My Book Reviews

  ISBN :    978-0753559581 Verdict :    👍👍   This is an overwhelming story of an ex-McKinsey Consultant who executed, what could have been biggest scam ever, selling the concept of getting in early and becoming rich to a product that just didn’t exist - a block chain is miles away from a centralised SQL Database As someone who has a genuine interest in distributed ledger technology, cryptocurrency and the hype around the narrative which promotes a replacement of traditional currency to a single independent global digital currency.   In my opinion it would have been great to move the first paragraph on p148 to earlier in the book i.e.,’’ One -Coin was technically three different scams rolled into one.” A Ponzi Scheme, Pyramid Scheme, and a fake cryptocurrency Page 35 for me highlighted a key aspect in that “ Ruja instead contracted a Bulgarian IT firm, who in turn outsourced some of the work to some Indian developers, who ’forked’ the original Bitcoin Blockchain (in other wor

ISBN :  978-1-118-95149-1 Verdict :    👍👍   👍   Recently, whilst working on an consultancy assignment, I was asked by the CIO to classify the application estate using a ’Buy ,Sell Hold’  set of tags, so  when I saw this book I thought it would make for a  good read and I was not disappointed. The book provides great value . For me it provided quite a lot to consider especially as I am of the age where I am considering my retirement options. In this book Ken sets the context  in Chapter 1 where he starts with “ You can’t take the risks you did when you were younger. You’re not in the game for growth anymore; you’re in the game to protect your principal ” p3) and continues to follows this through.   The following quotes from the book got my highlighter to pause and think.; When you have a strategy, you can make a plan without being driven by your emotions – p81 As investors, we have to distinguish the battle from the war and make sure we don’t deplete our resources to the point

  ISBN :  9976-01-241-548616-5 Verdict :  👍👍   👍   👍   Two of my favourite topics - History and Economics provide the context for this exceptional book and hence my 4 thumbs up 🏆 This is one of those rare books one must read to fully understand the creation  of wealth during British Empire period and what laid the economic  foundation for many organisations that exists today. This book was based on Eric’s doctoral dissertation submitted to the Oxford University in  1938!  Hence well researched and fact based, which due to the nature of the time would have undergone strict scrutiny. This book does not seek to discuss the  slave  (the person)    but  slavery  (the business model) and the underlying economic model which is the premise used to justify some disgusting actions. This book discusses the ‘economic’ model and presents interesting facts, the kind of facts that really should be taught on all history courses.  I learnt a lot reading this book about the triangular trade betwe

SBN :  978-5098-6808-7 Verdict :  👍👍   The book tells the story of Elizabeth Holmes - Who conducted a 'massive' corporate fraud endangering many lives and someone who managed to get some high profile individuals  to join her board - "She might be young, but she was surrounded by an all-star cast" p4 The vision, a machine that would use a little sample to run multiple blood  tests, unfortunately just couldn't be realised  with their faulty Theranous devices. However, she managed to raise hundreds of millions in funding -This book is definitely worth reading. Here are some snippets from the book, but limit the context unless one reads the book but worthy of mention ;; "I ll drink your wine but I won't ask you for advice the very field that paid for the wine " p57 " They wanted to control the narrative of her departure " p80  " Wallgreens suffered from a severe case of FoMO -The fear of missing out " p89 "Sunny put it more blu

ISBN : 978-1509550869 Verdict  : 👍👍👍 As with most things, actions, or events there is always an alternate viewpoint, so as a Brit, when I started reading this book, I was expecting some bias,However,  I think Michel  kept his emotions intact when writing this and I didn’t spot the bias I was expecting  despite the odd odd comment which may have been justified.    Irrespective of your political posture, you really have to admire Mr Barnier who is seasoned politician and a great choice by the EU to represent their representative to  negotiate with the UK and someone who ‘ prefers transparency to leaks ’ p55) which with the quote on p69 “ Clearly, in negotiation we will need to pay as much attention to the language of gesture as to that of words ” sets the tone of the diary.   I did highlight great chunks of this book so I can’t replay all the key bits – but below are some small snippets for certain days  from the book that either made me think or just left me disappointed in our UK) n

 ISBN: 978-1-78396-606-6 Verdict:  👍👍 👍 What got my attention when I was scanning this book, before diving into it, was a statement on page 13 ; “ Cash aside, all payments today are therefore digital debt entries recorded in a ledger system that was invented centuries ago; an antique practice made modern by dancing bits and bytes that animate digital ledgers deep within computer systems .”  The statement spoke volumes and set the tone of the book which explores the current and future payment systems and the entry of digital enablers.   While reading this book, my highlighter was not spared especially as it provides several snippets of valuable information all wrapped below the trade-off between  liquidity, risk and the convention which acts as  theme through the book around payment systems.   My favourite section was chapter 14 - How to steal a billion: fraud and theft.   Below are some snippets from the book which I found valuable. “ But then money and cash are bot the same thing –