Finance, Biology and neuro sciences are the very definition of the dry subjects in my opinion. One cannot read a line or two on these subjects withoutFinance, Biology and neuro sciences are the very definition of the dry subjects in my opinion. One cannot read a line or two on these subjects without stumbling upon some obscure jargon, making them quite inaccessible for the layman. So when I picked up this book I was first dismayed by its volume as I thought that it was going to be those books which I pick but never finish. But I was amazed, as the author took us on the journey to prepare all the three statements of a company from scratch. Pages are built up on the previous pages and suddenly you start to see the light. So moving to the good and the bad parts: Pros: 1. The chapters progress in a story book style, making the material interesting as well as accessible to the general public. 2. The financial statements are build up in a step by step manner as the title suggest. So you understanding picks up one step at a time, giving you the real understanding of the numbers. 3. The financial statements are clearly marked on each page under "Previous value" , "Transaction" & " New Value". This helps in keeping track of the changes. Personally I worked on Microsoft excel while going thru the transactions, which helped me in algebraic functions quickly. 4. The author moves straight to the point, cutting any unnecessary jargon and clutter. 5. The three major financial statements balance sheet, Income or profit and loss statement & cash flow statement are taken simultaneously. This helps the reader to observe where the affect of any particular activity is reflected on all the statements at a single place. 6. The problems are presented as statements basis which an explanations and financial statement updates are provided.
Cons: 1. Its not really a con but the style of the book is not good for just picking up and opening at a random page. This book needs to be finished from first page to the last. So if you are not a financial expert and you just want to know inventory calculation, your jumping in that section will not help much if you never read the previous pages.
2. The author should encourage the reader to write on notebook or work on an excel sheet along with him so that every thing gets imprinted in a reader's mind.
3. The style of book is awkward. The financial statements are presented first and then question and explanations are provided. The reverse format would have been better. ...more
This is the second book from the "Mises Institute" that I have started that & had very high hopes for. After finishing it I was left with an irritatinThis is the second book from the "Mises Institute" that I have started that & had very high hopes for. After finishing it I was left with an irritating feeling that author leaves everything in the middle. So lets discuss pros quickly before I go to cons, which are so many of them. PROS: 1. The author lists various cons of democracy and each con is given a separate chapter where each topic is discussed. 2. The comparison between democracy, oligarchy, monarchy & communism is taken up throughout the book. 3. The approach of the book is blunt and the author doesn't minces his words for the sake of race, creed or color. 4. The point of UNIVERSAL Adult Suffrage is taken up expertly to point out its various harms, e.g. emmigration, drug dealings, pornography 5. The novel approach to blame democracy to cause and magnitute of war was intriguing. CONS: 1. Every topic while starting with legitimate arguments on a topic but takes logic too far to reach many a times slippery slope, ad absurdum indeed. 2. When the topics are differentiated, the book seemed to make different claims in various topics. Like at a place the author is in favor of true laissez-faire so that the competent people will have fruits of their labor whereas in the other chapters the book seems to favor the strict class division so that everybody tends to know their limits so that a businessmen's son will have close relations with his peers only. The author seems to miss the point that he is arguing for change in type of government not the change in type or nature of people. 3. The author is as usual in case of "Mises Institute" is a devout christian and seems to think that christian America and Europe need not entertain any other religions or third world citizens to have entry/ emmigration in our country fair enough but what about the third world citizens who are converted to christianity by the american/european missionaries. 4. The books gives in its conclusion a government free state where the insurance companies will ensure that the damages if any to the individual will be reimbursed by them. But what will stop the insurance companies themselves to indulge into bad ethics and make profits by extortion. The world will again turn to continuous chaos. 5. Lastly the footnotes should be footnotes and please have mercy on readers by not quoting Mises at every penultimate page. It seems that all the present and future economic knowledge in the world & will be in the world, has been discovered by Mises himself
Overall a thought provoking book but to me it seems to just miss the mark....more
This is one of the gems of monetary theory. This book cleared so many concepts that were nagging my mind for a long time. As the articles and parapherThis is one of the gems of monetary theory. This book cleared so many concepts that were nagging my mind for a long time. As the articles and paraphernalia available on monetary system seemed to confuse me more than illuminate about the subject. Pros: 1. Start the topics from the basic of money production right to use of metals as money. 2. Takes from the advent of metallic money(Gold/Silver) to paper notes and involvement of government and bankers at each step. 3. While reading this book it appears conspicuous why centralization of Banks occur and also the cause of hyperinflation in our society. As this book was written before sub-prime crises so the authors stand vindicated. 4. Easy explanation of all concepts based on people's interaction in free markets and free from economic jargon, which is a basic tenant of Austrian School of Economics. Cons: 1. Lack of more examples to clear every concept. It could have drive the point home more thoroughly. I have to make mind maps along the way to keep track of explanations, which is necessary as each chapter builds on the previous one to explain the consequences of new policies. 2. The author is a christian apologist so you have to bear with the mentions of Christ and Saints and theologians throughout to understand the sinful nature of crimes :). Crimes will be crimes under any moral principal. You have to bear if you want to understand the concepts. 3. The German hyperinflation of 1919-1923 or Chinese Hyperinflation of 955-1405 could have been highlighted to explain the dangerous consequences of fail of Breton Woods system. 4. Author could have highlighted the need of educating people in government and public to need to know this basic economics in order to deal with the consequences but he have merely clubbed everybody in group of wrongdoers purporting misery.
Overall a great book, its short and concise and if you retain the facts presented in the books you could become perspicacious enough to cut through all the legal jargon available for any new policy. ...more
A masterclass by Dan. The writing style is so simple and the conclusions so glaring that we all would have to confront our own rationality. This is noA masterclass by Dan. The writing style is so simple and the conclusions so glaring that we all would have to confront our own rationality. This is not just a book but the culmination of very intriguing behavioral research done by the Professor. A must read for any body who believes himself as a logical one, welcome to reality!!...more
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