'Endlessly witty, but the wit is underpinned by a tremendous, unembarrassed anger and moral lucidity. A superb guide which will turn any reader into an expert within the space of 200 pages' Jonathan Coe
'Endlessly witty, but the wit is underpinned by a tremendous, unembarrassed anger and moral lucidity. A superb guide which will turn any reader into an expert within the space of 200 pages' Jonathan Coe
We are, to use a technical economic term, screwed. The cowboy capitalists had a party with everyone's money and now we're all paying for it. What went wrong? And will we learn our lesson - or just carry on as before, like celebrating surviving a heart attack with a packet of Rothmans?
If you want to know, but are the sort of person who finds it hard to tell the difference between a CDO a CDS an MBS and a toasted cheese sandwich, John Lanchester has mastered the finer points of finance so you don't have to. In Whoops! he explains, in language everyone can understand, what really happened - and what on earth we do next.
John Lanchester is a journalist, novelist and winner of the Whitbread First Novel Award. He is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books and the New Yorker, with a monthly column in Esquire. John's piece on our love affair with the City, 'Cityphilia', generated much response on its publication in January 2008 and indeed predicted a worldwide crash based on the misuse of financial derivatives. In October 2008 he charted the crisis as it had developed over the year in 'Cityphobia', which also attracted much attention as a piece that explained not only what had happened, but how we felt about it. John was raised in South-East Asia and now lives in London
'Endlessly witty, but the wit is underpinned by a tremendous, unembarrassed anger and moral lucidity. A superb guide which will turn any reader into an expert within the space of 200 pages' Jonathan Coe
'Endlessly witty, but the wit is underpinned by a tremendous, unembarrassed anger and moral lucidity. A superb guide which will turn any reader into an expert within the space of 200 pages' Jonathan Coe
We are, to use a technical economic term, screwed. The cowboy capitalists had a party with everyone's money and now we're all paying for it. What went wrong? And will we learn our lesson - or just carry on as before, like celebrating surviving a heart attack with a packet of Rothmans?
If you want to know, but are the sort of person who finds it hard to tell the difference between a CDO a CDS an MBS and a toasted cheese sandwich, John Lanchester has mastered the finer points of finance so you don't have to. In Whoops! he explains, in language everyone can understand, what really happened - and what on earth we do next.
John Lanchester is a journalist, novelist and winner of the Whitbread First Novel Award. He is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books and the New Yorker, with a monthly column in Esquire. John's piece on our love affair with the City, 'Cityphilia', generated much response on its publication in January 2008 and indeed predicted a worldwide crash based on the misuse of financial derivatives. In October 2008 he charted the crisis as it had developed over the year in 'Cityphobia', which also attracted much attention as a piece that explained not only what had happened, but how we felt about it. John was raised in South-East Asia and now lives in London
John Lanchester is a journalist, novelist and winner of the Whitbread First Novel Award. He is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books and the New Yorker, with a monthly column in Esquire. John's piece on our love affair with the City, 'Cityphilia', generated much response on its publication in January 2008 and indeed predicted a worldwide crash based on the misuse of financial derivatives. In October 2008 he charted the crisis as it had developed over the year in 'Cityphobia', which also attracted much attention as a piece that explained not only what had happened, but how we felt about it. John was raised in South-East Asia and now lives in London.
This is what George Bernard Shaw might have called An Intelligent
Person's Guide to the Crisis of Modern Capitalism, and everyone
ought to read it
*Robert Harris, Sunday Times*
Original . . . beautifully written . . . both entertaining and
profoundly anger-inducing
*Chris Blackhurst, Evening Standard*
The route map to the crazed world of contemporary finance we have
all been waiting for. John Lanchester's superb book is everything
its subject - the 2008 crash - was not: namely lucid, beautifully
contrived, comprehensible to the reader with no specialist
knowledge - and most of all devastatingly funny
*Will Self*
Wickedly funny . . . Good humor and good company will be the things
that'll get us through
*Dwight Garner, New York Times*
Endlessly witty, but the wit is underpinned by a tremendous,
unembarrassed anger and moral lucidity. A superb guide which will
turn any reader into an expert within the space of 200 pages.
*Jonathan Coe*
Explains the madness of modern capitalism with razor-sharp insight,
brilliant clarity and a refreshing dose of humour. A great
book.
*John O'Farrell*
Scarier than Thomas Harris
*Nicci French*
John Lanchester's newfound mission: to explain the world of finance
to the general public . . . The result is the perfect read for
anyone still wondering what went wrong and why. Unless you'd rather
they didn't know
*Bloomberg*
Literary and profound . . . a master explainer with an excellent
grasp of sophisticated finance
*Christopher Caldwell, The Daily Beast*
Acidic, frightening, and sharply funny . . . a better book about
the global meltdown than any other to date
*EW.com*
[A] sober message lurking among Lanchester's delightful wordplay,
and it deserves attention by everyone who cares to understand where
we are, how we got here and who is responsible
*John Lawrence Reynolds, Globe and Mail*
This is a piece of genius . . . It tells a proper story, like a
novel, and we're all part of it - which means it is *gripping*.
Yes! Gripping! A book about money! I know! But it's true. It is
necessary, particularly - but not exclusively - if you're somebody
who thinks, 'Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Iceland, um, mortgages,
er...' and doesn't want to keep thinking it until the end of time,
amoeba-stylee. I humbly posit that it is a masterpiece
*India Knight*
Lanchester has turned that fascination - coupled with a kind of
astonished anger - into a lucid, conversational account of the
crisis designed for non-financial types and helpfully leavened with
jokes, swearing and interesting asides
*Quentin Webb, Reuters*
An excellent book for anyone wondering what the hell is going on.
Triple A, as the credit rating agencies might say
*Irish Times*
Or you could simply borrow the book from someone. If they've read
it, even better - they won't be expecting you to return it
*The Telegraph*
For anyone still wondering what the hell those bankers did with our
money, try John Lanchester's deliciously escoriating Whoops! Even
someone who can't remember their eight times tables comes away
feeling wonderfully well informed
*summer reading recommendation, Psychologies*
This account is by far the most lucid and entertaining explanation
of the world banking crisis of 2008
*summer reading recommendation, Times*
A lively lay reader's guide to the financial crisis, written by a
novelist who sought to educates himself about banking and its
failures. Funny and pointed, it exposes the gulf between the two
cultures of modern Britain: financial and non-financial
*summer reading recommendation, Financial Times*
If you want to look like a rock of good sense, a person who is deep
and wise and worried, then I suggest Whoops! by John Lanchester ...
If only the Queen Mother were still alive, it would make sense even
to her
*summer reading recommendation, Guardian*
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