In the midst of the most serious financial upheaval since the Great Depression, legendary financier George Soros explores the origins of the crisis and its implications for the future. Soros, whose breadth of experience in financial markets is unrivaled, places the current crisis in the context of decades of study of how individuals and institutions handle the boom and bust cycles that now dominate global economic activity. “This is the worst financial crisis since the 1930s,” writes Soros in characterizing the scale of financial distress spreading across Wall Street and other financial centers around the world. In a concise essay that combines practical insight with philosophical depth, Soros makes an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the great credit crisis and its implications for our nation and the world.
Too much philosophyDecember 2, 2008 The first half of the book talks about philosophy. He could have just put in one chapter and the reader would have got the point. The second half of the books talks about the financial market. An average read.
Ingenious IncitesNovember 29, 2008 Soros captures the missing link in fundamentalist theory. If you do not understand Soros' theory of reflexivity you are missing a true understanding of the way markets work. Additionally, Soros outlines some of the problems with current policies in U.S and international regulation. If you care about your rights, open society, or the future of the United States, you should read this book. We must understand the problems we face, in order to address them.
DisappointmentNovember 29, 2008 I admire Mr. Soros for his philanthropy but I find this book disappointing. I was hoping to gain some insight into the economic crisis but instead got the wordy, unedited version of what amounts to a paper on his theory of reflexivity. The book contained too many extraneous pages about how he always wanted to be a philosopher, how criticisms of his initial theory were right (sort of) but also wrong and why he is now vindicated and is truly a philosopher. There was a chapter documenting trades he made recently that seemed out of place.
Had the editor done her job I think this book would have deflated into a paper which presented little to nothing new.
Wasn't too helpfulNovember 24, 2008 Found the book interesting but felt that it's premise and conclusions were obvious, especially given the current situation. I give him the benefit of the doubt that he couldn't have seen what ultimately would happen to our economy in the next few months and he reviewed what had previously happened and made it easy to understand.
Bias or the individuals perception of a situation is involved in everything, especially with him as his political position is obvious in his book. He is an example of his own theory of relfexivity.
Think he is trying to develop a theory of ecomomics to prove he is an intellectual on par with his father. Although I enjoyed the book I don't think he has done it. The blurb by his son explaining that he buys and sells on the basis of his backaches is incredulus and doesn't help in giving his theories validity.
Insightful read....November 16, 2008 Insightful book. Recommend for any who need help connecting the dots on the current global financial condition.
