The Great Depression: A Diary - Benjamin Roth

[Liberty]

[amazonsearch]The Great Depression:  A Diary[/amazonsearch]

 

I'm about 1/3 of the way through, but I find it fascinating.

 

The diarist (is that a word?) is very interested in investing, so he notes a lot of things that should interest people here.

[Sea Island]

I read this and enjoyed it as well, its always amazing to find out that there is nothing new under the sun. A nice companion to that book is one titled, Our Mysterious Panics 1830-1930 by Collman which recounts the myraid of financial panics preceedding stock market crash of 1929

[tombgrt]

I read it as well. Thought it was a great read. Imo it can't hurt to get a good idea of extreme economic conditions and the emotions, financial consequences,.. that come with it.

[racemize]

This looks pretty good--I've been interested in getting an in depth view at financial/stock market history (e.g., in general, but particularly in the US).  I've already read a great deal about various different financial events/times via other investing books, but I would like one that goes through them all in some detail.  Is anyone aware of such a book or should I just read books regarding each individual event?

[saltybit]

Thanks for this recommendation. Great book, read and just finished.

[Ice77]

I read this book awhile back but keep thinking about it once in awhile when my mind turns very bearish. Definitely a very good book and a different one from the usual trope about the great depression which is mostly secondary research. This is a first person's account from someone who had good attention to detail and objectivity even in the face of extreme adversity.

[Cevian]

I loved this book. I've found one way to avoid revisionist history is to read letters, notes, diaries written in the time period you are interested in.

 

One recommend he makes (to himself) in his diary is always to keep extra cash. The trouble today is that I don't trust any fiat currency, hence gold has become the default go to position.

[thepupil]

I also really liked this book.

 

I read somewhere, however, that the accuracy is somewhat debatable and that it's possible to have been "tampered" with by the family that found the diary. I recall someone sayign it has several anachronisms in it.

 

Of course, I can't find where I read that now.

 

I really really liked the book though. Even if you told me it was 30% made up I wouldn't care. And since I can't actually find the article making those claims it could be 100% real after all.

[boilermaker75]

I had never heard of this book. So thanks for resurfacing this thread. It is now on my ever too long list of things to read. I need to retire or I'll never get through all the books on my list!

[Jurgis]

I had never heard of this book. So thanks for resurfacing this thread. It is now on my ever too long list of things to read. I need to retire or I'll never get through all the books on my list!

 

OT: I think Wait-But-Why had an interesting post about calculating maximums of things you can do before you die. Even assuming pretty generous numbers, the total number of books you can read before you die is not that high. Seriously crimps bookworm aspirations... I am sure I currently have more books than I'll be able to read before I die. Unless immortality happens on schedule. Go singularity!