Meltdown Iceland

Meltdown Iceland: Lessons on the World Financial Crisis from a Small Bankrupt Island by Roger Boyes


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I'm not really much of a finance-wonk, but I was interested in this book because I visited Iceland the day the people threw out all the politicians who caused the nation's financial collapse and elected a whole new administration. And, knowing some Icelanders personally, I was interested to read what an "outsider" thought of the whole fiasco. (I also enjoyed references to places in Iceland that I've seen)

I was a bit worried that this book would be full of all kinds of boring financial stuff, but it was really interesting. The author really got into the *people* behind the collapse - what motivated them, what went wrong, etc. It really was fascinating - kind of like a soap opera! (Sadly, the results of the collapse were no fantasy...)

The author makes the point that seeing what happened in a small country (total population is just over 300,000) makes it easier to grasp what went wrong world-wide. And I have to say that I have a much better understanding of what caused the global financial collapse after reading this.

The book was short, and very easy to read - not dull or boring, which was a relief! Certainly, it's a niche market book, but anyone who is interested in understanding what happened, without having to wade through pages of graphs & numbers would get a lot out of this book. Plus you really get to understand the Icelandic psyche! So, I quite enjoyed it!

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