Money & Promises: Seven Deals That Changed the World (Paolo Zannoni)

Debt, whether we like it or not, is a part of life and has been a part of finance for centuries. Banks have provided a convenient mechanism for debts to be exchanged, generally secured by other individuals or by governments to ensure that banks remained solvent. Paolo Zannoni’s Money & Promises: Seven Deals That Changed the World highlights seven examples when governments and finance came together.

Starting back in Italy, with merchants of Pisa, Venice, and Naples, before weaving the way to the early years of the Soviet Union, this book describes different innovations in finance that helped solve a critical problem facing a community, a nation, or its merchants and traders. Financial institutions throughout modern history often did not function like the brick and mortar bank you see today; however, their function (to help move capital or commerce) was as critical then as it is now. 

Money & Promises is a great history of banking and finance. Zannoni’s instructiveness in explaining how debts are the real driver of exchange (and less so cold hard cash) through these seven different stories is effective, intelligent, and insightful.

MY RATING: 5

Willie, Waylon, and the Boys (Brian Fairbanks)

“Outlaw Country,” just like country music, has evolved markedly from the initial core “group” of musicians. Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash are often grouped in this subgenre based on their country supergroup “The Highwaymen.” Much of this “outlaw” brand stems from their fierce musical independence and desire to produce music without the interference of buttoned-up Nashville production companies. In Willie, Waylon, and the Boys: How Nashville Outsiders Changed Country Music Forever, Brian Fairbanks discusses this desire for musical independence, but takes it a step further into a political realm that drifts from the intent of outlaw country’s origins.

Each of the four individuals in “The Highwaymen” had winding roads before becoming recording stars in country music, largely through their determination to call their own shots and work with those in Nashville who were willing to take chances on music. This part of Fairbanks’s book is probably the strongest - the musical creativity of each of these men was able to beat back the “Countrypolitan” sounds that Nashville recording executives wanted. Through their ability to break barriers musically, Nelson, Jennings, and Cash were able to reach huge levels of success and in vastly different ways. One example is how Cash found a third musical peak late in his life recording with producer Rick Rubin. 

Had the book simply focused on artist independence in country music and one’s ability to do it their way, while keeping politics to a relative minimum, I feel this book would have been much stronger. The original outlaw country genre had a diaspora of political opinion. Jennings was rather apolitical in public (although the author tries to peg him as “far right” without offering anything to back it up). Cash and Nelson had their causes but didn’t necessarily identify with one party or another in their career peaks, while Kristofferson was a liberal. Reading through the author’s lens, you sense a left-of-center view in how he defines what passes as outlaw country in today’s era. Outlaw country isn’t simply being critical of conservative views and being marginalized; it’s music that is country without apology and without being consulted to death by a major recording label executive. One’s politics shouldn’t be a litmus test.

MY RATING: 3.5

We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky: The Seductive Promise of Microfinance (Mara Kardas-Nelson)

The idea of microfinance - known internationally as giving small loans to poor individuals typically to help them with a business - has exploded in use over the past fifty years. Muhammad Yunus was one of the early pioneers of this financial product and arguably its loudest champion. Despite its intent to help individuals solve a problem or need, it has also indebted many others. Mara Kardas-Nelson offers a very candid and honest look at both sides of the microcredit coin in We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky.

Kardas-Nelson relays two stories in her book. The first is the rise of microcredit as an industry - from Yunus’ Grameen Bank in Bangladesh to Accion in the US to Fedecredito in El Salvador - and how policy decisions and smooth talking helped pave the way for a burgeoning market for loans. The drawback is that many of those loans were high interest or high fee, which meant that repayment was often difficult and many individuals ended up worse off than before. The other stories weave through Sierra Leone and a family that was heavily in debt due to microcredit and how through bribes and the legal system they faced more challenges with a high interest rate in repaying their relatively small loans.

The author does a good job showing the pitfalls of lending without any sort of regulations and safeguards to protect individuals. She also briefly mentions the importance of education, although financial literacy in general could have been amplified more heavily. Her solutions (universal basic income) may not be a panacea to fix poverty among the poorest of the global population, but at least Kardas-Nelson presents a very authentic reality on how lending can be quite predatory, even under the guise of good intentions, and that lenders who do engage in microfinance need to do better in this regard.

MY RATING: 4.5

Here One Moment (Liane Moriarty)

Liane Moriarty's Here One Moment is one of my favorite books of 2024...or maybe ever. The story is so unique and packed with characters I grew to care about greatly.

Short, domestic flights happen every single day in every single airport. But on this particular flight, an older woman gets up, points to most passengers and crew, and tells them how and when they will die. Most just laugh it off, but when what she predicts starts to become a reality, the people who were on the plane do everything they can to stop the woman's predictions from coming true. 

Imagine if you were told when and how you will die. Obviously, this often happens for people with serious illnesses. But for many of us just going about our day-to-day, we need to understand that life is so fragile and can end in an instant. This, I believe, is the ultimate message of Here One Moment.

How can a book teeming with death and grief be so life-affirming? I'm not sure how Moriarty did this, but I know I came away from this book changed for the better with a new appreciation for life.

MY RATING: 5

The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life's Deepest Secrets (Thomas R. Cech)

DNA is often considered the “building block of life.” RNA, or ribonucleic acid, arguably has a powerful role of its own in essential life functions. The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets, is Thomas R. Cech’s dive into the world of RNA and how it serves an essential role in helping save or prolong lives.

Cech is a Nobel Laureate for his research into the role of RNA in serving as a catalyst to speed up biochemical reactions. Without getting too into the weeds scientifically, Cech and others in biochemical fields began to see how RNA could help in developing effective antibiotics to stem off infections and, more recently, vaccines (via mRNA). You’ve likely heard of mRNA, especially if you’ve had a COVID-19 vaccine in recent years, as the vaccine uses mRNA to bypass the process of training DNA in recognizing and combating disease. Thus, the “catalyst” that becomes the impetus and focus of Cech’s book.

The Catalyst is an informative and highly technical journey into the history of RNA research. If you have a decent grasp of science and curiosity about disease and epidemics, you will likely enjoy this book. At times, I had to re-read a few sections because of the level of technical detail involved. However, Cech does a good job overall explaining the importance of RNA in modern medical research and the likely role it will play in the years to come.

MY RATING: 4

Origin Uncertain: Unraveling the Mysteries of Etymology (Anatoly Liberman)

Etymology is the study into the origin of a word’s form and its meaning. Word origins can be fascinating and sometimes very difficult given the gradual evolution of word meaning and spelling over centuries. Anatoly Liberman has long been the Etymologist at Oxford University Press, running a long-standing blog into unique word origins. He has taken a collection of his more unique findings and chronicled them in Origin Uncertain: Unraveling the Mysteries of Etymology.

In addition to interesting words like nerd, dude, and brisket, Liberman discusses idioms such as “pay through the nose” and “kick the bucket.” Many words and idioms in English come from other languages - typically Germanic or sometimes one of the Romance languages like French or Spanish - and Lieberman artfully tells the story of the origins of many of these words. In cases where it was nearly impossible to figure out the evolution, the most plausible scenarios are offered.

In all, Origin Uncertain is an entertaining read into the history of language and human development.Liberman offers a great study on how to explore competing origin stories and what insights he uses to identify the most accurate one.

MY RATING: 4.5

American Civil Wars: A Continental History, 1850-1879 (Alan Taylor)

The 1850’s and 1860’s were a tumultuous decade in North America. In addition to America’s Civil War, warfare and European attempts to reestablish heavy influence on government affairs gripped Mexico, while Canada was facing its own conflicts and issues as it worked towards its nominal independence from England. Author Alan Taylor captures nearly a quarter century of North American strife and unrest in American Civil Wars: A Continental History, 1850-1879.

Conflict and tension gripped the continent as America wrestled with tensions between North and South over slavery, along with post-Civil War tensions with Native American populations. In Canada, Taylor documents the tension between English-speaking “Canada West” and French-speaking “Canada East”, and their mutual fear of American expansion into Canada. Mexicans fought an attempted establishment of an emperor powered by France while also dealing with Confederates eyeing Mexican territory to expand slavery into Mexico. The period between 1850 and 1873 was filled with violence in all three countries, most notably in Mexico and the United States. However, even Canada could not avoid moments of conflict. Taylor deftly weaves between all three countries, with personalities and names shifting from one country to another in order to try to gain influence.

For those of us in America, the history of Canada and Mexico during these decades is incredibly informative since what occurred in the United States shaped much of the course of both Canada and Mexico in the late 19th Century and beyond. Taylor’s work is fast-moving and packed with information for those who are seeking a broader appreciation of North American history during the 19th Century.

MY RATING: 4.5