The book is intended as an accessible and provocative text for professionals as well as an introduction to the subject for generalist readers who require or would like to gain an insight into the functioning of the system. The book is divided into three parts: 1) The recent history and the financial crisis, including hot topics such as derivatives, high frequency trading, and investment banking. This section in particular is written from the perspective of a successful practitioner and tries to provide clarity on some complex and very politicized elements of the banking system. 2) The debt market, monetary policies and quantitative easing, this part helps explain the impact of and the different issues surrounding sovereign debt, the Euro crisis, and austerity versus growth policies. 3) Analysis of investment styles, from hedge funds to long only investments, corporate communication and its impact on markets and investments, mistakes and frequent questions and answers regarding investment.