Durreen Shahnaz

Durreen Shahnaz does a beautiful job drawing us in to her life story. The first two thirds of the book have to do with her personal life and struggles. I found myself struggling to put the book down while reading this. I would have loved to learn more about her mother, and the other women in her life that inspired her.

Once the book became more about the economic models or the nuts and bolts of her attempts to reinvent finance then I struggled a bit. However this is no fault of Durreen since she does a wonderful job trying to simplify it for those of us who didn't study economics. I was cheering her on as she stuck to her ideals of not changing the name of the bond to make it more palatable to others who are uncomfortable when women are involved.

I appreciated the list at the end summarizing what a defiant optimist can be. I only wish that she would have let us know how we could support the bonds she created. Perhaps share more practical ways we can invest as defiant optimists. I would recommend this book for anyone who is daring to fight against inequality and daring to be an optimist during these difficult times.… (meer)