Signals: How Everyday Signs Can Help Us Navigate the World's Turbulent EconomyAudiobook review by Paul Fiander
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Written by: Pippa Malmgren
Narrated by: Pippa Malmgren Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins Publisher: Orion Publishing Group Limited |
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Why Should I.…Listen to Signals: How Everyday Signs Can Help Us Navigate the World's Turbulent Economy
In recent times popular science titles have become ubiquitous in bookshops. The movement to make sometimes complex subjects more accessible had allowed readers a window into science that can only benefit the discipline. Signals follows on in this vein by creating a popular Economics title that uses real world situations to help explain principles on the global economy. Dr Pippa Malmgren writes and narrates the title, this allows her to emphasise particular points which she does with a regularity that you probably would not get from a hired narrator. Her experience both on a professional and personal help to give the book some weight. There is an element of told you so but as you will find out she lived by her convictions. |
Review
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I enjoy economics, there I said it. I only studied the subject at A-Level but nonetheless I found it captivating. Thankfully the maths took second place to the theory but it is a passion I still enjoy to today. Of course the subject can be dry but thanks to my tutor and the gents at Freakonomics I have seen a more approachable side of the discipline. In this vein Dr Pippa Malmgren takes an accessible look at the world of global economics with the help of Signals.
Signals are events both big and small that give indications as to the financial climate of the time. The real selling point of these though have to be the way they actually represent themselves in the real world. From Lipsticks to Dinner Plates, Dress Skirts to Formula One teams the way these objects highlight patterns is complex but ultimately understandable. I found myself nodding on a regular basis as Malmgren goes through each example by firstly explaining the way they appeared in the world and then looking at the theory. |
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This pattern of presentation helps to give each idea an understandable basis, if it was all abstract then it could be harder to grasp. This is especially true in the later chapters where we get to look at principles of innovation (where the F1 comes in). The Lipstick principle is one of the easiest and most understandable within in the book and it goes something like this; No matter what financial state people find themselves in there are some staples of fashion that always remain and one of these is the essential make up product for most women. The whole story revolves around British Vogue and is quite lengthy but ultimately the magazine ran a cover with a naked model who was wearing a rather obvious shade of Lipstick. It’s a subtle sign but the choice of a fashion magazine to highlight issues in their industry while maintaining the use of Make Up was telling to the author if not the larger world.
The fact it is the author narrating this book adds to its impact, the emphasis she adds to ideas and stories are something you do not get from some professional narrators. Of course it helps that she knows the book inside and out and also knows what she wants to convey with each sentence. Her voice is easy to listen to and thankfully there are no audio issues throughout the performance. The are quite a lot of quotes contained throughout the book from Edison to Greenspan. Each is used to emphasise a point and none seem added for filler. Again these additions speak to a more popular audience as the quotes are not academic in context.
With regards to the book presented as an Audiobook I happy to report it works astonishingly well. Thanks to its lack of obsession with graphs and tables which you find more often than associated with Economics, the lack of visual reference material does not debilitate the experience. More so however is the way the author express her ideas through everyday objects that we mostly all know though one or two may be a little foreign to some readers. This is the trump card of the presentation as at no time did I think “I wish I could see what she is talking about”.
If you are new to.the world of.Economics then signals is a nice stepping stone into the world. It lacks equations and Dr Malgrem’s ideas are easy you follow throughout. The ideas contained though should speak to those with a working knowledge of the subject as well. Having a different studying to your analytical now can only benefit you and with Signals you get an intriguing look into the world of Global Economics.
The fact it is the author narrating this book adds to its impact, the emphasis she adds to ideas and stories are something you do not get from some professional narrators. Of course it helps that she knows the book inside and out and also knows what she wants to convey with each sentence. Her voice is easy to listen to and thankfully there are no audio issues throughout the performance. The are quite a lot of quotes contained throughout the book from Edison to Greenspan. Each is used to emphasise a point and none seem added for filler. Again these additions speak to a more popular audience as the quotes are not academic in context.
With regards to the book presented as an Audiobook I happy to report it works astonishingly well. Thanks to its lack of obsession with graphs and tables which you find more often than associated with Economics, the lack of visual reference material does not debilitate the experience. More so however is the way the author express her ideas through everyday objects that we mostly all know though one or two may be a little foreign to some readers. This is the trump card of the presentation as at no time did I think “I wish I could see what she is talking about”.
If you are new to.the world of.Economics then signals is a nice stepping stone into the world. It lacks equations and Dr Malgrem’s ideas are easy you follow throughout. The ideas contained though should speak to those with a working knowledge of the subject as well. Having a different studying to your analytical now can only benefit you and with Signals you get an intriguing look into the world of Global Economics.
Review copy and Cover Image courtesy of Publisher
