How to Speak Money: What the Money People Say--And What It Really Means

by John Lanchester Narrated by Sean Pratt

Overview

To those who don't speak it, the language of money can seem impenetrable and its ideas too complex to grasp. How to Speak Money is acclaimed writer John Lanchester's entertaining and informative attempt to bridge the gap between the money people and the rest of us. With characteristic wit and candor ("wickedly funny" --Dwight Garner, New York Times), Lanchester shows how the world of finance and economics really works--from the terms and conditions of your personal checking account to the evasions of bankers appearing in front of Congress. How to Speak Money reveals how the language of money is often a tool to conceal and mislead; he explains hundreds of common economic terms, from GDP to the IMF, amortization and securitization to collateralized debt obligation; and he argues that we all need to speak money lest those who do write the financial rules for themselves.

Editorial Reviews

The New York Times Book Review - Peter Sokolowksi

…an idiosyncratic collection of short, sharp essays translating the jargon of finance with admirable concision and wit.

Publishers Weekly

07/28/2014
Novelist (Capital) and New Yorker contributor Lanchester offers a terrific primer on financial jargon. Lanchester believes that ordinary people are perfectly capable of understanding the arcs of macroeconomics and managing their own microeconomic decisions—they only need to learn the basic lingua franca. Lanchester’s glossary cleverly illustrates arbitrage by way of cocoa futures, explains what a lender of last resort is, and helpfully defines terms such as “yield curve.” Along the way, Lanchester throws in entertaining asides: for instance, he explains how the lexicographer who oversaw the Oxford English Dictionary felt about the word “monetarism.” There are intriguing cultural byways, such as the plug for the “highly illuminating and not-at-all dated 1940 book Where are the Customers’ Yachts? and a useful distinction between “wealthy” and “rich.” The book’s structure could be improved; it would be helpful if, within a definition, any words that have their own entries earlier or later in the book appeared in bold or italics. But that is a small quibble. Anyone who wants to understand the nightly news should keep this volume at hand. Agent: Caradoc King, A.P. Watt (U.K.) (Oct.)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169970043
Publisher:	Ascent Audio
Publication date:	11/01/2014
Edition description:	Unabridged

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