Why aren't they shouting?

 

The rise of the machines…….

I chose this book on Netgalley because I work in the industry and know that the norm on a trading floor is well, no trading floor as most people would imagine it. It’s more like Silicone Valley than Wall Street.

Author and FX Trader Kevin Rodgers delivers a witty, observant, memoir regaling a very long career in FX trading in London. The book begins in the heady days of ego, bravado, phone calls and shouting on a bustling trading floor and takes us to the future.  To the gentle tap tap tap of a keyboard under a set of large, blinking screens. It’s an interesting read detailing the development of technology within banking, along with snippets, funny moments, interviews, anecdotes and Kevin’s own predictions for the future as technology becomes King.

As technology moves faster than we can keep up with ‘Why Aren’t They Shouting?’ gives an underlying sense of risky, Skynet, type shinanigans; but were the old days really any better?

‘Why Aren’t They Shouting?’ is an acerbic account of a trader who was there before, during, and living after the change in the way bankers and traders work. There are lots of interviews and anecdotes from other people in the industry, but this is definitely Kevin’s tale to tell.

The perfect commuter read for any Dad in the finance business for Fathers Day!

The Book Jacket

“We’re all familiar with the screaming headlines: greedy bankers destroyed banking. But is it really as simple as that? Kevin Rodgers has his doubts, and in this fascinating inside account of the financial world over the past three decades, he explains why. Taking us from the days when traders still shouted their deals down the phone to the silent modern world of computer trading, he shows how, far more than the pursuit of personal gain, it has been the pursuit of ever-more sophisticated systems, algorithms and financial models that has undermined banking and made it chronically unstable. He also shows how, by their very nature, the computers on which modern finance now so completely depend are hopelessly ill-equipped to forestall a future crash. Both a very personal and evocative account of how banking has changed since the 1980s, and a masterclass in how it actually works, Why Aren’t They Shouting also offers a nuanced, if alarming, glimpse into its likely future.”

Read some pages here!