deal in this book to make a person stop and take a minute to reflect on the way the US (and so the World) economy will pan-out over the coming decade.  Sobering and scary stuff.  This should be compulsory reading for anyone about to make plans for their financial future.

Motley Fool UK Investment Guide

A really super book. A fascinating read for the more financially innocent, and a wry laugh a minute for the more experienced investor. You really feel that the authors have your best interest at heart, and that if you follow at least some of their advice, you will be the better for it. Tellingly, it has as many words of warning about which particular types of investment (managed funds, endowments etc) to avoid and why, as it has praise for its undoubted favourites. If you weren't previously aware quite how cynical the banking and finance community were, and whose interest they really have at heart, this book will make everything clear! Once I started reading, I just couldn't stop, and I certainly can't say that's been the case for any other financial book I've read.

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DOT.CON

If, like me, you were working in the information technology sector during the 1990's, this book will waft you back to those halcyon days of yore when no expense check was too much, travel was strictly business class and you could palm-off any old garbage to the clamouring corporate throng as 'the next big software sensation'.  Bristling with names, dates and mind-boggling financial details, John Cassidy certainly hasn't skimped on research here. Unfortunately it is the very weight and breadth of factual information that takes what could very well have been a wry, enthralling story of egomania-induced hysteria and bogs it down to the extent that the reader is never really drawn in and swept along.  Those who are not familiar with the technology companies involved in this unwinding drama will most likely tire before reaching the fourth chapter. For those of us who are, it is well worth plodding on to the conclusion.  Whatever else may be gained, there are certainly valuable lessons that can be learnt from this book and its focus on bubble markets. One may well draw parallels between the equity market of the late '90s and the property market of the early noughties. One may. Of course, I couldn't possibly comment.

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