Geraint Anderson

Interesting (if perhaps slightly dated) look into the world of banking in London. I didn't like the unconscious sexism, racism and homophobia that came through - while Anderson mentions all of those topics at some stage, his writing betrays a lack of true insight. I found it a bit difficult to reconcile his distaste for the 'profession' given how he seemed to throw himself fully into the lifestyle without question. Still, interesting look into a job where you (if you're a white, educated male, that is) can eary obscene amounts of money doing nothing of worth.… (meer)

Fictionalised account of his time as a worker in The City of London. Vivid and inventive use of expletives which becomes a bit repetitive. But the book is mostly interesting for his complete condemnation of the whole City shebang. All you ever thought about it was right; it is parasitic and only about making money, for the city types. The city he experienced was dominated by men, and their depraved appetites is what he uses to gain friends.
His argument that there is not a scrap of genuine knowledge in the City is somewhat undermined by his acquisition, later in the book, of a "brilliant" analyst, who does seem to be able to see the future.
It is a very moralistic book, he frequently ends his descriptions with an outright condemnation of what he has described. He regularly contrasts what he is doing with the honest job done by his father. He explores all the vices, although avoids personal involvement with the nastier sex and comments that his grandfather was a missionary.
Money has become an object in itself. The activities of the companies and of the people employed are of no account to the spider monitoring the signals from his web's threads.… (meer)