This book offers an insiders look at the foreign exchange market—from tourists downloading currency from ATMs to interbank traders and the clearing and settlement systems that keep things running smoothly. It also describes recent events—the launch of the Euro, the Russian default, etc. The book targets laymen or, perhaps, MBA students, but it achieves a surprising depth for such an audience.

The author adopts a unique semi-fictionalized approach that has him embarking on a personal project to learn about the foreign exchange marketplace. This has him interviewing bankers, traders and other professionals. He looks over their shoulders as they do their jobs and asks questions along the way. As he learns, so do we.

Much of the book comprises stylized dialogs with professionals the author meets along the way. These can slow the pace of the book at points, but they also allow the author to rapidly achieve a degree of depth in topics—just as you might in an actual interview with a trader or payments specialist.

The author is an economics professor, and the practical world of finance is miles removed from the ivory towers of economics. He is learning as the readers do. When a dealer confides that she bases her own trades on technical analysis, the author diligently communicates this as if it were gospel truth. More likely, the dealer makes gobs of money off idiots who trade off technical analysis, and she manipulated the author into further promoting the practice.