Money Machine (Penguin Business Library) [Paperback]

Philip Coggan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 5, 2002 | Series: Penguin Business Library

What happens in the City affects almost every aspect of our lives. In this excellent guide, now completely revised and updated for this fourth edition, a leading financial journalist cuts through the myths and scandals that make the news to explain the nuts and bolts of the financial system. How are the big deals made? What radical changes will the Euro bring about? Which are the institutions that really matter? What causes the pound to rise or interest rates to fall? Philip Coggan provides clear and concise answers to many such questions; he also shows why they are of central concern to all of us.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Philip Coggan has been a journalist for the Financial Times since 1986, including spells as a Lex columnist, personal finance editor and economics correspondent.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books; 5th edition (December 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141009306
• ISBN-13: 978-0141009308
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,077,591 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear Explanations of Financial Basics, July 5, 2003

By 

Stephen Taylor (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Money Machine: How the City Works (Penguin Business) (Paperback)

This is an excellent guide to the basics of money and financing.

The book focuses on London as a financial center and the British finanacial system in general, making frequent comparisons to New York and global practices. However, as it describes financial basics I think the that it would be useful to people almost anywhere interested in understanding such basics as: interest rates, banking, shares, insurance, foreign exchange, etc.

I was most impressed by Coggan's clear explanations helped by historical descriptions, e.g. goldsmiths and silversmiths became the earliest bankers when they stored gold and silver in their safes for nervous citizens. Then, when they noticed that of all the gold and silver stored in their vaults only a small amount was required for withdrawal, and this amount was roughly matched by new deposits, the idea of lending the idle gold and silver was born. The earliest smiths were from Italy and did their business from wooden benches in the market places. The Italian for bench is "banco" and was corrupted into the English word "bank".... Suddenly at the hands of Coggan banking seems like a very human enterprise and becomes easy to understand.

Coggan's knowledge is obviously thorough and his explanations are excellent. I highly recommend this book. Comments to [e-mail]

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great introduction to the basics, December 13, 2000

By 

James Taylor - See all my reviews

This review is from: Money Machine: How the City Works (Penguin Business) (Paperback)

I bought this book about 5 years ago when I first got a job in the UK Financial Industry. It covers all the basics and you can start with little or no previous knowledge (I did!). To illustrate his point he includes examples of Indices, Exchange Rates, Unit Trust prices etc. from the Financial Times newspaper. It is easy to understand too. Can't recommend it highly enough.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Concise holistic overview of the financial markets, September 5, 2009

By 

1000Books "1000Books" (NY,NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Money Machine (Penguin Business Library) (Paperback)

I read this book to see how others have attempted to a holistic descriptions of the market place. This is actually not bad. If you have a lot of work experience you may find it a little basic in parts.

As for my research, I like that it draws out a lot of the different players/financial systems/institutions that are involved. He does a decent job of articulating what motivates each area of finance. I would highly suggest this for those that are trying to learn the market environment. Though it's setting is to describe the UK, it actually is fairly accurate for the US as well. It is also useful in creating a framework for what is going on in finance, who the players are, and what drives them.