Knight, Laurence (Contributor)

Lively stuff about the crisis of 2008, even if already seeming like a long time ago. What stays with me is the sheer size of the financial flows around the world, which dwarf anybody's actual need for money or the value of goods and services. Money is now a thing in itself, ein Ding an sich of astronomic proportions, offering almost infinite pickings to the financially smart ( )

This is a few years old now so things have changed in some ways. Another summary of what went wrong in 2008 without too many incomprehensible financial terms. I suspect that in many ways the reasons for the crash have not been dealt with and that bank culture is exactly the same. Depressing thought. ( )

The financial catastrophe of the last 10 years has been written about many times - describing what happened, explaining what happened or proposing what has to happen next. Despite the title, Peston's book is mainly about explaining what happened with a little advice about what needs to happen next. Peston's position as a financial/business analyst and reporter gave him a front row seat during the crisis and gives him the right skills to explain what went wrong to the rest of us. That he does not quite succeed in this is, I think, more due to the enormous complexity of the financial organisations and structures that we have in place than to any failures on his part.

Peston presents a good description of why things went wrong for the technical laymen. This is not focused on the personalities or the individual banks involved (for that, see 'Too Big To Fail'). We get the macro-economic framework that put us where we are and why things happened the way they did. The primary focus is the UK and eurozone economies with little about the USA or the rest of the world, although China gets a fair look-in. This is not a failing, just a particular focus and a reminder that not everything is a reaction to what happens Stateside.

The most depressing outcome from reading this book is the realisation that our financial and economic frameworks have become so complex and so intertwined that no one, perhaps least of all the people who are supposed to be governing it all, have any real grasp of the big picture and, worse, have no idea what the real impact of any particular action they take might have. As Mario Andretti said - 'If you think you're in control of the car, you're not going fast enough' - and I think that is where we are today. The bankers are driving this global economy car and are only concerned with speed, not with safety, fuel efficiency or even direction.

Lastly, I think it is inevitable that a current affairs book like this can quickly become out-of-date and it proves so here in some places (the book was published in 2012). It is also sad to see that some of Peston's 'If we don't change this soon, this bad thing could happen' have happened and with little sign of any efforts to do anything by governments, regulators or bankers. Meanwhile, everyone else suffers. ( )

A broad sweep of the trouble with much of the global economy today. Peston attempts to cover the entire financial system (and all its flaws) as well as his role in the 2007 credit crunch. While some sections are very good- such as the section on Britain's plight- others feel a bit slight. A decent introduction, although I would point people to Rajan's 'Fault Lines' as an alternative. ( )