Book Bits: 22 July 2023

You Will Own Nothing: Your War with a New Financial World Order and How to Fight Back
Carol Roth
Interview with author via Hidden Forces
The argument that Carol makes in the book is that we are on the precipice of a new financial world order, one that will fundamentally change the fortunes of hundreds of millions if not billions of people across the western world. How this new financial world order is being brought about and the role being played by international organizations, governments, and multinational corporations in facilitating it forms a large part of today’s conversation. The second part of the episode examines the deeper technological, socio-cultural, and spiritual forces that are driving peoples awakening. This part of the discussion focuses on how to differentiate betwen the fear-mongering misdirection of many media entrepreneurs and other, more credible sources of information, as well as what we can do to fight back by regaining control over our finances, over our lives, and over the narratives that define our reality.

Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud
Ben McKenzie and Jacob Silverman
Co-author interview (McKenzie) via Marketplace.org
Cryptocurrency has had a rough time in the past year or so. The value of bitcoin has fallen to less than half its peak of $65,000 back in the fall of 2021, and former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is facing criminal charges over his role in the meltdown of the prominent crypto exchange. Yet as the crypto industry tries to move past what some are calling a crypto winter, skeptics are questioning its very premise: Is it even possible to realize the promise of a “decentralized” currency? Is crypto, as an idea, flawed? “These cryptocurrencies are not currencies, economically speaking, because they don’t do what money does,” actor and writer Ben McKenzie said in an interview with “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal. “Money, ultimately is trust. Cryptocurrency famously says, ‘Oh, we can replace that. Crypto can be a trustless form of money where all you have to do is trust the code.’ But code does not fall from the sky.”

The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet
Jeff Goodell
Review via The Economist
The book is a remarkable exploration of the deadly consequences of rising temperatures wrought by humans pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Unlike wildfires and hurricanes—which create whirls of flame, paint skies an apocalyptic orange and drown cities—heatwaves cannot easily be captured on film. Heat slaughters silently, snuffing out more American lives each year than any other type of weather. “How do you make visible the story of an invisible killer?” asks Mr Goodell. Some policymakers are trying, by creating new heat-warning systems and naming heatwaves as they do hurricanes.
The book’s biggest takeaway is that the harm from heat falls unfairly on those least able to protect themselves.

Uncertain Futures: How to Unlock the Climate Impasse
Alexander F. Gazmararian and Dustin Tingley
Summary via publisher (Oxford U. Press)
Why is the world not moving fast enough to solve the climate crisis? Politics stand in the way, but experts hope that green investments, compensation, and retraining could unlock the impasse. However, these measures often lack credibility. Not only do communities fear these policies could be reversed, but they have seen promises broken before. Uncertain Futures proposes solutions to make more credible promises that build support for the energy transition. It examines the perspectives of workers, communities, and companies, arguing that the climate impasse is best understood by viewing the problem from the ground up. Featuring voices on the front lines such as a commissioner in Carbon County deciding whether to welcome wind, executives at energy companies searching for solutions, mayors and unions in Minnesota battling for local jobs, and fairgoers in coal country navigating their uncertain future, this book contends that making economic transitions work means making promises credible.

The Essentials of Risk Management, Third Edition
Michel Crouhy, et al.
Summary via publisher (McGraw Hill)
The “bible” of risk management—fully updated for an investing landscape dramatically altered by social and technological upheavals. When it was first published in 2005, The Essentials of Risk Management became an instant classic in risk management. Now, the authors provide a comprehensively updated and revised edition to help you succeed in a world rocked by unprecedented changes. Combining academic research with real-world applications, this bestselling guide provides the expert insights that has made it so popular for so many years, covering the most effective ways to measure and transfer credit risk, increase risk-management transparency, and implement an organization-wide enterprise risk management approach.

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