4 out of 4 stars
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Growing up in the US, I had always felt like a bit of a disconnect from my Asian heritage, because I didn't know much about culture, history, or current events, and to be honest, I never really bothered to try. Until now. When I picked up this book, I hoped that it would help me gain some insight into Asia's financial situation, and I'm happy to say that I got that and a lot more.
Asia's Financial Industry 1986 - 2016 by Lawrence Au begins with a prologue that starts with how the author first came across custody as a financial business line after ten years of being in the banking industry. He describes the ups and downs of the industry over the years, and now it is a vital part of economy banking within society. This book addresses several inventions over the years, such as vaults, cheques, new methods of delivering securities such as bicycle couriers, and the development of market infrastructure and how it affected the region. A chapter that really resonated with me was one about September 11, 2001 and how the attack on the Twin Towers affected the financial industry, even on the other side of the world.
One thing I loved about the book were the chapters throughout that were appendixes and timelines of events, which really simplified the huge amount of information this book provided. There were many black and white photos throughout the book, and as a visual learner, I found that these really enhanced the learning experience. Another aspect of Asia's Financial Industry 1986 - 2016 that I really enjoyed were the prologue and epilogue; because they were written from the author's point of view and described his position within the financial industry, it not only allowed the readers to gain insight into his personal experience, but also illustrated the extensive research the writer did in order to aggregate such a credible collection of information.
Unfortunately, there were some formatting errors, such as incorrect margins in the chapter "Appendix: Timeline of Malaysian Currency Control", which made it a bit hard to read, but this is definitely an error that can be easily fixed. Other than that the book seemed professionally edited to me.
The writing throughout this book was objective, credible, and informative, and as a result of the positives and negatives explained above, I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves nonfiction or is interested in economics, social science, and politics, and I hope it gives all of its readers the opportunity to learn more about the world.
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Asia's Financial Industry 1986-2016
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