Swimming with Sharks: Inside the World of the Bankers

Guardian Faber Publishing, 2015, softcover, index, 278 pages, condition: new.

For two years, Joris Luyendijk immersed himself in the heart of the financial world. Precisely because he was not an expert on the banking world, he was the ideal author to investigate what happened: no matter how closed the world of high finance is, many wanted to talk to him to explain how beautiful their work was. How hard. How interesting. And how dangerous.

Because the conclusion is as firm as it is painful: the institutions that have to ensure that the economy functions can plunge the world into the abyss. And that is all done with the best intentions by people who have exactly the same concerns as you and I, by people who have to pay the mortgage and wanted their children to go to a good school. Luyendijk's sharp eye and open-minded way of asking questions ensures that he provides insight into where we stand like no other. And it is not pretty.