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The Ascent of Money

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The Ascent of Money

By: Niall Ferguson
Narrated by: Hugh Ross
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About this listen

 Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot: 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 labour. 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.Click here to see all the titles in our Whole Story Audio Books collection.©2008 Niall Ferguson (P)2009 WF Howes Ltd Economic History Economics World Money Capitalism Banking Global Financial Crisis War Socialism US Economy Taxation Great Recession

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All stars
Most relevant  
I wasn’t expecting thrills and chills but this didn’t hold my attention even though it’s a subject I’m interested in. Some interesting bits but overall only ok

A bit dry

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Well researched and good to see the global development of the current financial system over centuries! Thank you!

Great History about Money

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Well written and covers many topics. At certain points, it lacks nuance/depth, or shows a Keynesian bias: "stimulus" = good, blaming inevitable subsequent burst on unregulated markets.

When covering investments, it contrasts the "Quantitatives" vs Soros's Reflexivity, without mention of Value Investing and the stellar, sustainable success of Warren Buffett and many others alike. Why?

Finally, it denounces redlining as a purely racist, evil phenomenon, yet affirms "The great revelation of the microfinance movement is that women are a better credit risk than men". Go figure.

Overall, good read, well reasoned, an honest effort by the author to cover a vast and controversial topic properly.

Mainstream history of banking, monetary policy.etc

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I've really liked some of Fergusson's other works, and this was his best yet in my opinion. He does an excellent job of explaining the evolution of the various pillars of the modern economic world, using plain, but well-written language, and makes a strong argument in support of his contention that finance needs to be taken much more seriously as an explanation for major shifts in historical power and development.

Narrator is very good too, a great fit for the material.

Excellent, thought-provoking history of finance.

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Some of the history of banking and insurance was completely new to me and gave me a new understanding of the world of finance and its justification for existence.
In the sections on recent financial stupidities I was familiar with most of the factual material but enjoyed a slightly different slant.
Bit of repetition - was this a TV programme?

Agree on the whole with another reviewer that it is a good car book but I lost a few paragraphs where the necessarily dry reading and reading matter lost out to concentrating on driving. This audiobook more than most made me wish I could rewind shorter sections.

Not dull, well worth a read/listen-

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This book I found really interesting but unless you are into Finance and have a good understanding of basic economics then this will probably not be your thing. It is however an excellent grounding in the history, use and eventual total reliance of all mankind on an abstract concept which we all collectively choose to believe is worth exchanging our goods and services for.



J

Interesting but not for fun

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I remember when Long Term Capital Management was news. And Enron. Without them we wouldn't have the stories I guess. On serious side this book is subject to quite extreme telescoping (but most narrative history is)

Interesting but showing age

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My enjoyment rose as I progressed rapidly through this book and was sad when it ended. It provided for me, in my profound ignorance of economics, an engaging primer that was perfectly judged in terms of depth and brevity.

Hard to fault

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This was a fascinating listen that I really enjoyed and would love to see or hear an updated version of. The book was written around the time of the financial crisis in 2008 and a new version bringing it up to 2021 would be of interest to me.

Brilliantly told story

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Accents werent necessary in my view but it was okay. The book was really insightful

Insightful

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