There is a new review in today's New York Times by Louis Uchitelle – the book, which is a great read, was reviewed on this blog by Richard Bronk a while ago.

Ever since I started visiting Delhi for the mobiles in India report, I've been reading books on the Indian economy and politics. There's quite a lot around at the moment. The elections, of course, and such a spectacle of mass democracy does mean our increasingly parochial newspapers pay attention, so there have been a few articles. India is also the theme of the upcoming London Book Fair. Today's Guardian Review Section has the same focus.

The next blockbuster, however, looks like the new book Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century by  Nandan Nilekani, Head of Infosys. He's doing a 'bookshop barnie' (ie. a reading, I think that means) at Stanfords in central London, 8pm on Thurs 23 April. Free event but must be booked. It seems like there will be a lot of hoopla about the book given the marketing effort Penguin is putting into it. There's a blog on the book's website and it looks quite interesting. To cap it all, the author has appeared on Jon Stewart's Daily Show. Fame indeed – that's definitely the big time as far as I'm concerned – although in the video JS is a lot more interesting than NN. I'd love to get views from anyone who's already read the book – worth a read?

Grumpy Old Bankers has been published by the marvellous Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, with a hugely distinguished list of authors who meet that description. It was very favourably reviewed in the Financial Times today. Here's the amusing cover pic:

My old friend Nick Cohen (author of the excellent Waiting for the Etonians and What's Left and Observer columnist extraordinaire) reminded me yesterday that Galbraith's The Great Crash 1929 (first published in 1964) has a long section on Ivar Kreuger. My edition dates from 1992 although I don't recall reading it since my student days much longer ago – anyway, a 17-plus year gap is my excuse for my having forgotten about Krueger. And re-reading sections of The Great Crash 1929 this morning, it's clear this must be one of the shortlist of essential books for understanding the present Crash. Galbraith is a terrific storyteller and this short financial history of the period captures pretty much the essential points. I'm particularly taken with this observation:

“The signal feature of the mass escape from reality that occurred in 1929 and before – and which has characterized every previous speculative outburst from the South Sea Bubble to the Florida land boom – was that it carried Authority with it. Governments were either as bemused as were the speculators or they deemed it unwise to be sane at a time when sanity exposed one to ridicule, condemnation for spoiling the game, or the threat of severe political retribution.”

Nick's other nomination amongst existing titles is Edward Chancellor's 2000 book, Devil Take the Hindmost, definitely worth re-reading as we wait for the classics of our own episode of financial insanity.

One new book I left out of the previous list of new titles was Philip Augar's Chasing Alpha, an oversight due to the fact that I haven't looked at it at all yet. However, if The Death of Gentlemanly Capitalism by the same author is anything to go by, it will be well worthwhile.

Ivar Krueger, who he? That was my reaction to The Match King by Frank Partnoy, author of an entertaining book about the craziness of the financial markets, F.I.A.S.C.O. (I read the latter when it was first published in 1998, but publisher Profile has just reissued it.) The answer is the leading industrialist and financier of the 1920s, a combination of, oh I don't know, Bill Gates and Bernard Madoff. He  built an extraordinarily successful business empire (including matches and construction), parts of which survived the second world war and enriched the next generation of owners, and he financed national governments in competition with the great house of Morgan; and yet he also took enormous risks, played fast and loose with accountants and regulators and committed frauds. He held his empire together through financial ploys until, in March 1932, he committed suicide.

So one of the most gripping aspects of the book is that I had never heard of Krueger at all. True, he was Swedish, and so perhaps too easily overlooked by Anglo-Saxons. But an intriguing character. By all accounts he was extremely charismatic. Like his protegee and compatriot Greta Garbo (did I mention he financed movies too?), he preferred to be alone. He didn't marry, and worked always with a close-knit group of friends from his youth. Apart, that is, from the outsiders he hired for his dodgier dealings, keeping amazingly large and complex parts of his empire secret from his colleagues. He was innovative, a pioneer of off-balance sheet accounting, and devised financial instruments still with us today. Nobody else understood the complexity of his web of companies and investments.

The second interesting aspect of The Match King is in fact the parallels between the mania of the 1920s and that of the 2000s. In just the same way, investors and even smart investment bankers simply ignored facts which didn't fit their perception of reality. For years before Krueger's empire tumbled, on his suicide, it wouldn't have taken much know-how to understand that the business was not all it appeared. However, people continued to believe what they wanted to believe, confirmed in their views by Krueger's wealth and carefully-constructed public persona. Once again, we learn how much inner clarity of mind – or simply guts – it takes to announce the emperor's embarrassing nudity.

All in all, this is a terrific read. I skipped over some pages of excessive detail about particular financial transactions – I'm sure Frank Partnoy didn't want to let his 6 years of research go to waste but perhaps the next edition can move some of this to an appendix. That aside, a well-written and fascinating tale, perfect for a long flight or a different perspective on today's financial meltdown. If you haven't read F.I.A.S.C.O., that's good fun too.