I really don’t get my mentor. First, he highly recommends a book which essentially says most success in the markets is caused by randomness in the garb of specious mathematical models produced by MBAs who see invisible patterns where there are none. After I excitedly rush to Liberty to grab Fooled by Randomness for a whopping 2000 rupees, he hands me Pakistan Risk Review, which in his own words is: “…a dedicated periodical that quantifies the risk associated with Pakistani securities using a consistent, objective benchmark. ”

Consistent and objective? BENCHMARK!!!! Excuse me?

Is Jawwad losing it. The terrible loss of not having Nando’s close to his new office is perhaps too heavy for him to bear. That he is  deprived of the dripping seduction of the chocolate fudge cake might be causing this uncharacteristic lapse of reason. “Consistent and objective!!!” I panicked again. What should I do? Call the board? Talk to Fawzia?

I, of course, did none of the above. To drown the mounting concern over the well-being of my mentor, I picked up The Great War for Civilization to lift my mood. Not a good choice. Then, after a moment of deliberation, I picked up Pakistan Risk Review, hoping it would hold the soporfic magic of Business Recorder. SURPRISE!

It is actually an interesting and accessible read. While I’m inherently wary of “consistent and objective benchmarks”, I’ll leave that debate to Taleb and Jawwad. What PRR does provide is a rigorous analysis of Pakistani securities in language that any decent 10-grader can understand. Which ofcourse means that most bankers will struggle with it. For those of us with an interest in finance and the mind-bending volatility of Pakistani markets, Pakistan Risk Review is an interesting read.

If you write a polite email to Jawwad (jawwad -at- alchemya.com) expressing your undying interest in everything Risky (pun intended),  he will send you an executive summary of the inaugural issue of PRR.

-Adnan

My review for Confessions of an Economic Hitman.

This book was published in 2004. The housing bubble was 3 years away, and the credit crisis was unfathomable. The first couple of pages predict that the global financial system, based on greed and consumerism, is not sustainable. Like many other self-reflecting, informed individuals, Perkins saw it coming.

The book doesn’t state anything new or groundbreaking. The vagaries of US foreign policy, its blatant support for tyrants in Central America and the Middle East have been public knowledge for decades. What this book does offer, is a refreshing personal perspective. It’s a painfully honest, seemingly heartfelt confession. It recounts Perkins interactions with democratically elected leaders, who were vilified and/or assassinated by the US, when they had outlived their utility. He then puts this into the context of US corporate interest and some of the pieces of the puzzle start to fit together.

While this book has excellent substance, I do feel Perkins resorts to a bit of self-aggrandizement. Its unlikely NSA especially profiled him to become an “EHM” and that they would send a liaison deep in the rain forests of Ecuador to recruit a 24 year old Peace Corp volunteer. In some other cases, Perkins alludes to a secret hand helping things fall into place to keep him from singing, like getting the funding for his company, or landing that generous retainership. These claims seems a bit too fantastical to me, but then, he did operate in a strange, deceptive world.

Bottom-line:  Overall, it’s a 4-star book (knocked one down from my earlier rating). It was compelling enough for me to write my first Amazon book review. It’s engaging, honest and most importantly, takes solid aim at the US imperialism that has made the world increasingly polluted and unsafe. The reason it doesn’t deserve a 5 is grade inflation. I’ll keep my 5s for the likes of Robert Fisk, Malcolm Gladwell and Reza Aslan.