Traders Guns & Money

Readers of the Free Press Business pages will be familiar with occasional contributor Satyajit Das’s biting commentary on the financial markets. Das is one of the foremost experts on derivatives and their offshoots, which played a key role in the market blowup, a.k.a. the Great Recession, which is still undermining many of the world's economies.

Das had a 25-year career as a respected industry insider, during which time these products gained their dark ascendancy. The bulk of this revised edition is unchanged, whereby he takes readers step by step through the arcane engineering that went into cooking up this cauldron of acronyms, and demonstrating how everything was sent awry.

The new afterword examines the role these instruments played in the meltdown. Throughout, Das exposes the traders and necromancers who turned derivatives into what Warren Buffett famously called "financial weapons of mass destruction". He logically and methodically eviscerates the industry, its motives and its morals, often with wry humour.

This is not always an easy read, and it’s not for everyone. But it’s an eye-opener that richly rewards you for the effort.

More about the book:

Traders Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives Revised Edition

Satyajit Das

Prentice Hall

$20.99