So Baruch had a go at reading the El-Erian book, When Markets Collide, by the fire in his Swiss ski chalet. He bought it because everyone seems to like it. It’s the FT’s 2008 business book of the year, on top of the Economist’s Most Interesting Reads list, etc.
Everyone who likes it is wrong. It is in fact unreadable; I only managed to get through about 100 pages and had to put it down. It is a bad book.
Let me preface everything that follows by saying unequivocally that Dr El Erian (if we are going to be formal about this), is a super brain. He gives good (if a bit stuffy) op ed in e.g. the FT. He is very good at describing how we got into our current mess, and I particularly appreciate his “heart attack” metaphor in terms what what has happened to the global economy. He even “drew inspiration” from Taleb, which makes him OK in my book. I hereby nominate him as a Fellow Collegiant of Ultimi Barbarorum, passed nem con. Continue reading
