文化推薦

The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World

《貨幣崛起:金融如何影響世界歷史》

Money, says the song, makes the world go round. It can also threaten to stop it. Thus, a book that explains the origin and growth of money, banks, stock markets, and the exotic growth of the financial instruments and institutions that often bewilder even those who live by them, is a valuable thing. Despite the fact that Niall Ferguson finished writing The Ascent of Money in the late spring of 2008, while the international financial crisis was still gathering momentum, this is a highly relevant book. Not the least of its merits is that Ferguson shows how alert he was to the possibilities for disaster inherent in the loose credit and securitization of bad debt from which so much money was made before the crisis unfolded. His was an alertness made possible by a grasp of history; Ferguson thereby vindicates the utility as well as the beauty of his craft.

就像那首歌所唱的,金錢推動世界。但金錢也會使世界停止。所以,一本解釋貨幣、銀行、股市的起源與發(fā)展,以及金融工具和金融機構(對于許多金融工具和機構,金融從業(yè)人員也感到困惑)異乎尋常增長的書,就非常有價值。雖然尼爾?弗格森早在2008年暮春就已經寫完《貨幣崛起》,當時國際金融危機還正蓄勢待發(fā),但這確實是一本非常及時的書。該書一個重要的價值在于,弗格森表明自己早已經警覺到信貸寬松和壞賬證券化有可能引發(fā)災難,危機降臨前有人正是靠寬松的信貸和壞賬證券化賺了大筆錢。他的警覺得益于對歷史的理解;弗格森因此證明了自己方法的實用性和優(yōu)勢所在。

Not only is there much that is instructive and illuminating in Ferguson's account, there is much that is absorbing. Until you begin reading you might not imagine how engrossing a book about the history of money and finance can be. The story of money's origins, of the Italian Renaissance cities, of the founding and operation of the first limited liability company in the Netherlands, of the Rothschild banking dynasty's rise in the 19th century, of what caused the Great Depression, of the turn to house-owning debt, of today's massive and perhaps unhealthy symbiosis between borrowing America and lending, cheaply manufacturing China to make 'Chimerica' with most of the world's money and population in it, make an altogether gripping tale. Thoroughly recommended.

弗格森的敘述不僅給人啟迪,還引人入勝。你若不去讀,就無法想象一本有關貨幣與金融歷史的書會多么有趣。從貨幣起源、意大利文藝復興時期的城市、第一家有限責任公司在荷蘭的創(chuàng)立與經營、19世紀羅斯柴爾德銀行王朝的崛起、到大蕭條產生的原因、住房貸款的出現,再到今天美國借錢,中國貸款,二者形成龐大但可能不健康的共生現象,組成財富最集中、人口最多的“中美共同體”,作者講得妙趣橫生。強烈推薦閱讀。

The Job-Hunter's Survival Guide

《求職者生存指南》

The Job-Hunter's Survival Guide is a slim paperback manual of little more than 100 pages, chock-a-block with bullet points and tips, wrapped in a road-sign shade of yellow. The author, Richard Nelson Bolles, 82, wrote the best-selling What Color is Your Parachute? guide to job searching — now running at over 400 pages in the 2009 edition.

《求職者生存指南》是本薄薄的簡裝小冊子,僅有百頁出頭,滿是點句和小貼士,裝幀的底色是路標常用的黃色。作者理查德?尼爾森?波利斯現年82歲,曾寫過有關求職的暢銷書《你的降落傘是什么顏色?》——它的09版有400多頁?！?br>