Niall Feguson's "The Ascent of Money"

This book is a fun read. Lots of historical curiosities. But don't expect to learn a lot of useful financial theory from it. The book was written as a companion to a television documentary, so it has some nice illustrations that you wouldn't normally expect to find in a book like this.

If you have not read any economic history, you will find this book to be dazzling. If you have read some, then you will find the ground covered is familiar but with nice little bits of historical novelty that you probably haven't seen before. So it is entertaining.

The last chapter talks about the current credit crisis, but it was finished in May 2008, so he didn't know how bad it would get. He does mention that he made a bet with an American hedge fund manager in July 2007 that there would be a recession. The hedge fund manager gave him 7:1 odds that there wouldn't be a recession. Of course we now know that there is not only a recession, but that we are probably into a depression. So the book is interesting but it was written a little too early to summarize the 'history' of the current credit crunch.

I have to give him credit. As a historian he shows a depth of economic theory and economic history that is rare except in specialists. I'm quite impressed with the broad strokes of this book. For the general reader, this is a fun book. For a specialist, this book has the odd bit that is interesting but it doesn't develop any new or unexpected theme or historical interpretation. As a review of economic history it is a solid piece of work.