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Meltdown Iceland: Lessons on the World Financial Crisis from a Small Bankrupt Island
by
Roger Boyes
The compelling and authoritative story of the financial destruction of Iceland—a saga that mirrors, in microcosm, the forces that caused the global economic crisis. The economic crisis that emerged in America in 2008 unleashed a veritable epidemic of ill health around the world. However it was Iceland, whose population of three hundred thousand had the world’s highest...more
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published
September 29th 2009
by B L O O M S B U R Y
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Fast-paced tale of how Iceland’s economy melted
Most people aren’t very familiar with Iceland, an isolated, homogenous, near-Arctic island. Now, thanks to Roger Boyes’s wonderfully told tale of its financial collapse, readers can learn what happened to the economy, politics and culture of this unusual, mostly-frozen nation. Iceland was the unlikely first victim of the 2008 global financial collapse – the actual canary in the coal mine. Its financial excesses, cronyism and poor governa...more
Most people aren’t very familiar with Iceland, an isolated, homogenous, near-Arctic island. Now, thanks to Roger Boyes’s wonderfully told tale of its financial collapse, readers can learn what happened to the economy, politics and culture of this unusual, mostly-frozen nation. Iceland was the unlikely first victim of the 2008 global financial collapse – the actual canary in the coal mine. Its financial excesses, cronyism and poor governa...more
Wohoo! I won a copy of this from the Goodreads Giveaways section (thanks for telling about that, Emily). Granted, I entered the giveaway for this book more for Ryan than for me--he'll be thrilled--but I'll flip through it too.
*******
Premise of the book, from the preface: "I want to show the human narrative to this international meltdown, that we--Icelanders and non-Icelanders alike--are not just powerless victims caught in the spokes of the vast machinery of capitalism." ...more
*******
Premise of the book, from the preface: "I want to show the human narrative to this international meltdown, that we--Icelanders and non-Icelanders alike--are not just powerless victims caught in the spokes of the vast machinery of capitalism." ...more
I thought this book was interesting in how it described details of iceland that I simply was never aware of, or were ever explained in media coverage.
Iceland quite simply was a corrupt plutocracy that things slowly ticked over in until people mistook their success in dealing with a small controlled economy with economic control outside. At least this was the way that I felt that the author was trying to get across.
I found the book to be somewhat disjointed, jumping from t...more
Iceland quite simply was a corrupt plutocracy that things slowly ticked over in until people mistook their success in dealing with a small controlled economy with economic control outside. At least this was the way that I felt that the author was trying to get across.
I found the book to be somewhat disjointed, jumping from t...more
Full disclosure: I received a free advance reading copy from uncorrected proofs. It contained dozens of typos, awkward constructions, usage errors and errant marks that will assuredly be corrected before publication, so they do not factor in my rating. The topic is timely and important, and the hubris and political corruption that fed the crisis are certainly not isolated to Iceland. The author does a good job of explaining Icelandic society, as well as the culture of corruption, incompetence, ...more
Outstanding, readable, thematically strong and nuanced account of the Icelandic boom and bust by a veteran correspondent with the Financial Times.
Boyes makes a strong case for the Icelandic chapter of the global crash being metaphor, microcosm and case study, but goes beyond that to point tantalizingly at a separate set of issues around the role of small states, cultures and enterprises in a network-scaled, globalized world: "they're screwed" is his basic conclusion.
...more
Boyes makes a strong case for the Icelandic chapter of the global crash being metaphor, microcosm and case study, but goes beyond that to point tantalizingly at a separate set of issues around the role of small states, cultures and enterprises in a network-scaled, globalized world: "they're screwed" is his basic conclusion.
...more
Holly
rated it
Recommends it for:
economics geeks like me ;-)
Recommended to Holly by:
first-reads
Shelves:
first-reads
A very informative book but not an easy read. This one took me a very long time to finish mostly because it contains so many facts, figures, and dates. I will probably need to read it again sometime to help myself digest all of the information.
One thing that impressed me was how, at least for me, it can be easy to get lost in the enormity of our current economic crisis. A trillion or even a billion dollars means very little in real terms to most. This book focuses on Iceland, wit...more
One thing that impressed me was how, at least for me, it can be easy to get lost in the enormity of our current economic crisis. A trillion or even a billion dollars means very little in real terms to most. This book focuses on Iceland, wit...more
I'm not really much of a finance-wonk, but I was interested in this book because I visited Iceland the day the people threw out all the politicians who caused the nation's financial collapse and elected a whole new administration. And, knowing some Icelanders personally, I was interested to read what an "outsider" thought of the whole fiasco. (I also enjoyed references to places in Iceland that I've seen)
I was a bit worried that this book would be full of all kinds of borin...more
I was a bit worried that this book would be full of all kinds of borin...more
I feel bad for really liking a book about my home base going bankrupt so I must say that I do not like the fact that Iceland went bankrupt but I do like the fact that Roger Boyes wrote this book. Boyes interviewed people from politicians to the local fisherman and explained the meltdown in Iceland, in my opinion, to the best of his ability…
I am at the start of my third year of living in Reykjavík, Iceland. I was born and raised in the United States of America. The USA is my native la...more
I am at the start of my third year of living in Reykjavík, Iceland. I was born and raised in the United States of America. The USA is my native la...more
I thought I was about as interested as an ordinary by-stander could be in the Icelandic collapse and consequences. However I guess I'm not as interested as I thought I was...
A comprehensive review of the rise and fall of the Icelandic oligarchs and the rollercoaster ride they put their country on. Quite breathess, chatty prose, betraying the author's journalistic leanings, but it does what it says on the tin.
A comprehensive review of the rise and fall of the Icelandic oligarchs and the rollercoaster ride they put their country on. Quite breathess, chatty prose, betraying the author's journalistic leanings, but it does what it says on the tin.
I won this book from the Goodreads giveaway and I am so sorry that it took me so long to finish.
I'm not a finance-guru at all, but I was interested in this book because of my Nordic relations. The book was filled with humor and interviews from people with all backgrounds and from other contries. It gave me a deeper understanding about what went wrong and how fast it can happen when you have incompetent people running the show. I thought it was funny with the difference in male and female ...more
I'm not a finance-guru at all, but I was interested in this book because of my Nordic relations. The book was filled with humor and interviews from people with all backgrounds and from other contries. It gave me a deeper understanding about what went wrong and how fast it can happen when you have incompetent people running the show. I thought it was funny with the difference in male and female ...more
One of the strengths of this book is that the author takes a broad perspective of what lead to the drama, what the causes were and how it relates to what was going on in the financial world more broadly at the time. A rather sad reading for someone from that island.
Won this on Goodreads, so I feel kind of bad I didn't finish it.
I read a few chapters and while I enjoyed adding to my near
non-existent knowledge of Iceland, I needed the financial info
to be fed to me on a more remedial basis.
I read a few chapters and while I enjoyed adding to my near
non-existent knowledge of Iceland, I needed the financial info
to be fed to me on a more remedial basis.
Christy Stewart
rated it
The book is an eye-opening approach to the current talking points of cable news. It's informative, interesting, and a bit scary.
I received this awhile ago from Goodreads giveaway. Finally got around to reading it.
It's not the easiest book to read as it describes all the players and the family links in the collapse of Iceland. If a small country like Iceland is such a tangled web then I imagine the US financial system is 1000 times bigger and 100 times as tangled. America's time will come, there is a limit to the world's faith in the almighty dollar and the power of the FED to control it.
End the FED!
It's not the easiest book to read as it describes all the players and the family links in the collapse of Iceland. If a small country like Iceland is such a tangled web then I imagine the US financial system is 1000 times bigger and 100 times as tangled. America's time will come, there is a limit to the world's faith in the almighty dollar and the power of the FED to control it.
End the FED!
So far this book's interesting. I loved the quick bit in the beginning about the world effects of the volcanic explosion in the late 1700's. Meltdown Iceland feels good in my hands; the paper and binding are great for the size. The writing style is easy to read.
Some interesting information to be had in this book, but hidden away in very drawn out text.
I won this in a giveaway here on Goodreads.
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