How to Speak Money

A funny, clear and brilliantly entertaining guide to the world of finance by John Lanchester, bestselling author of Capital and Whoops!

The biggest problem for outsiders in the world of economics is that most of the time, we don't know what the hell the insiders are talking about. To know that, you have to understand the words they're using. The language of economic elites can be complex, jargon-filled and completely baffling.

But if we don't know what they're talking about, we're making our decisions at the ballot box on insufficient information. We all need to be able to speak money because if we can't, then the people who can will write their own rules. Their preference is for no rules at all. We've given that approach a try, and we can testify to the fact that it doesn't work.

In How to Speak Money, John Lanchester explains everything from high-frequency trading to the difference between bullshit and nonsense, using references as diverse as John Maynard Keynes and The Wealth of Nations to Jay-Z and South Park. This is a primer, a polemic and a reference book you'll find yourself reading in one sitting. It blows open the world of finance and arms you with knowledge, ready for the moment they try to sell us the 'Next Big Thing'.

About the Author

John Lanchester is contributing editor of the London Review of Books, and a regular contributor to the New Yorker. He has written four novels, The Debt to Pleasure, Mr Phillips, Fragrant Harbour, and Capital, and two works of nonfiction: Family Romance, a memoir; and Whoops!: Why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay, about the global financial crisis. He is married, has two children and lives in London.