Читать книгу Dinosaur Derivatives and Other Trades - Josse Jeremy - Страница 6

My first acknowledgment for a book like this really goes to the finance profession itself. It is a very old profession that is at once fascinating and engaging, yet suffers from a perennial existential crisis – what is the point of it all? But for this dichotomy, the book would simply not have been possible. I suppose this conflict can be said of many things in life, but it seems to me to be particularly acute in the finance world. I could not have committed (nor continue to commit) myself for so long to this industry if it were not compelling and important. Equally, it would be disingenuous not to recognize the periodic absurdities of the whole undertaking. It is therefore, the very nature of finance itself that engendered the issues touched on in this book – hence I am thankful to the industry for that.

However, my first human acknowledgment must go to Ed Claflin. Ed is nominally referred to as my agent, but he has been much more than that to me. Ed reviewed every word of the book numerous times and there is not a single paragraph that he did not have some impact on. He is also a long-time master of the publishing industry (another puzzling business), a wise old bird and he has carefully advised me on all aspects of the book's production. In the course of this process, Ed has also become a personal friend.

Ed introduced me to the Wiley publishing team and they too have been huge supporters and enablers of this book. First and foremost, I refer to Thomas Hyrkiel, who from the beginning became the book's sponsor and pushed it through all the way from contract to final production. Thomas, like Ed, saw the potential at an early stage and he too has become a friend.

Thomas has been supported by a fine team at Wiley, including Jennie Kitchen, Sam Hartley, Ben Hall, Heather Dunphy, Lucy Valantine and others, all of whom have played their critical role in the production process.

There are also those who made meaningful contributions to the content of the book from a research perspective. In particular, I must thank Craig Zabala of the Concorde Group for multiple reasons. Craig is a fighter, an entrepreneur and a true friend. He provided both financial and practical support for the book. In addition, his leading contributions to our joint research into the shadow banking sector had direct bearing on specific parts of the book. There are others to thank here, including, inter alia: Jeremy Rosen for his insights into the antique laws of usury; Viraj Parekh for taking out some weekend time to research various aspects of the book; Jason Shela for establishing media and PR support for the book; Daniel Perez for his last minute corrections; my friend Ron (whose real name must remain unsaid) for his insight into the tortuous nature of fraud; to Graham Arader for his unique knowledge of the antique map market; and even to some of my old Oxford and London philosophy and economics tutors for helping me to think, at least occasionally, in a curious way.

Finally, there are the thanks to family. Some may think this last type of acknowledgment is the stock sentimentality seen in all book acknowledgments. However you only have to write one of these books to realize the real burden it puts on your family. It is both a time and an emotional burden and they have all borne it with incredible equanimity – my boys, Noam, Yonah and Gabriel, but above all, my ever-patient and supportive wife, my pillar – Muriel.