My Book Reviews

ISBN:  978-0-00-842109-0 Verdict :  👍👍 👍 👍 I really enjoyed this book from Mark Carney, a former G7 central banker, governor of the Bank of Canada and more recently the Bank of England, so he brings a wealth of financial experience and insights into this book. This book address  values and the value  using past economic crisis, cryptocurrencies, covid and the net zero goals / initiatives and brings some advice with a very much financial lens.   The book does make one and reflect on things e.g.  the value of Amazon (the company) in relation to the Amazon Region where Amazon has a $1.5 trillion equity valuation, whilst the Amazon Region does not appear on any ledger yet the costs to both climate and biodiversity of destroying the rainforest has greater value to the planet – Makes you think! This example and others set the tone. Here are some of favourite bits – however unless you read the book the context is lost but worthy of mention. 1.  ...

I SBN :  978-0691172798 Verdict :  👍👍   👍 This is one of those books that you have to read in full to fully appreciate, with its well-researched examples to support the concept behind the book.  The book highlights how current automation and Artificial intelligent(AI) systems trends can be used with an historical economic lens to project and address the economic, political and social affects that will arise and by using examples from the industrial revolution when technology displaced workers we can predict the effects of technologies like driverless cars. I like the structured approach to present the argument and learnt along the way with references to various paradox ( Moravec, Polanyi etc. .) which I had not come across before and had to look up  Here are some bits I highlighted in the book. however, there were quite a few so I couldn't  list them all ; The pre-industrial era did not suffer a shortage of imagination, it suffered from a shortage o...

ISBN : 978-1509841103 Verdict :  👍👍   I read this book a year ago, so thought I would post my review on this blog, it presents an interesting view for those like me have consulted both for the UK Ministry of Justice & a CRC as mentioned on p327  If you work in the profession or are a student of Law then this book is worth a read as it describes how the UK Legal System is not perfect highlighting highlight its failures (structures, budgets & conducts) while providing a great insight into the workings of British Judicial System Below I have listed some highlights from the book; ·       There is no excuse for the amateur,  sausage-factory paradigm of justice and ‘that’ll do’ complacency that pervades 94percent of criminal cases…p56 ·       Politicians persuade voters that 1p off a pint of lager is a better investment than a working justice system    p326 ·   ...

ISBN : 978-0-7535-5312-1    Verdict :  👍👍   👍   I’m no longer a fan of the UK’s LBC Radio Station. however, I do try and listen to James O'Brien – one of the good ones! with his journalistic talent to dissect arguments and look at what is behind them and is reflected in his excellent book.  This book covers briefly his views on Islam & Islamism, Brexit, LBGT, Political Correctness, Feminism, Trump etc etc. and he uses snippets from his LBC Radio Show to make and validate his view point.. I find myself agreeing with most of his sentiments in the book  e.g. anger should be reserved for people "Selling the snake oil, as opposed to the punters who had guzzled it". Its quite funny in parts e.g.   Schrodinger’s immigrant – the one who simultaneously steals ‘our’ jobs and claims unemployment benefit while leading a life of state-subsidized indolence.” (p77) I like that he "Strips their arguments right down to the b...

ISBN : 978-1-473-66121-9  Verdict :  👍👍👍 What a fantastic read and I appreciate why it was on the Sunday Times Best Seller. Not only does it tell his story but comes through with some great historical facts e.g. the aid Cuba provided the Africans for freedom from apartheid (P277+) and the global medical aid it provides (more than the West). The book is very well written and has some snippets of his life growing up in Britain and the shock of many afro Caribbean’s " coming to Britain and discovering most white Britons were actually poor "(p7). He refers to some classic quotes from others e.g. James Baldwin who famously observed “ segregation has allowed white people to create only the Negro they wish to see ” He informs us why Samuel L Jackson is not a big fan of British Black Actors – because " they come to America and take their jobs "  – really Samuel? The quote on page 228 resonates well with me as I remember saying a similar thing to ...

ISBN : 978-0-141-02453-0 Verdict :  👍👍👍 👍   This is one of my  favourite  reads of 2019, 466+ pages The book seeks to shed light on cause and effect in terms of  disaster  and  benefits  i.e. why  for some of the catastrophes , big business have benefited  💵 in the past e.g. The Iraq War and US Hurricane  🌪 Katrina and it does a great job ! Some great quotes, with my  favourite  one being one that describes the UK/Argentinian Falkland’s war as a  “ fight between two bald men over a comb” The book  diuscusses  the advantages Economist Milton  Friedman  promoted a man she refers to as the ‘Grand Guru’ of a movement which went across the globe post disaster to "assist' yet benefit the US. Friedman  observed that “ Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around ”( p6...

ISBN : 978-0-00-823928-2 Verdict  : 👍👍 In summary:  an enjoyable but very long read - it was prudent of David Cameron to publish "For the Record" , if only to justify his actions which resulted in the mess that is Brexit  and will have long term consequences to everyone in the UK In all honesty, I enjoyed reading it, despite it being so long and I mean long(703 Pages !!)  . It provides some great snippets on why he and his government made specific choices and more importantly the logic behind these choices. Obviously, as one would suspect, he uses this book to have a dig at certain events and people e.g..Qatar being aware the 2020 World cup where (P161) he states "T he fish had been bought and sold before we'd even got to the marketplace ". My favourite bit in the book (P508) is where he shares a text he sent to Michael Gove when he had offered him to head up the Whips office , in which he said “ You must realise that I divide the world into...