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Speed Reading In A Week: How To Speed Read In Seven Simple Steps (Teach Yourself In A Week Ser.)
by Tina KonstantSpeed Reading In A Week is a simple and straightforward speed reading course, giving you everything you need to know in just seven short chapters. From increasing your reading rate and effective memory techniques, to overcoming distractions so that you can read in any environment and developing a reading programme to make it second nature, you'll eventually wonder how you ever read any other way. This book introduces you to the main themes and ideas of speed reading, giving you a basic knowledge and understanding of the key concepts, together with practical and thought-provoking exercises. Whether you choose to read it in a week or in a single sitting, Speed Reading In A Week is your fastest route to success:- Sunday: The five-step system- Monday: Speed reading- Tuesday: Remember what you read- Wednesday: Your eyes and effective reading- Thursday: Distractions and solutions- Friday: Reading different types of material for different reasons- Saturday: What next?ABOUT THE SERIESIn A Week books are for managers, leaders, and business executives who want to succeed at work. From negotiating and content marketing to finance and social media, the In A Week series covers the business topics that really matter and that will help you make a difference today. Written in straightforward English, each book is structured as a seven-day course so that with just a little work each day, you will quickly master the subject. In a fast-changing world, this series enables readers not just to get up to speed, but to get ahead.
Speed & Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now
by John Doerr#1 bestselling author and acclaimed venture capitalist John Doerr reveals a sweeping action plan to conquer humanity&’s greatest challenge: climate change.In 2006, John Doerr was moved by Al Gore&’s An Inconvenient Truth and a challenge from his teenage daughter: &“Dad, your generation created this problem. You better fix it.&” Since then, Doerr has searched for solutions to this existential problem—as an investor, an advocate, and a philanthropist. Fifteen years later, despite breakthroughs in batteries, electric vehicles, plant-based proteins, and solar and wind power, global warming continues to get worse. Its impact is all around us: droughts, floods, wildfires, the melting of the polar ice caps. Our world is squarely in a climate crisis and on the brink of a climate disaster. Yet despite our state of emergency, climate change has yet to be tackled with the urgency and ambition it demands. More than ever, we need a clear course of action. What if the goal-setting techniques that powered the rise of today's most innovative organizations were brought to bear on humanity's greatest challenge? Fueled by a powerful tool called Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), SPEED & SCALE offers an unprecedented global plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions before it&’s too late. Used by Google, Bono&’s ONE foundation, and thousands of startups the world over, OKRs have scaled ideas into achievements that changed the world. With clear-eyed realism and an engineer&’s precision, Doerr identifies the measurable OKRs we need to reduce emissions across the board and to arrive by 2050 at net zero—the point where we are no longer adding to the heat-trapping carbon in the atmosphere. By turns pragmatic and inspiring, SPEED & SCALE intersperses Doerr&’s wide-ranging analysis with firsthand accounts from Jeff Bezos, Christiana Figueres, Al Gore, Mary Barra, Bill Gates, and other intrepid policy leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, and activists. A launchpad for those who are ready to act now, this book is geared to leaders in every walk of life. With a definitive action plan, the latest science, and a rising climate movement on our side, we can still reach net zero before it is too late. But as Doerr reminds us, there is no more time to waste.
Speeding Ahead to a Better Place
by Alison Berkley Wagonfeld Elie OfekIn mid-2008, Shai Agassi, CEO of Better Place, is in the midst of planning a paradigm shift in clean transportation. In an attempt to wean the world from using gasoline-powered vehicles, his company is playing the role of innovator and integrator for new vehicles, charging spots, and battery switch stations. The effort also requires aligning various parties, from governments to auto manufacturers to consumers. The fledgling company has made good progress in both Israel and Denmark as the first two launch locations but faces a series of decisions on the best course of action going forward. Agassi must decide how best to market in these two countries given the likely adoption challenges once the infrastructure and cars are ready, as well as decide how quickly to begin pursuing other countries (and if so, which ones). A big part of the Better Place solution relies on a novel business model that needs to be evaluated for its attractiveness and feasibility.
Spellbound: Seven Principles of Illusion to Captivate Audiences and Unlock the Secrets of Success
by David KwongA professional magician and illusionist—the head magic consultant for the hit film Now You See Me—reveals how to bridge the gap between perception and reality to increase your powers of persuasion and influence.David Kwong has astounded corporate CEOs, TED talk audiences, and thousands of other hyper-rational people, making them see, believe, and even remember what he wants them to. Illusion is an ancient art that centers on control: commanding a room, building anticipation, and appearing to work wonders. Illusion works because the human brain is wired to fill the gap between seeing and believing. Successful leaders—like Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, and Ted Turner—are masters of control and command who understand how to sway opinions and achieve goals.In his years of research and practice, David has discovered seven fundamental principles of illusion. With these rules anyone can learn to:Mind the Gap—recognize and employ the perceptual space between your audience’s ability to see and their impulse to believe.Load Up—prepare to amaze your audience.Write the Script—discover the importance of shaping the narrative that surrounds your illusion.Control the Frame—explore the real life value of a magician’s best friend: misdirection.Design Free Choice—command your audience by giving them agency.Employ the Familiar—take secret advantage of habits, patterns, and audience expectations.Conjure an Out—develop backup plans that will keep you one, two, three, or more steps ahead of the competition.With Spellbound you’ll discover a different way to sell your idea, product, or skills, and make your best shot better than everyone else’s.
Spend a Day in the Life of Your Customers
by Francis J. Gouillart Frederick D. SturdivantA senior executive's instinctive capacity to empathize with and gain insights from customers is the single most important skill he or she can use to direct a company's strategic posture. Yet most top managers at industrial companies consider customer contact the bailiwick of sales and marketing staff. And even if they do believe market focus is a priority, most retain only limited contact with consumers as their organizations grow, relying instead on subordinates' reports to define and sense the market for them. Such approaches are dangerous. First, most industrials define "customer" as the next entity in the distribution channel and requisition reports accordingly. But to get a true sense of the market, senior executives should consider the wants and needs of every step in the distribution chain. Another danger is that senior executives at industrial concerns often confuse information with knowledge. Managers faced with too much general market data tend to average results, blur boundaries, and miss distinct, segmented market opportunities. Finally, unless senior executives make market focus a strategic priority, they will not be motivated to initiate organizational change.
Spend Analysis and Specification Development Using Failure Interpretation
by Michael D. HollowayConsidering that the biggest machines that do the most work are made up of smaller machines and components, it becomes obvious that when a large machine breaks, it is normally due to small components acting antagonistically. Detailing a time-tested method for increasing productivity and lowering operational costs, Spend Analysis and Specification Development Using Failure Interpretation explains how to establish performance-based procurement specifications for the components, devices, and items that contribute the most to operational downtime and repair/replacement costs. The book emphasizes the critical need to perform both spend and failure analysis in order to develop a procurement document, which will ultimately reduce overall costs. Accompanied by downloadable resources with helpful material such as, specification checklists, case study worksheets, form letters, and return on investment (ROI) worksheets that you can customize to your needs, the text discusses how to: Identify the products that will cost the most if they fail Develop performance-based procurement specifications to reduce direct and indirect costs Examine cost analysis as it relates to operations, maintenance, and production Determine effective criteria based on properties, test results, and standards for each operation Written by an industry expert with decades of experience giving seminars, training customers and associates, and authoring numerous papers and articles, the text provides the real-world understanding of the influential components and materials’ physical properties needed to engage in effective failure and spend analysis. It addresses product submission and monitoring and includes helpful tools so you can immediately get started on conducting your own cost-saving analysis.
Spend Shift
by John Gerzema D 8217 Michael AntonioGold Medal Winner, General Business, 2012 Axiom Business Book Awards Understanding the post-crisis consumer In Spend Shift, John Gerzema, world-renowned expert on consumer values, and Pulitzer prizewinning author Michael D'Antonio document the rise of a vibrant, values-driven post-recession economy. To tell the story of this movement, the authors travel to large cities and small towns across eight bellwether states, to examine the value shifts sweeping the nation. Through in-depth observation, proprietary data from Young & Rubicam, and interviews with experts, the authors analyze the changing consumer psyche, document the five shifting values and consumer behaviors that are remaking America and the world, and explain what it means to businesses and leaders. Explores a movement in society where the majority of American consumers are embracing both value and values Shows how post-crisis consumer expectations and behaviors will drive business decisions Draws on interviews with CEOs and entrepreneurs to reveal how companies like Ford and Etsy are reconnecting with the post-crisis consumer Compelling and insightful, Spend Shift is essential reading for anyone interested in how values are changing and how businesses can connect with consumers after the recession.
Spend 'Til the End: The Revolutionary Guide to Raising Your Living Standard--Today and When You Retire
by Laurence J. Kotlikoff Scott BurnsRich or poor, young or old, high school or college grad, this book, written by economist Laurence J. Kotlikoff and syndicated financial columnist Scott Burns, can change your life for the better! If you follow the advice in this book, it will raise your living standard (possibly by a lot), improve your lifestyle, and help you spend 'til the end. And it will completely transform your financial thinking, turning every bit of conventional financial wisdom on its head. If this sounds like a revolution in financial planning, you got it. So doThe New York Times,The Washington Post,The Wall Street Journal,USA Today,Time,Consumer Reports, and other top publications that have been featuring the authors' economics-based "consumption smoothing" approach to financial planning. Spend 'Til the Endsubstitutes economic wisdom for the "rules of dumb" that currently pass for financial advice. In the process it indicts the investment and financial-planning industry for giving most people saving and insurance targets that are much too high and then convincing them to invest in risky mutual funds and expensive insurance policies. The result is that most people are scrimping and saving during the years when they could be spending and enjoying their money -- and with no sure payoff. Easy to read, this book is packed with practical and often shocking advice on whether to work, how to pick a career, which job to take, where to live, what sort of house to buy, how much to save, when to retire, which kind of retirement account to use, whether to have kids, whether to divorce, when to take Social Security, how fast to spend down your assets in retirement, and how to invest.
Spend Well, Live Rich (previously published as 7 Money Mantras for a Richer Life)
by Michelle SingletaryThe best financial planner Michelle Singletary ever knew was Big Mama, her grandmother. Big Mama raised Michelle and her four brothers and sisters on a salary that never reached more than $13,000 a year. Yet at her death, Big Mama owned her own home, had paid off a car loan, and had a beautiful collection of Sunday-go-to-meeting church hats and a savings account that supplemented her Social Security check and small pension. Most important, she had taught Michelle "7 Money Mantras for a Richer Life." Those mantras serve as the inspiration for this straight-talking book of practical personal financial advice that really works. The 7 Money Mantras are: 1. If it' s on your ass, it's not an asset! 2. Is this a need or is it a want? 3. Sweat the small stuff. 4. Cash is better than credit. 5. Keep it simple. 6. Priorities lead to prosperity. 7. Enough is enough. Michelle Singletary is a syndicated columnist for The Washington Post whose popular personal finance column appears in more than 120 newspapers. She's also a mother of three children who understands what it's like to live on a budget. In a plainspoken, sassy, no-nonsense voice, Michelle provides answers to the financial issues that confront almost every household: how to teach children the value of money; how to address money issues in a relationship or marriage; household saving tips; getting the best loans; and much more. "This book is about saving enough money to have choices," she writes. "It's about feeling free to be cheap if you can't afford to buy a ton of gifts at Christmas. It's about eliminating wasteful spend-ing so you can begin to save and invest. It's full of uncommon commonsense lessons and guidance on the way people should use their money." With humor and down-home financial wisdom, Michelle Singletary offers practical and realistic advice that will help you live well with the money you have. Michelle Singletary on . . . Romance and Money "It's okay to say: 'Honey, I love you and everything, but if you need money, ask your mama.'" Credit Cards "We are minimizing our financial potential by making minimum credit-card payments." Car Buying "If you want to save money, keep your car until you're on a first-name basis with the local tow-truck drivers." Leasing a Car "You, too, can drive a car you can't afford and then have to give it back. It's crazy." Gift Giving "Generosity isn't about how much you spend. It's about how much thought you put into the gift." Penny Pinching "I once bought a stick-shift car because it was $1,000 cheaper than the automatic in the same model. There was just one little problem. I couldn't drive a stick-shift. But at least I saved $1,000!"From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Spender's Guide to Debt-Free Living: How a Spending Fast Helped Me Get from Broke to Badass in Record Time
by Anna Newell JonesPopular blogger Anna Newell Jones of AndThenWeSaved.com delivers this self-help manifesto that reveals how a "spending fast" will help you get on the road to living debt-free.In 2009, young photographer Anna Newell Jones was rapidly suffocating under the weight of too much debt. An inveterate “spender,” she was in way over her head, to the tune of almost $24,000. She knew her debt was only going to get worse if she didn’t take action, but she didn’t know where to look for help. On a whim, Anna decided to go on a spending fast—an idea she heard in passing but knew little about. Creating her own method, she learned what worked and what didn’t and wrote about it on her blog, AndThenWeSaved.com. Amazingly, Anna was able to eliminate all $23,605.10 of her debt in only 15 months! She was interviewed in Forbes, Self, Glamour, Good Housekeeping, and the Chicago Tribune.Anna’s journey inspired people and showed them that they too could change the way they dealt with their own money woes. The Spender’s Guide To Debt-Free Living takes readers through a detailed step-by-step plan on how to do a Spending Fast and get out of debt, including: Creating a personalized Debt-Free Life Pledge. Understanding where your money is going when you’re in debt, and where it will come from to pay it off. Learning why putting money into a savings account before (or while) paying off debt may not be the best idea for you. Finding additional income sources and generating side gigs. Re-integrating spending into your life once you’re out of debt, so that you stay out of debt.Filled with do-it-yourself ideas, insight from experts, and tons of motivational tips and real-life practical advice, The Spender’s Guide to Debt-Free Living proves that you don’t have to win the lottery or get a new job to change your life.
The Spending and Absorption of Aid in PRGF Supported Programs
by Markus Berndt Paolo Dudine Jan Kees Martijn Abu ShonchoyA report from the International Monetary Fund.
Spending Fast and Slow: Why your money disappears so fast and how to slow down the flow
by Max PhelpsIn today' s fast-paced world, we all know the feeling of being swept away in a whirlwind of consumerism, instant gratification and debt only to think, ‘ Where did all my money go this month?' In Spending, Fast and Slow, award-winning money coach Max Phelps helps readers understand the deep-rooted psychological factors that drive their spending habits and teaches them how to slow down spending to create a life of financial stability and true abundance.Married for 31 years, Max is self-confessed ‘ tight-arse' and his wife is a natural shopaholic. With polar-opposite money habits, money was a constant source of arguments for the first 11 years of their marriage. Many of his clients struggle with their partner' s money mindset in much the same way. Drawing inspiration from the groundbreaking works of behavioral economists and psychologists, such as Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow, Max delves into the intricacies of human decision-making to uncover the cognitive biases and heuristics that often lead us astray when it comes to spending. Spending, Fast and Slow is an invitation to a life where money becomes a tool for achieving your dreams rather than a source of stress.
Spending Money
by Rae SimonsWhen you work for a paycheck or do chores around the house to get an allowance from your parents, you're exchanging the value of your time for money. Thinking of money as the time you spent working to earn it can help you understand the value of your time, your money, and the things you buy with it. Learn all this and more in Spending Money.
Spending Money: Budgets, Credit Cards, Scams... And Much More! (A True Book (Relaunch))
by Jessica CohnA series to build strong financial habits early on in life!Understanding how to make a budget, how credit cards work, and how to avoid scams are just three critical financial literacy skills that all kids should have. Did you know that the first credit card was introduced in 1950? Or that American consumers lost more than $5 billion to frauds in 2021? Learn all this and more in Spending Money - a book that gives kids the confidence and know-how they need to manage their finances.ABOUT THE SERIES: How can I make money? What is inflation? What is the difference between a debit card and a credit card? Economics - and more specifically, money - play such a large role in our lives. Yet there are many mysteries and misconceptions surrounding the basic concepts of finance and smart money management. This set of True Books offers students the know-how they'll need to start on the road to financial literacy - a crucial skill for today's world. Interesting information is presented in a fun, friendly way - and in the simplest terms possible - which will enable students to build strong financial habits early on in life.
Spending Smart: A Consumer's Guide to Saving Money and Making Good Financial Decisions
by Chicago Tribune Staff Gregory KarpSpending Smart is a compact but immensely helpful collection of columns from the weekly Chicago Tribune column penned by Gregory Karp. Offering tips for consumers across a wide variety of fields, including insurance, banking, cars, phones, homes, travel, and more, this book is a terrific primer for how to take better care of your money and find deals where others aren't even looking.The simple and sober advice from Karp has made him a newspaper mainstay for many years, as evidenced by this book's vast amount of straightforward tips. In breaking down the true worth of a deal or exposing hidden value, Spending Smart is a reader's go-to financial adviser while on the go. Perfect to pull up on smartphones, e-readers, and tablets, Karp's friendly tone and measured counsel can be accessed just about anywhere readers have financial questions.
Spending to Win: Electoral Institutions, Economic Geography, And Subsidies (Political Economy Of Institutions And Decisions)
by Stephanie J. RickardGovernments in some democracies target economic policies, like industrial subsidies, to small groups at the expense of many. Why do some governments redistribute more narrowly than others? Their willingness to selectively target economic benefits, like subsidies to businesses, depends on the way politicians are elected and the geographic distribution of economic activities.<P><P>Based on interviews with government ministers and bureaucrats, as well as parliamentary records, industry publications, local media coverage, and new quantitative data, Spending to Win: Political Institutions, Economic Geography, and Government Subsidies demonstrates that government policy-making can be explained by the combination of electoral institutions and economic geography. Specifically, it shows how institutions interact with economic geography to influence countries' economic policies and international economic relations. Identical institutions have wide-ranging effects depending on the context in which they operate. No single institution is a panacea for issues, such as income inequality, international economic conflict, or minority representation.<P> Presents evidence from interviews with government ministers and bureaucrats.<P> Provides one of the first book-length studies of government subsidies<P> Explores how political institutions and economic geography interact to shape public policy.
Spending without Taxation: FILP and the Politics of Public Finance in Japan
by Gene ParkPark (political science, Baruch College) conducts an analysis of Japan's use of the Fiscal Investment Loan Program (FILP) in the postwar years. He argues that this financial mechanism enabled the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to maintain low taxes and a neoclassical fiscal policy based on low budget spending accompanied by pork barrel spending. This commitment to budget constraint enabled by FILP delivered economic benefits and was central to the postwar political bargain of budget restraint without sacrificing spending, he argues, but came at the cost of heavy intervention in finance, deferred fiscal burden, and the political challenge of reforming the program once the quality of its investments and loans deteriorated by the 1980s because the LDP had exploited the program too much in order to balance competing interests between fiscal hawks and pork-barrel politicians in order to maintain political power. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
Spenditude: A Life-changing Attitude to Money
by Paul Gordon Janine RobertsonHave you ever wondered why some people are naturally good with money? No matter your age or your income it is your spenditude – your attitude to money – that influences your financial success. Spenditude shows you how to tackle your habits and behaviours to uncover what drives your spending and allows you to gain financial security and live the life you want. This book is not about tedious budgets, get-rich-quick schemes, or giving up your daily coffee. Instead you will learn how to improve your relationship with money so you can release your financial anxiety and walk through life feeling in control. Financial wellbeing experts Paul Gordon and Janine Robertson reveal how with small and incremental steps you can empower yourself to change your spenditude for the better. Backed by extensive research, relatable case studies and in-depth interviews, this life-changing guide will help you get on the right path to financial security. It may seem an overwhelming task to change your thinking about money, but developing sound financial habits is within reach. Behaviour is the key that unlocks better financial outcomes. This motivating and practical guide will enable you to identify the habits you need to change, establish your financial goals and learn how to develop and follow a plan best-suited for your situation. Clear, straightforward chapters relate days of the week to the decades of your life – Monday to Friday is your working life and the weekend is your retirement – to drive home the fact that life is short so don't waste time. In a world where change is constant, FOMO is prevalent, and social media’s influence is unmistakable, there has never been a better time to take stock of your spenditude and put your financial future squarely in your own hands. Spenditude will change your attitudes to money so you can benefit from the coming changes and enjoy the rest of your life.
Spendsmart: Tackle debt and make your cash go further
by Benjamin Fry Jay HuntDo you dread opening bills and statements? Do you feel like your debts are spiralling out of control? Do you wish you had more money left at the end of the month?'Spendsmart' authors and money experts Benjamin Fry and Jay Hunt take a unique and holistic approach to helping you deal with all your financial worries. Firstly, Benjamin examines the real reasons behind your overspending, so that you can understand how to change, and then Jay provides you with practical and realistic solutions for spending less.By following their proven 5-step plan, you will be able to identify your debts, learn how to live on a budget without depriving yourself and apply their strategies to the way you continue to spend money in the future. Packed with budgeting suggestions, helpful questionnaires, realistic tips, and fun ideas, 'Spendsmart' is a must-read for anyone who wants to make their money go further.
Spendsmart: Tackle debt and make your cash go further
by Benjamin Fry Jay HuntDo you dread opening bills and statements? Do you feel like your debts are spiralling out of control? Do you wish you had more money left at the end of the month?'Spendsmart' authors and money experts Benjamin Fry and Jay Hunt take a unique and holistic approach to helping you deal with all your financial worries. Firstly, Benjamin examines the real reasons behind your overspending, so that you can understand how to change, and then Jay provides you with practical and realistic solutions for spending less.By following their proven 5-step plan, you will be able to identify your debts, learn how to live on a budget without depriving yourself and apply their strategies to the way you continue to spend money in the future. Packed with budgeting suggestions, helpful questionnaires, realistic tips, and fun ideas, 'Spendsmart' is a must-read for anyone who wants to make their money go further.
Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior
by Geoffrey MillerA leading evolutionary psychologist probes the unconscious instincts behind American consumer culture Illuminating the hidden reasons for why we buy what we do, Spent applies evolutionary psychology to the sensual wonderland of marketing and perceived status that is American consumer culture. Geoffrey Miller starts with the theory that we purchase things to advertise ourselves to others, and then examines other factors that dictate what we spend money on. With humor and insight, Miller analyzes an array of product choices and deciphers what our decisions say about ourselves, giving us access to a new way of understanding-and improving-our behaviors to become happier consumers. .
Spices and Tourism
by Lee JolliffeThis is the first book to explore the relationship between tourism and spices. It examines the various layers of connection between spices and tourism in terms of destinations, attractions and cuisines. The book reveals how spice-producing destinations are employing spices in destination branding and encouraging spice farms to move towards tourism, while destinations not producing spices are employing spices and herbs in distinctive local cuisines. Both tangible and intangible spice heritages are highlighted as tools for developing destinations, creating attractions, inventing new forms of livelihoods and distinguishing local, regional and national cuisines. This volume will be useful for researchers and students in cultural tourism, culinary tourism, anthropology of food and food history.
Spices, Scents and Silk: Catalysts of World Trade
by James HancockSpices, scents and silks were at the centre of world trade for millennia. Exotic luxuries such as cinnamon, ginger, pepper, saffron, clove, frankincense and myrrh. Through their international trade, humans were pushed to explore and then travel to the far corners of the earth. Almost from their inception, the earliest great civilizations - Egypt, Sumer and Harappa - became addicted to the luxury products of far-off lands and established long-reaching trade networks. Over time, great powers fought mightily for the kingdoms where silk, spices and scents were produced. The New World was accidentally discovered by Columbus in his quest for spices. What made trade in these products so remarkable was that the plants producing them grew in very restricted areas of the world, distant from the wealthy civilizations of northern Africa, Greece and Europe. These luxuries could be carried from mysterious locations on the backs of camels or in the holds of ships for months on end, and arrived at their final destination in nearly perfect condition. Once the western world discovered the intoxicating properties of these products, their procurement became a dominant force in the world economy. Nothing else compared with their possible profit returns. In this book, eminent horticulturist and author James Hancock examines the origins and early domestication and culture of spices, scents and silks and the central role they played in the lives of the ancients. The book also traces the development of the great international trade networks and explores how struggles for trade dominance and demand for such luxuries shaped the world. Recommended for academics, students and general readers with an interest in crop and agricultural development, world trade, economic botany, history of food, and global economics and public policy, Spices, Scents and Silk offers a fascinating and insightful history.
The Spider Network: How a Math Genius and a Gang of Scheming Bankers Pulled Off One of the Greatest Scams in History
by David Enrich<p>The Wall Street Journal's award-winning business reporter unveils the bizarre and sinister story of how a math genius named Tom Hayes, a handful of outrageous confederates, and a deeply corrupt banking system ignited one of the greatest financial scandals in history. <p>In 2006, an oddball group of bankers, traders and brokers from some of the world’s largest financial institutions made a startling realization: Libor—the London interbank offered rate, which determines the interest rates on trillions in loans worldwide—was set daily by a small group of easily manipulated functionaries, and that they could reap huge profits by nudging it to suit their trading portfolios.</p> <p>Tom Hayes, a brilliant but troubled mathematician, became the lynchpin of a wild alliance that among others included a French trader nicknamed “Gollum”; the broker “Abbo,” who liked to publicly strip naked when drinking; a Kazakh chicken farmer turned something short of financial whiz kid; a broker known as “Village” (short for “Village Idiot”) and fascinated with human-animal sex; an executive called “Clumpy” because of his patchwork hair loss; and a broker uncreatively nicknamed “Big Nose.” Eventually known as the “Spider Network,” Hayes’s circle generated untold riches —until it all unraveled in spectacularly vicious, backstabbing fashion. <p><i>The Spider Network</i> is not only a rollicking account of the scam, but a provocative examination of a financial system that was crooked throughout, designed to promote envelope-pushing behavior while shielding higher-ups from the consequences of their subordinates’ rapacious actions.</p>
Spider Web: The Birth of American Anticommunism
by Nick FischerThe McCarthy-era witch hunts marked the culmination of an anticommunist crusade launched after the First World War. With Bolshevism triumphant in Russia and public discontent shaking the United States, conservatives at every level of government and business created a network dedicated to sweeping away the "spider web" of radicalism they saw threatening the nation. In this groundbreaking study, Nick Fischer shines a light on right-wing activities during the interwar period. Conservatives, eager to dispel communism's appeal to the working class, railed against a supposed Soviet-directed conspiracy composed of socialists, trade unions, peace and civil liberties groups, feminists, liberals, aliens, and Jews. Their rhetoric and power made for devastating weapons in their systematic war for control of the country against progressive causes. But, as Fischer shows, the term spider web far more accurately described the anticommunist movement than it did the makeup and operations of international communism. Fischer details how anticommunist myths and propaganda influenced mainstream politics in America, and how its ongoing efforts paved the way for the McCarthyite Fifties--and augured the conservative backlash that would one day transform American politics.