“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies... The man who never reads lives only one.”
- George R.R. Martin.
On this International Book Giving Day, we’ve looked at a handful of fincrime titles you should consider gifting (if only to yourself), along with a few bonus book recommendations from Napierians across the world.
Butler to the world - Oliver Bullough
Rating: 4.4/5 stars on Amazon
A follow up to Moneyland, Oliver Bullough’s Butler to the World unveils how Britain has become a world centre of money laundering and financial crime.
Oliver Bullough’s Butler to the World is a “highly readable but thoroughly depressing” analysis of Britain’s role in enabling a “shadowy global super-rich” to “launder and hide their vast fortunes”- The Week
The Lucky Laundry - Nathan Lynch
Rating: 4.5/5 stars on Amazon
Nathan Lynch exposes the weaknesses in Australia’s approaches to money laundering and explains how dirty money flows through casinos, infiltrates real estate, and seeps into big business and the very top of government.
Very Bad People: The Inside Story of the Fight Against the World’s Network of Corruption – Patrick Alley
Rating: 4.3/5 stars on Amazon
‘You’ll sit in boardrooms of multinational companies...you’ll travel with our sometimes quirky, sometimes maverick investigators … you’ll see what it’s like to tread the corridors of power.’
This book tells the story of an authoritative and fearless undercover investigation that follows dirty money across the world. The case-by-case accounts unravel crooked deals, offshore accounts, warlords, and the ‘shadow networks’ that enable them.
Napier picks
Georgia Walker – Marketing assistant
This Changes Everything- Naomi Klein
This Changes Everything is provocative, turning the tides on our view of the economy's role in climate change and featuring capitalism as the villain of this story. Can we change the world before the world is no longer salvageable?
Klein brings new perspectives to the role of humanity in overcoming climate challenges, and changed my opinion on the role large companies MUST play in making a difference.
Anna Taylor- People business partner
Night Shift – Stephen King
Night shift is a collection of short horror plus altered reality stories. Everything isn’t quite as it seems, making for somewhat uncomfortable reading. You never know what’s going to happen next.
I love this book as it’s so easy to dip in and out of. As someone who is dyslexic and can find reading very time-consuming and quite daunting, collections are perfect for me. Additionally, it provides great escapism for me as a horror addict (you are also thankful you don’t live in that universe).
Delia Coggan- Global head of transformation & strategic initiatives
24 Assets - Daniel Priestly
This book was suggested by a consultant I was working with a few years ago, when we started to scale the Napier professional services organisation, and it inspired me to develop our "Napier implementation methodology". It continues to provide inspiration, I believe, for people across Napier, as we build our valuable assets.
Mikael Sedera- Customer success manager
Mykonos and Athena – A Furry Tale - Gary Stolkin
Mykonos and Athena – A Furry Tale is a gentle and beautiful story of how two stray cats on the Greek island of Mykonos are rescued, how they adapt to their new lives in London - and each other - and the significant impact their arrival has on their owner Harry.
A must-read for anyone who has loved a pet more than they love people.
Helen Marsden- Head of content
Lessons in Chemistry- Bonnie Garmus
This one straddles International Day of Women and Girls in Science last weekend and International Book Giving Day today. Elizabeth Zott, a brilliant, tenacious and courageous scientist in 1960s America isn't allowed the academic career in chemistry she craves. What she IS allowed is a TV cookery show, so she takes it upon herself to teach the women of the US chemistry through cooking. She demonstrates how a vital practical task is underpinned by rigorous and complex thought and study - exactly as it is here at Napier.
Dr. Janet Bastiman- Chief data scientist
Axiomatic- Greg Egan
A collection of near future science fiction stories written in 1995 that still feel possible, all exploring different aspects not only of the ethics of scientific progress but also the sense of self and what it really means to be human. As short stories with shared concepts that remove the need for over-explaining the science, each stands alone as a thought-provoking journey into how the future could be and whether we are really prepared for life-altering scientific advances.
I read this book on release and found some of the stories very moving and disturbing at the same time. It really helped shape my perspective on the impact of science and ethical dilemma in a way that university lectures and textbooks never could. I particularly enjoyed "Learning to be me" in which a young person is struggling with the concept of moving from their organic brain to a machine version to give them effective immortality. It's a great book if you are open to having your thinking challenged.
John Gibbens- IT governance process manager
The Order of Time -Carlo Rovelli
The most devastating book possible. Rovelli manages to dumb down quantum physics and the time / space conundrum to a level where even I can understand it, and it’s written with sparkle, contagious wonder and enthusiasm.
I have read (or listened) to this book over a dozen times and am still getting to grips with its astonishing implications and conclusions, and yet... it’s also like being reminded about something you didn’t realise you had forgotten.
Shana Leyva- Head of marketing, Americas
The Overstory- Richard Powers
The Overstory is a powerful and overwhelming work about the interconnectedness of our world, through an exposition on trees (yes, trees).
I’m an avid fiction reader and this book stands out as unique and unexpected in that it altered my perspective on the world around me, and created a newfound gratitude for the organic systems that exist in nature but often go ignored. I challenge anyone to read this book and not be changed by it.
Also Checkout : 9 books that will change the way you think about financial crime
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