Reviews
The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World: 10th Anniversary Edition by Niall Ferguson
ranahabib's review against another edition
3.0
7.5/10 (Would’ve been an 8 if chapters 4&5 didn’t bore me so much)
First three chapters (banks, bonds, & markets) were the most interesting
Chapters 4&5 (insurance & mortgages/housing) were the least interesting
Given the nature of the topic, the book suffers from information overload (which i was expecting anyway). However, I give Ferguson props for his ambition in writing this book. Covering the financial history of the world is no easy task.
Pros:
- I like that he split it up into different financial sectors as opposed to different regions.
- I love learning about world history so I enjoyed the book for the most part.
Cons:
- I hated Ferguson’s writing style; his sentences were long winded & wordy, which was annoying.
First three chapters (banks, bonds, & markets) were the most interesting
Chapters 4&5 (insurance & mortgages/housing) were the least interesting
Given the nature of the topic, the book suffers from information overload (which i was expecting anyway). However, I give Ferguson props for his ambition in writing this book. Covering the financial history of the world is no easy task.
Pros:
- I like that he split it up into different financial sectors as opposed to different regions.
- I love learning about world history so I enjoyed the book for the most part.
Cons:
- I hated Ferguson’s writing style; his sentences were long winded & wordy, which was annoying.
embug's review against another edition
2.0
revisionist, elitist, british. a more neutral, better-explained version is found in "Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing" by Jacob Goldstein
bub_9's review against another edition
2.0
Err, it's okay. The premise is very interesting, but I don't always think a successful job is done tracing any cultural, political, or social line through history and across geographies as the title seems to suggest it will aim to. Instead, it feels like a disparate set of (disappointingly earthbound - for example, do I really need more time on one Goldman CEO than Karl Marx, in a chapter about capital?) episodes (apparently it was based on a TV show? and it shows) that are nonetheless insightful, though definitely tending towards the jargonistic and with superficial explanations when they are provided (if at all).
foxon's review against another edition
3.0
This was good, however I was expecting a more historical view and less about more current events.
emiann2023's review against another edition
4.0
Honestly, finance and economics have always been tougher subjects for me to grasp. But I'm trying to learn. So in that respect, this was helpful, in that it explained much of the history of common things we take for granted today. Insurance in particular. I still had sections where I felt dizzied by all of the technical jargon and in-depth descriptions, but it certainly wasn't the worst I've ever known.
All in all it was an enlightening if also confusing read.
All in all it was an enlightening if also confusing read.
nick_jenkins's review against another edition
It says quite a lot that Ferguson of all people judges the US for its recklessness, both geopolitically and in terms of using the market to provide what should be public goods (like health care and, to some extent, housing). His castigations are often self-serving—he's obviously at pains to distinguish (his) smart imperialism from Bush's dumbass imperialism—but are a reminder of how fanatical the market fundamentalists really were and are.