Commercial-bank

The Hungry Ocean is a beautiful book for what it says about the love of the sea. A 30-day sword fishing voyage, Linda Greenlaw provides the details of one memorable event searching for big game fish in the waters off Newfoundland. What I admire about this book is that The Hungry Ocean gives an informative look at the typical routine of a successful fishing voyage, unlike so many other accounts that tell of disasters of the sea. This book is complete with a variety of heart pounding moments that will keep you from setting it aside. Linda and her Crew must battle the savage weather that comes upon them, equipment failure, too few fish, and many sharks! Best of all Linda brings life to her characters by including their arguments and jokes they play on one another. "They are so colorful they could have been ripped from the pages of Moby Dick"(summary behind the book). The excitement starts fast so don't misjudge this thrilling page-turner for what you have seen so far. Come right on the deck of the Hannah Boden and learn more about the fishermen in this book, which you will encounter in the "Mug Ups" pages. Reading this will not only allow you to gain the experience the journey has to offer, it'll have you to realize a women succeeding at the highest level in one of the most dangerous professions there are. Finishing this book enables fishermen like myself to dream of being in that adventure, and it helped me to be more determined in life regarding difficult situations I must go through. Read this book and see how Linda contends with her difficult obstacles in life, and in the treacherous sea.

The Hungry Ocean is a fascinating account of "fisherman" Linda Greenlaw's month long journey as swordfish captain of the Hannah Boden, fishing in the Grand Banks. Linda sates, "I have taken life and living from the sea, and have given the same back, I suppose. .." The Hannah Boden was sister ship to the ill-fated Andrea Gail, the subject of Sebastian Junger's book, The Perfect Strom.

I find Linda's chosen profession remarkable and her writing reflects her passion and her deep love of the sea. Linda's poetic musings will surely gain her numerous fans. Her bravery, knowledge, and tenacity combine to help Linda succeed where others have failed. I found her musings of past voyages insightful and often funny, if not incredibly real and down to earth. She describes her crew and the hours of toil it takes to make a living from the sea, but I glimmered her respect of the power upon which she traveled. "The ocean which gives so much takes back what it needs, commanding respect and getting if form those who have seen and understand the hunger."

I thoroughly recommend this book, even if one is NOT into fishing! But if you love the sea in any which way, like I do, I guarantee that you will be awed and come away with a new found respect of fishmen - I know that I did. I lived in Gloucester, the homeport of the Hannah Boden, but never understood the life of a fisherman - now I do.

Wonderful book - now on to read The Perfect Storm!

I actually could not put this book down--I read it in one day. It provides a vicarious experience of a truly unique profession. Totally engrossing.

Not a bad report of what took place although the topic could be a bit dry for the average reader. The dust jacket tries to make the book out to be a bit sexier then it really is. The authors do a good job or moving the story along but I did expect more from Beaty. I think what is interesting is some of the same move movement issues covered within the book are now coming to the forefront with the current crack down on terrorists. If you are interested in the topic of international banking then this book will be interesting.

While most analyses of BCCI saw it as a banking scandal, Beaty and Gwynne correctly understood and colorfully present its true nature: as the deepest and most detailed glimpse anyone has so far had into the real workings of the underground economy. Their findings, which have never been challenged or refuted, have only grown more urgent with time. This book will not only tell you where Osama-types come from, it will tell you how and why they can thrive -- or not. That it was written before anyone knew who bin Laden was makes it all that more extraordinary.

A rigourously detailed, cited, and sad indictment on one of the most significant domestic issues in recent U.S.A. history. Read how the bankers and politicians saw it coming, but instead of prevention, deliberatly increased the magnitude of the crisis to a level of such massive debt, that the American public would be forced to flip the bill instead of the criminals who are at fault.

Commercial Bank Financial Management is considered as an informative and a comprehensive guide for both experts in the field and novice alike. Although it is a good read, I find the content of the book is a little bit out-of-date. There is not enough information on electronic banking persective as it is very important in today's banking world.

This book published by the (Richard Mellon Scaife funded) Cato Institute is in fact dedicated to perpetuating world poverty through "Free Trade" aimed at causing the destruction of the Nation State and insuring that even the idea of the Nation State is not allowed to exist. What this book secretly advocates is world slavery. What ever do the author/editors believe the United States was fighting against in the Revolutionary War against King George's British Empire. Don't they understand that America was fighting British Empire "Free Trade" aimed at stealing raw materials from the colonies, forcing them to buy British manufactured goods, thereby forcing the colonies to remain backward and undeveloped, just as England does today with their "colonies" in Africa. This book is the very dark "shadow of the glove" and purely propaganda.

I found this to be a cogent analysis of the two organizations in question, particularly in light of the recent turmoil they've caused in East Asia and Russia.

Through this book, we see that the IMF and the World Bank were making mischief abroad long before their more recent, more well publicized disasters. The word disaster is particularly appropriate in Indonesia; I hesitate to guess how many decades the country has been set back as a result of the IMF/World Bank meddling. For a good analysis, see books by Steve Hanke, such as _The Revolution in Development Economics_. Some of his articles are available on forbes.com.

I'd like to see an updated version of the book, to take into account the more recent boondoggles. The sad thing is that they not only have wasted billions of dollars, but often have left the recipients worse off than they were to begin with. The administrators of the organizations, of course, are living high on the hog all the while (to any IMF/World Bank top dogs who've recently taken a vow of poverty, my apologies), even as they're effectively impoverishing millions.

Youre feeding a monster which doesn't care about people. It exists to perpetuate the corrupt oppressive and plain incompetent governments of various nations by bailing them out continuously. If you wanted to feed an african family would you buy them grain and tools or would you send the money to their rulers (with a couple of feeble conditions) and pretty much let them do what they like with it? The IMF is a power brokers dream, leeching funds from everyone and being accountable to none.

The previous readers precious nation states and their statists are the enemies of individual liberty, they are to blame - and we for letting them get away with it.

A good book, enough to make you think twice when you next hear about the billions pledged for this or that project which never seems to actually help anyone except global politicians.

This book provides a good basic reading material which would be useful to get a first sight of valuing a commercial bank. However, for practicioners, it seems that the book is not deep enough to answer "why" questions and not technical enough in providing enough "bullets" to be used in the real world. For me it's dissapointing, since my colleague recommends it highly.

As someone who has followed the bank merger game for quite some time I found this book to be an excellent read. It discusses in detail how to properly go about valuing the various peculiar assets of a bank such as deposits. It also goes in depth on how the various valuation methods differ from each other. It was a valuable guide to help me determine the fair value of merger candidates in the 90's bank merger boom. I suggest it to anyone who invests in bank stocks.

I haven't read this book either - I'm just replying to another poster's question.

I looked into it: according to 'The Culture Faq', "This book was written by 'an' Iain Banks but not by 'our' Iain Banks". :)

What exactly is up here? Is this the same Iain M. Banks? I suspect a mistake has been made.

Maybe if you remember this man, Sidona, you might better understand his plight than I did.

The first part of this book is wall to wall confusion, reading like the Italian yellow pages. There are also many quotes in Italian, and these might help aspiring linguists, like me. Otherwise, only a few stalwarts will wade through this first half of the book.

Later, in the second half of the book, the pace picks up some, when Mr. (Signore?) Sidona finally gets caught by the law's so-called long arm. Mr. Tosches originally approached Sidona about a book after his fall from grace, while he was "resting" in an Italian prison. Tosches keeps the ball of Sidona up in the air for a little bit longer, with this book, but maybe Sidona's ball deserves to just fall and come to a final resting point.

I say this because, after all, Sidona wanted to play fast and loose, he took his inherent gifts (he was good with numbers, well educated and an avvocatto, a lawyer, and apparently was a personable sort of fellow with all the contacts he had), but what did he do with these talents? Well, he tried to aggrandize himself, and is this any new story? He ran with the wolves and he paid the price, end of story.

Thanks to Nick Tosches for keeping the ball in the air a little longer. This helps the generations following Sidona and his age cohorts to understand the crazy world which precedes them, like a bad reputation. Diximus.

The exploits of the late international financial magus, Michele Sindona would seem ,indeed, to lend themselves to an explosive expose if not a fascinating, in-depth biography. The "vita" of Michele Sindona comprises alleged associations with a Pope, a President, a Prime Minister or two; numerous world-class bankers; the head of Italy's underground government, P-2; and chiefs of the Sicilian Mafia, the international OCTOPUS of organized crime. Sindona begins in Milan as a tax lawyer in 1948. A decade later, he supposedly controls its stock market and the value of the Italian lira. By 1964 he has formed MONEYREX. This was an awesome currency speculation machine with which PLAYERS could make vast amounts of loot manipulating money rates and Organized Crime...perhaps...laundered billions in rackets-acquired profits (particularly a Golden Triangle-based heroin trade). On the way Sindona himself became the richest man since Marcus Licinius Crassus (owner of silver mines from which Roman specie was minted near the time of the Fall of the Roman Republic) and a dark predecessor to Bill Gates as...briefly...the wealthiest man in the world. Avvocato Sindona's "fortuna" peaks in 1979 when he is indicted (69-99 counts; but whose counting?)in the US for misappropriation of bank funds; collusion in numerous fraud schemes and perjury. The assassination of Italian prosecutor Giorgio Ambrosoli...through wicked offices of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra...lands him in a maximum security prison in Italy. On the morning of March 22, 1986,in Voghera Prison, Sindona dies of cyanide poisoning; whether the coup de grace was murder or suicide no one...including Mr. Tosches... can say with certainty. This is the problem with the book. Myriads of facts, myths, fairy-tales and "fronting" fiction comprise POWER ON EARTH. The reader is getting "the kitchen sink", along with dozens of names, acronyms (of GOOD GUY/BAD GUY & UGLY GUY organizations)and plots within plots that make FOCUS impossible. Tosches could easily have focused on Sindona's...allegedly juicy...role with IOR, the Vatican Bank. Or his heist of the Franklin Bank in New York...the 18th largest bank in the US.. and the subsequent crash. His relation with Roberto Calvi...the man allegedly assassinated in London by Masons for embezzlement; his alliance with Licio Gelli...Maestro Venerabile... of "Propaganda Due" the P-2 Masonic Lodge; or perhaps Stefano Bonate, Chief of the Scilian Mafia. The most illuminating part of the book is chapter 6, "SYSTEMS OF EVIL" where Sindona gives a glimmer of an explanation (pp.86-97)of how criminal...especially drug...money is laundered using numbered accounts, "ghost" banks, shell-company real-estate and currency speculation/manipulation. Francis Ford Coppola "modeled" the sinister P-2/Mafia chieftain "Lucchese" in Godfather III on Sindona (and Gelli). It's said that Ian Fleming concocted his arch-criminal, Ernst Stavro Blofeld from a brew of Sindona and several extremely dangerous Sicilian Mafiosi (SPECTRE's signum was THE OCTOPUS). What's clear is that...disappointingly...the reach of Michele Sindona far exceeds the grasp of journalist Tosches. Though he claims, for two years, to have interviewed the man whom he dramatically calls "The Devil" (chapter I: THE THREE BEASTS), POWER ON EARTH reads like a draft rather than a finished product. When the author reaches for unnecessary literary effects, the results are silly and occasionally baffling. They are unecessary. Sindona was a fascinating, brilliant and no doubt dangerous man. Two of his favorite authors were Machiavelli and Nietzsche. Sindona himself seems to have lived and died BEYOND GOOD and EVIL. Sindona's true story will probably never be written. But I contend that POWER ON EARTH...though not a bad effort...is merely a spring-board to something more astute and incisive. "Behind great fortune...is great crime"; this axiom may be the clue to stories about men like Michele Sindona. It seems an accurate ...if cliched...key to the door of POWER ON EARTH.