Iain M. Banks: Matter

The latest Culture novel from the Scottish genius of modern literature. Sadly this one didn't do it for me. While Banks creativity and imagination are still there the plot just didn't take off until the closing chapter of the book by which time there was no space left to do anything more than a pretty shoddy wrapping up of loose ends. Dissapointing.

The Day the Bubble Burst: A Social History of The Wall Street Crash of 1929 by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts

Absolutely Brilliant. I bought this 29 year old book for 50c in a jumble sale thinking the account of the 1929 financial disaster might resonate with events of today but to be honest the parallels with today are irrelevant. This is a book about people: big people, little people, heroes and crooks all caught up the frenzies of greed, hope and despair that were Wallstreet in 1929. Thomas and Morgan-Witts meticulously researched book tells their stories and it is an absolutely compelling read. Highly reccommended.