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 enlarge | Manufacturer: Penguin
Category: EBooks
List Price: $17.00
Buy New: $9.99
You Save: $7.01 (41%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  272 reviews
Sales Rank: 910
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 576
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
ASIN: B000UZJRIG
Publication Date: September 9, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Fedspeak, part 2 September 24, 2008
What amazed me about this book was how little the book talked about economic policy and its underpinnings. Why did the fed do what it did during Greenspan's tenure? If you are looking for answers to that sort of questions, you will get nothing from this book. In fact, it is not clear if Greenspan even has a framework for monetary policy. For instance, he does not have great regard for Keynes' work, but almost everything he did would appear to be Keynesian. No explanations are offered. I found Alan Blinder's book a lot more illuminating on substantive issues.
What you will get from this book is a lot of commentary on personalities of powerful politicians---a subject for which the author demonstrates more passion than any other. This is perhaps the book's redeeming feature: it is admittedly somewhat interesting and perhaps gives us a glimpse into why really Greenspan was one of the most powerful people in Washington for such a long tenure.
It did get me thinking very differently about fedspeak though: I was constantly reminded of Peter Sellers in "Being there", as I read the book. Perhaps for that insight alone, my money was well spent on the book.
 Highly recommended to everybody involved in economics, business, investment and finance September 21, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
People who are very knowledgeable about a subject seldom have the skill to communicate their knowledge to the general public. The ex Federal Reserve Bank chairman Mr. Alan Greenspan is one of those rare individuals. No doubt he has great wisdom , theoretical and practical knowledge of world economics, business, investment , finance and politics. But more important he very clearly explains these topics in his masterpiece called The Age of Turbulence not only to the general public not specialized in these subjects but also to professionals and experts. That's right even students and professors of economics and business, investment counselors, businessman, investors etc. have a lot to gain from reading or listening to the CD of The Age of Turbulence. The reader does not have to agree with everything Mr. Greenspan says and that does not reduce the benefit to be derived from reading the book or listening to the CD.
In the Age of Turbulence the author explains very clearly and in a non boring way without using too much technical jargon the economic, political, social, business, financial and technological developments in major countries in the world, not just in the USA, from the end of the 19th century until 2007 and the likely prospects until the year 2030, not like a clairvoyant but different scenarios depending on various conditions. He places these developments within the context of various economic ideologies and analyzes how they compare in explaining world socioeconomic and political developments. Subjects he covers are very wide and encompass just about every major socioeconomic and political issue that have shaped the world history and are likely to impact the near future. His approach is not a doomsday prediction ; he doesn't just talk about the problems. He criticizes applications where necessary but also presents his opinion about what should be or should have been done or not done to prevent or solve specific socioeconomic crises.
The narrator in the CD,Robertson Davis, also deserves credit, because he speaks very clearly. So if you are involved in economics, business, finance, investment, politics and consumption in anyway anywhere in the world, not just in the USA, and that means just about everybody, you can not afford to not read / listen to The Age of Turbulence.
I listened to this CD and I was writing this review in September 2008 just as the financial hurricane that was taking place at that time in the USA had swallowed several famous investment banks and its effects rippled across the world. The crisis was still continuing as I was writing this review. This is a time when we all really need to digest Mr. Alan Greenspan's wisdom from his book.
A Treasure September 14, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is very well written book by a brilliant economist. A history of a person in a very influential and challenging position offering powerful descriptions of these experiences.
Outstanding book September 11, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Greenspan's overview of his life, the economy, and the various presidents he served under was genuinely fascinating. A self proclaimed libertarian, Greenspan has an thorough and very fair review of the economic capabilities of each president he served under. I found it very surprising and his honesty on the economy very refreshing.
A Truly Fascinating Look into Greenspan, Economics, and US Policy September 9, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Greenspan's "The Age of Turbulence" is a tour de force, an incredibly engaging, insightful, and detailed look, not only at the life and history of the most famous economist of the U.S., but of the key economic events that have shaken, molded, and served as the crucible for the global economy of the 21st century. Make no mistake about it: this is a book that will easily become a de facto standard of the genre, and will remain so for years to come.
From the opening pages of Greenspan's introduction we immediately become aware that this book is surprisingly well written, and that Greenspan has somehow managed to coalesce the mountains of knowledge and experiences he has accumulated over some six decades of public life into an imminently accessible and, yes, understandable, text. The book commences with Greenspan's flight back from Switzerland on 9/11, and the interruption of that flight with the news of what had happened in New York City that day. Greenspan peels back the history and lets us in on his many thoughts as his flight made an emergency return to Zurich, and then, subsequently, during his interactions with persons at all levels of the government and the banking system in the weeks that followed. This opening story helps orient us to some of the duties of a Fed Chairman during times of crisis, and it is from this scene that the rest of the book's narrative is then laid out.
The book is essentially broken into two parts: the first, in which Greenspan draws us through his own learning path through the years so that we can understand how he came to master individual economic events and systems; and the second, the application of these lessons learned toward attempting to understand what he calls today's new global economy. The book proper continues with this approach of mixing personal history with mini-lessons of economics, first starting with his childhood in New York, then moving to his teen and adolescent years, his PhD work, and his eventual move into government service. We read about his childhood fascination with numbers, his studies at Julliard in music, his love of baseball, his skill in conquering huge masses of data wherever he found them, and see in his upbringing the traits that would serve him (and us) so well in his eventual role as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Bank. As Greenspan weaves his story, we are introduced to numerous asides which explain to us many aspects of the economic system with which we may not yet fully understand or comprehend, and Greenspan deftly intertwines such didactic content in with these life events in a manner that makes us learn as we go, all the while not even realizing we are being educated as we proceed.
The sweep of the story is grand, and leaves little left unturned. We are allowed to peer into Greenspan's insights and thinking concerning Black Monday, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Rise of China, the role of Russia in world economics, the dot com bubble and burst, and, of course, the effect of globalization as it was ensconced immediately after World War II and how it appears today. In it, Greenspan not only makes his formidable knowledge of all these subjects known, but he also tells us his beliefs about many of them, and even tries to tell us how he thinks things may look a quarter of a century from now.
Perhaps most interesting in this volume beyond its educational aspects is reading about Greenspan's inner feelings about the various personages and events with which he interacted over the years. His comments about meeting Ayn Raynd, and the impact her thinking played upon his own, are both humorous and honest. His thoughts about Nixon, which he explicates - both good and bad - yield more insight that can be used whenever we study that portion of history. His comments on Ford, Reagan, and Clinton are also quite interesting, and it is a study in personality to see how he contrasts and compares these people as he winds out his story. Its a real "extra" for readers of the Greenspan's story.
A book that is as engaging as it is insightful, "The Age of Turbulence" is truly a "must-read" for nearly anyone interested in financial markets, capitalism, global economics, and the role of U.S. foreign (and domestic) policy. Buy it to learn and to become better educated, but read it to enjoy and savor. I'll bet you'll be as surprised as I at just how truly fascinating the work turns out to be.
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