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Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva:

Adam Baldwin’s "Heroes & Villains of Finance" (Wiley, 2015) is leisurely stroll with the greats and infamous of finance throughout history. Peppered with attractive page layouts, this book can be used as a brief reminder of the roots of current financial theories, strategies and regulations, or as an introduction for those new to financial history.

Baldwin takes the readers to the early beginnings of money dealings, with the first derivative (Thales’ options), the fist broad economic theories (Chanakya’s bureaucratic framework of a nation’s economy, Adam Smith’s 'Invisible Hand’), the first forms of international banking (the Knight Templars, the Medicis, the Rothschilds), the fist monetary theories (Nicole Oresme, David Ricardo), early examples of market manipulation (John Law, Sir John Blunt), the fist wealth (Dr. Charles Hall) and socialist theories (Karl Marx), and the fist example of statistical modeling (Vilfredo Pareto) – all the way to personalities who are alive today, such as Buffet, Taleb and Madoff.

Fraudsters, philosophers, economists, bankers, statesmen, rages-to-riches heroes, pioneering entrepreneurs parade in turn and chronologically, to have their two-page presentation (though devoid of actual portraits), before leaving with some lasting quotes and making room for the next personality.

Each chapter is concise, carrying a minimal summary of the significant men, woman, family or organization’s......................

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