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Essential Finance

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One of the essential features of the modern global market economies are the highly advanced and sophisticated finance sectors of the economy. The modern financial markets are a far cry form their eighteenth and nineteenth predecessors, and even the early twentieth century financiers would probably have a hard time grasping all the ins and outs of the financial systems that are in place right now. It is no wonder then that the general public is baffled with the incredibly complex world of finance and for the most part has only the vaguest idea of how it operates. This state of affairs often leads to misconceptions and oftentimes downright invidious view of what it is that the financial institutions do. For instance, it is hard to read an article about finance in some segments of the media where the word "greed" or its cognates don't feature prominently. This mindset can be downright dangerous when it informs the electorate about the policy decisions. There is a real need for higher level of literacy about finance, and "Essential Finance" by The Economist journalist and writer Nigel Gibson is an excellent concise introduction to the basic financial terms and ideas.

This book is not written as a textbook, but as dictionary of essential financial terms. Thus the aim of the book is not to present a unified overarching explanation of finance, but rather to inform the reader about those financial terms and ideas that he may find useful or relevant at any particular point. Nonetheless, the book is written in a very crisp, legible style and it could be read cover-to-cover. Most terms are cross-referenced and this makes it easy to find connections between various concepts. Finance is a very rapidly evolving field, and the book is a bit dated because of that, but it can still be used for basic information. The format of this book is also very compact and accessible, and it can be used as a quick first reference. Even in the day when most of this information can be easily found online, there is something to be said for a handy physical reference.