Book Review : The Ascent of Money

I got hold of The Ascent of Money recently from a friend and as many would already know, it’s a marvelous book. More than anything it shows how a study of the past enables one to understand the present so much better.

The writing is simple and at the same time very educating. Harvard must be a great place to be studying, what with professors like Niall Ferguson.

The book also clarifies an important point about why it is reasonable that bankers or other people in the financial industry make so much money without doing anything real, like say manufacturing.

History is always interesting but what I loved most about the book was the correlation it explained between workings of the financial world and biological evolution. It clarified my beliefs on markets being the ultimate judge of quality of products and companies and best practices.

Excellent read, this one!