Beginning with the dim prehistory of the mythical gods and their descendants, Heimskringla recounts the history of the kings of Norway through the reign of Olaf Haraldsson, who became Norway's patron saint. Once found in most homes and schools and still regarded as a national treasure, Heimskringla influenced the thinking and literary style of Scandinavia over several centuries.
[Audio CASSETTE Library Edition in vinyl case] Called by H. L. Mencken, one of the few economists in history who could really write, Henry Hazlitt achieved lasting fame for this brilliant but concise work. In it, he explains basic truths about economics and the economic fallacies responsible for unemployment, inflation, high taxes, and recession. Covering considerable ground, Hazlitt illustrates the destructive effects of taxes, rent and price controls, inflation, trade restrictions, and minimum-wage laws. He also writes about key classical liberal thinkers like John Locke, Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, John Stuart Mill, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Herbert Spencer.
This classic text is annotated to update Graham's timeless wisdom for today's market conditions... The greatest investment advisor of the twentieth century, Benjamin Graham, taught and inspired people worldwide. Graham's philosophy of "value investing" -- which shields investors from substantial error and teaches them to develop long-term strategies -- has made The Intelligent Investor the stock market bible ever since its original publication in 1949. Over the years, market developments have proven the wisdom of Graham's strategies. While preserving the integrity of Graham's original text, this revised edition includes updated commentary by noted financial journalist Jason Zweig, whose perspective incorporates the realities of today's market, draws parallels between Graham's examples and today's financial headlines, and gives readers a more thorough understanding of how to apply Graham's principles. Vital and indispensable, this HarperBusiness Essentials edition of The Intelligent Investor is the most important book you will ever read on how to reach your financial goals.
The classic history of the political and economic devastation wrought by runaway inflation in Weimar Germany—“brilliant” (Guardian) In 1923, with its currency effectively worthless (the exchange rate in December of that year was one dollar to 4,200,000,000,000 marks), the German republic was all but reduced to a barter economy. Expensive cigars, artworks, and jewels were routinely exchanged for staples such as bread; a cinema ticket could be bought for a lump of coal; and a bottle of paraffin for a silk shirt. People watched helplessly as their life savings disappeared and their loved ones starved. Germany's finances descended into chaos, with severe social unrest in its wake. Money may no longer be physically printed and distributed in the voluminous quantities of 1923. However, "quantitative easing," that modern euphemism for surreptitious deficit financing in an electronic era, can no less become an assault on monetary discipline. Whatever the reason for a country's deficit— necessity or profligacy, unwillingness to tax or blindness to expenditure—it is beguiling to suppose that if the day of reckoning is postponed economic recovery will come in time to prevent higher unemployment or deeper recession. What if it does not? Germany in 1923 provides a vivid, compelling, sobering moral tale.
Ethereum represents the gateway to a worldwide, decentralized computing paradigm. This platform enables you to run decentralized applications (DApps) and smart contracts that have no central points of failure or control, integrate with a payment network, and operate on an open blockchain. With this practical guide, Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Gavin Wood provide everything you need to know about building smart contracts and DApps on Ethereum and other virtual-machine blockchains. Discover why IBM, Microsoft, NASDAQ, and hundreds of other organizations are experimenting with Ethereum. This essential guide shows you how to develop the skills necessary to be an innovator in this growing and exciting new industry. * Run an Ethereum client, create and transmit basic transactions, and program smart contracts * Learn the essentials of public key cryptography, hashes, and digital signatures * Understand how "wallets" hold digital keys that control funds and smart contracts * Interact with Ethereum clients programmatically using JavaScript libraries and Remote Procedure Call interfaces * Learn security best practices, design patterns, and anti-patterns with real-world examples * Create tokens that represent assets, shares, votes, or access control rights * Build decentralized applications using multiple peer-to-peer (P2P) components
Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with towering questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is Ayn Rand’s magnum opus: a philosophical revolution told in the form of an action thriller—nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read. Who is John Galt? When he says that he will stop the motor of the world, is he a destroyer or a liberator? Why does he have to fight his battles not against his enemies but against those who need him most? Why does he fight his hardest battle against the woman he loves? You will know the answer to these questions when you discover the reason behind the baffling events that play havoc with the lives of the amazing men and women in this book. You will discover why a productive genius becomes a worthless playboy...why a great steel industrialist is working for his own destruction...why a composer gives up his career on the night of his triumph...why a beautiful woman who runs a transcontinental railroad falls in love with the man she has sworn to kill. Atlas Shrugged, a modern classic and Rand’s most extensive statement of Objectivism—her groundbreaking philosophy—offers the reader the spectacle of human greatness, depicted with all the poetry and power of one of the twentieth century’s leading artists.
Written in the same year that he testified before the Currency Commission in Austria-Hungary, and published in English in 1892, Carl Menger explains that it is not government edicts that create money but instead the marketplace. Individuals decide what the most marketable good is for use as a medium of exchange. “Man himself is the beginning and the end of every economy,” Menger wrote, and so it is with deciding what is to be traded as money."Money has not been generated by law. In its origin it is a social, and not a state institution. Sanction by the authority of the state is a notion alien to it. "This is the first time this essay has been in print in more than a century!Introduction by Doug French
Hard-Boiled Egg Index is a true story on the struggles Kudzai Gumunyu and most Zimbabweans went through during the record- and heart-breaking hyper-inflationary period in Zimbabwe. Though saddening, the story is told in a humorous and vivid way detailing how Kudzai had to adjust to the effects of economic meltdown. Zimbabwe's inflation rate reached a mind-boggling 89.7 sextillion percent by 2008 and US$1 was worth 3 nonillion Zimbabwean dollars had the Central Bank not debased the currency three times with twenty-five zeros. The ZWD100 trillion became the highest denomination on the planet. Before the crazily denominated notes, money was being carried in wheelbarrows and grain bags and the purchased item in your hand due to rapid loss of value. Every day became a struggle from shortages of foodstuffs, collapse of services, bank queues, as well a salary that could not keep up with inflation. The writer also gives the life and economic lessons learned, which can be useful to other countries navigating similar economic minefields. It ends with a positive outlook for the country and the hope that the Jewel of Africa (Zimbabwe) will sparkle again given its educated and competent human capital, abundant and rich mineral fields, tourist attractions, rich agricultural lands aided by a favorable climate, as well as, recently, a change of leadership.
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This is the classic exposé of the Fed that has become one of the best-selling books in its category of all time. Where does money come from? Where does it go? Who makes it? The money magician's secrets are unveiled. Here is a close look at their mirrors and smoke machines, the pulleys, cogs, and wheels that create the grand illusion called money. A boring subject? Just wait. You'll be hooked in five minutes. It reads like a detective story - which it really is, but it's all true. This book is about the most blatant scam of history. It's all here: the cause of wars, boom-bust cycles, inflation, depression, prosperity. Your world view will definitely change. Putting it quite simply, this may be the most important book on world affairs you will ever read. The 5th Edition includes a no-holds barred analysis of bank bailouts that are shown to be nothing less than legalized plunder of the people. Many other updates have been added, including a revision to the list of those who attended the historic meeting at Jekyll Island where the Federal Reserve was created.
A top cybersecurity journalist tells the story behind the virus that sabotaged Iran’s nuclear efforts and shows how its existence has ushered in a new age of warfare—one in which a digital attack can have the same destructive capability as a megaton bomb. “Immensely enjoyable . . . Zetter turns a complicated and technical cyber story into an engrossing whodunit.”—The Washington Post The virus now known as Stuxnet was unlike any other piece of malware built before: Rather than simply hijacking targeted computers or stealing information from them, it proved that a piece of code could escape the digital realm and wreak actual, physical destruction—in this case, on an Iranian nuclear facility. In these pages, journalist Kim Zetter tells the whole story behind the world’s first cyberweapon, covering its genesis in the corridors of the White House and its effects in Iran—and telling the spectacular, unlikely tale of the security geeks who managed to unravel a top secret sabotage campaign years in the making. But Countdown to Zero Day also ranges beyond Stuxnet itself, exploring the history of cyberwarfare and its future, showing us what might happen should our infrastructure be targeted by a Stuxnet-style attack, and ultimately, providing a portrait of a world at the edge of a new kind of war.
Anthony Pompliano writes 65 letters to his children with inspiring lessons on how to succeed in business, have great relationships, do well with money, and live a healthier and happier life. What does it take to make the most of what really matters (and to know what that is before it passes you by)? To overcome obstacles that set most people back (and to see them coming beforehand)? To flourish not just financially – but also in your family, free time, and the world of business? What does it take to live an extraordinary life? The answers will surprise you. Anthony Pompliano has lived in a war zone, met and interviewed the world's wealthiest people, built and sold companies, invested in more than 200 businesses, formed friendships around the globe, started a loving family, and found happiness. Along the way, he has kept a personal list of the lessons he has learned. Now, in How to Live an Extraordinary Life, he writes 65 letters to his children laying out each lesson and how he learned it, and explaining how it can be applied by anyone in their life today. The result is a compelling collection of practical and inspiring life strategies that anyone can use to build an extraordinary life. You will find unique advice about using your childhood as a chisel, understanding that luck is not real, living your life as a documentary, developing unshakable resilience, becoming a happier person, and much, much more. Most importantly, Anthony shows that an extraordinary life is within reach for anyone who wants it. You can start right now.