Disclosure: I know Jon Spall, having worked with him for a couple of years and being an enthusiastic subscriber to (and correspondent with) the daily "Barcap Commodity Comment" mailing list which he edits.

Indeed, it's on the strength of that excellent electronic publication (highly recommended if you can get on the mailing list) that I got to know him: It's fascinating and informative but most of all hysterically funny and decidedly un-corporatised overview of the markets (all the more credit to Barclays Capital for sanctioning it) from an excellent fellow with long experience of the markets who happens to be sitting in the front line as it happens. As you can probably imagine has been essential, if excruciating, reading over the last eighteen months as the markets have ritually disemboweled themselves.

No better a time, therefore, to be bringing out a publication extolling the virtues of the traditional last bastion of safety in an uncertain world, gold. Since the abandonment of the gold standard oft dismissed as a fossilised anachronism, in these days of seemingly uniform cratering across asset classes gold, like Keynes, is staging a bit of a revival. Even hedge funds - those that are left, that is - are piling in. And gold is what Jon Spall knows best. He's been in the market for a quarter of a century, and this book distills that learning, and the sort of context that you don't usually get in a business book - there's much learning here on mining techniques, hedging, transport and the history of the market - and with the sort of jaunty tone that Commodity Comment faithful will enjoy - sample excerpt: "the task of explaining the many properties ascribed to gold to an alien would not be easy" - though consciously toned down for sober, old economy, publication. If I had a criticism it would be just that - it doesn't quite give you the full flavour of Jon Spall in all his fairy-at-the-bottom-of-the-garden-shooting glory, but that's very definitely a minor niggle. As the book develops the level of technical detail increases - there's an interesting chapter analysing the current performance of gold in the market turmoil - but the detail is never overwhelming (it hardly could be as the book weighs in at under 200 pages)

Bang up to date with the zeitgeist in including an FAQ as well as a glossary, this is as good a place as any to start if gold is what you're about. ( )