Devil Take the Hindmost

Author: Edward Chancellor
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0452281806
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 401

Book Description
A lively, original, and challenging history of stock market speculation from the 17th century to present day. Is your investment in that new Internet stock a sign of stock market savvy or an act of peculiarly American speculative folly? How has the psychology of investing changed—and not changed—over the last five hundred years? In Devil Take the Hindmost, Edward Chancellor traces the origins of the speculative spirit back to ancient Rome and chronicles its revival in the modern world: from the tulip scandal of 1630s Holland, to “stockjobbing” in London's Exchange Alley, to the infamous South Sea Bubble of 1720, which prompted Sir Isaac Newton to comment, “I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.” Here are brokers underwriting risks that included highway robbery and the “assurance of female chastity”; credit notes and lottery tickets circulating as money; wise and unwise investors from Alexander Pope and Benjamin Disraeli to Ivan Boesky and Hillary Rodham Clinton. From the Gilded Age to the Roaring Twenties, from the nineteenth century railway mania to the crash of 1929, from junk bonds and the Japanese bubble economy to the day-traders of the Information Era, Devil Take the Hindmost tells a fascinating story of human dreams and folly through the ages.

Devil Take the Hindmost

Author: Edward Chancellor
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0452281806
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Devil Take the Hindmost

Author: Edward Chancellor
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780756757465
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 386

Book Description
A lively and original history of stock market speculation from the 17th cent. to 1998. Traces the origins of the speculative spirit back to ancient Rome and chronicles its revival in the modern world: from the tulip scandal of 1630s Holland, to "stockjobbing" in London's Exchange Alley, to the infamous South Sea Bubble of 1720. Here are brokers underwriting risks such as highway robbery; lottery tickets circulating as money; wise and unwise investors such as Benjamin Disraeli and Ivan Boesky. From the Gilded Age to the Roaring 20s, from the 19th-cent. railway mania to the crash of 1929, and through to Day Traders, this book tells a fascinating story of human dreams and folly through the ages.

Devil Take the Hindmost, the Otherworldly Music of Allan Holdsworth

Author: Ed Chang
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 642

Book Description
The uncompromising work of electric guitarist Allan Holdsworth is revered by some of the most accomplished musicians in rock, jazz, fusion and metal, including such ground-breaking artists as Steve Vai, John McLaughlin, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Lifeson, Frank Zappa, Joe Satriani, and countless others. Starting off his career with bands such as The Tony Williams New Lifetime, Bruford, U.K., and Soft Machine, in the early 1980s Holdsworth began releasing music under his own name, with bands comprised of some of the most creatively virtuosic players in rock and jazz. Aside from developing one of the most unique and recognizable styles in electric guitar, Holdsworth also pioneered the role of guitar synthesis in jazz composition and improvisation, and his work in the medium eventually gained the complexity and cinematic flavor of orchestral music (although achieved through electronic textures). This book (originally published in blog form as "A Thread of Lunacy: Appreciation and Analysis of the Otherworldly Music of Allan Holdsworth") traces the development of Holdsworth's musical works from 1969 to 2017 by examining more than 60 records which he led or recorded on. In addition to detailed musical explorations of these records, hundreds of published and unpublished interview fragments from print and online sources have been organized (by album) in order to give an idea of the circumstances behind each record and each stage of Holdsworth's career. Although this book is a perfect reference for Allan Holdsworth fans, another aim of this book is to help new listeners enter the frequently misunderstood universe of this "ahead-of-his-time" guitar genius. A full explanation of Holdsworth's approach to music composition and improvisation is presented, designed to be appreciated and understood by both casual music fans and advanced players.

Devil Take The Hindmost

Author: Martin Cathcart Froden
Publisher: Cargo Publishing
ISBN: 191044992X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 344

Book Description
Winner of the Dundee International Book Prize At £10,000, the Dundee International Book Prize is the richest prize for an unpubished novel in the UK. This year's winning title, Devil Take the Hindmost, is a gripping historical noir set during the amphetamine-fuelled craze for velodrome racing which took London by storm in the late 1920s. Into this world stumbles Paul, a bewildered Scottish farmboy running away from home. Powerfully built with a fierce passion for cycling, he is taken under the wing of Silas, a local loan shark, and from there enters a world he is ill-equipped to survive. As the races get harder, the bets get larger, and the terrifying Mr Morton starts to take an interest in Paul's career. For fans of Peaky Blinders and Brighton Rock, Devil Take the Hindmost is a thrilling ride through a historical London that is rarely visited. 'A Graham Greene-esque noir with suspense and peril. I loved the cut back and forth of the time line to create drama..." Denise Mina, author and judge, Dundee International Book Prize 'Intriguing, thrilling and brilliantly realised. A fantastic debut.' Danny Wallace, author, broadcaster and judge, Dundee International Book Prize 'Perhaps the first cycling noir I've ever read, Martin Cathcart's excellent debut, Devil Take the Hindmost, is filled with early twentieth century period detail and a slow-burn sense of menace that builds over the course of its twisting plot. But a good plot is nothing without character, and in the innocent abroad Paul and his new 'friend' Silas, we have one of the finest double acts I've read in a while. Devil Take the Hindmost is an assured first novel from an author who deserves to overtake the competition and race to take first place.' Russel D McLean, author of the J McNee detective series

Capital Returns

Author: Edward Chancellor
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137571659
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 223

Book Description
We live in an age of serial asset bubbles and spectacular busts. Economists, policymakers, central bankers and most people in the financial world have been blindsided by these busts, while investors have lost trillions. Economists argue that bubbles can only be spotted after they burst and that market moves are unpredictable. Yet Marathon Asset Management, a London-based investment firm managing over $50 billion of assets has developed a relatively simple method for identifying and potentially avoiding them: follow the money, or rather the trail of investment. Bubbles whether they affect a whole economy or merely a single industry, tend to attract a splurge of capital spending. Excessive investment drives down returns and leads inexorably to a bust. This was the case with both the technology bubble at the turn of the century and the US housing bubble which followed shortly after. More recently, vast sums have been invested in mining and energy. From an investor's perspective, the trick is to avoid investing in sectors, or markets, where investment spending is unduly elevated and competition is fierce, and to put one's money to work where capital expenditure is depressed, competitive conditions are more favourable and, as a result, prospective investment returns are higher. This capital cycle strategy encourages investors to eschew the simple 'growth' and 'value' dichotomy and identify firms that can deliver superior returns either because capital has been taken out of an industry, or because the business has strong barriers to entry (what Warren Buffett refers to as a 'moat'). Some of Marathon's most successful investments have come from obscure, sometimes niche operations whose businesses are protected from the destructive forces of the capital cycle. Capital Returns is a comprehensive introduction to the theory and practical implementation of the capital cycle approach to investment. Edited and with an introduction by Edward Chancellor, the book brings together 60 of the most insightful reports written between 2002 and 2014 by Marathon portfolio managers. Capital Returns provides key insights into the capital cycle strategy, all supported with real life examples from global brewers to the semiconductor industry - showing how this approach can be usefully applied to different industry conditions and how, prior to 2008, it helped protect assets from financial catastrophe. This book will be a welcome reference for serious investors who looking to maximise portfolio returns over the long run.

The Devil's Derivatives

Author: Nicholas Dunbar
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
ISBN: 1422143163
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 310

Book Description
A compelling narrative on what went wrong with our financial system—and who’s to blame. From an award-winning journalist who has been covering the industry for more than a decade, The Devil’s Derivatives charts the untold story of modern financial innovation—how investment banks invented new financial products, how investors across the world were wooed into buying them, how regulators were seduced by the political rewards of easy credit, and how speculators made a killing from the near-meltdown of the financial system. Author Nicholas Dunbar demystifies the revolution that briefly gave finance the same intellectual respectability as theoretical physics. He explains how bankers worldwide created a secret trillion-dollar machine that delivered cheap mortgages to the masses and riches beyond dreams to the financial innovators. Fundamental to this saga is how “the people who hated to lose” were persuaded to accept risk by “the people who loved to win.” Why did people come to trust and respect arcane financial tools? Who were the bankers competing to assemble the basic components into increasingly intricate machines? How did this process achieve its own unstoppable momentum—ending in collapse, bailouts, and a public outcry against the giants of finance? Provocative and intriguing, The Devil’s Derivatives sheds much-needed light on the forces that fueled the most brutal economic downturn since the Great Depression.

The Price of Time

Author: Edward Chancellor
Publisher: Grove Press
ISBN: 0802160077
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 375

Book Description
A comprehensive and profoundly relevant history of interest from one of the world’s leading financial writers, The Price of Time explains our current global financial position and how we got here In the beginning was the loan, and the loan carried interest. For at least five millennia people have been borrowing and lending at interest. The practice wasn’t always popular—in the ancient world, usury was generally viewed as exploitative, a potential path to debt bondage and slavery. Yet as capitalism became established from the late Middle Ages onwards, denunciations of interest were tempered because interest was a necessary reward for lenders to part with their capital. And interest performs many other vital functions: it encourages people to save; enables them to place a value on precious assets, such as houses and all manner of financial securities; and allows us to price risk. All economic and financial activities take place across time. Interest is often described as the “price of money,” but it is better called the “price of time:” time is scarce, time has value, interest is the time value of money. Over the first two decades of the twenty-first century, interest rates have sunk lower than ever before. Easy money after the global financial crisis in 2007/2008 has produced several ill effects, including the appearance of multiple asset price bubbles, a reduction in productivity growth, discouraging savings and exacerbating inequality, and forcing yield starved investors to take on excessive risk. The financial world now finds itself caught between a rock and a hard place, and Edward Chancellor is here to tell us why. In this enriching volume, Chancellor explores the history of interest and its essential function in determining how capital is allocated and priced.

All the Devils Are Here

Author: Bethany McLean
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101551054
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 503

Book Description
Hailed as "the best business book of 2010" (Huffington Post), this New York Times bestseller about the 2008 financial crisis brings the devastation of the Great Recession to life. As soon as the financial crisis erupted, the finger-pointing began. Should the blame fall on Wall Street, Main Street, or Pennsylvania Avenue? On greedy traders, misguided regulators, sleazy subprime companies, cowardly legislators, or clueless home buyers? According to Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera, two of America's most acclaimed business journalists, many devils helped bring hell to the economy. All the Devils Are Here goes back several decades to weave the hidden history of the financial crisis in a way no previous book has done. It explores the motivations of everyone from famous CEOs, cabinet secretaries, and politicians to anonymous lenders, borrowers, analysts, and Wall Street traders. It delves into the powerful American mythology of homeownership. And it proves that the crisis ultimately wasn't about finance at all; it was about human nature. Just as McLean's The Smartest Guys in the Room was hailed as the best Enron book on a crowded shelf, so will All the Devils Are Here be remembered for finally making sense of the financial meltdown and its consequences.

Markets, Mobs & Mayhem

Author: Robert Menschel
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0471267716
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
In this fascinating tour through cultural, global, economic, and business history, icon of the financial world Robert Menschel explores the phenomenon of crowd psychology and its effects on business and culture. Explaining how crowd psychology creates market bubbles and irrational exuberance, Menschel mines world history—from the rise of the Nazis in Germany, to the fanatical love of brands, to the Dutch tulip craze of the seventeenth century, to America’s 1990s Internet bubble—to reveal how the behavior of crowds negatively affects the business world. Championing the causes of individuality and common sense, Markets, Mobs & Mayhem offers real wisdom for investors who want to keep their wits when everyone else is losing theirs.