The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World by Alan Greenspan Penguin Press HC, The

Product Description: In the immediate aftermath of September 11, 2001, in his fourteenth year as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Alan Greenspan took part in a very quiet collective effort to ensure that America didn't experience an economic meltdown, taking the rest of the world with it. There was good reason to fear the worst: the stock market crash of October 1987, his first major crisis as Federal Reserve Chairman, coming just weeks after he assumed control, had come much closer than is even today generally known to freezing the financial system and triggering a genuine financial panic. But the most remarkable thing that happened to the economy after 9/11 was...nothing. What in an earlier day would have meant a crippling shock to the system was absorbed astonishingly quickly.

After 9/11 Alan Greenspan knew, if he needed any further reinforcement, that we're living in a new world - the world of a global capitalist economy that is vastly more flexible, resilient, open, self-directing, and fast-changing than it was even 20 years ago. It's a world that presents us with enormous new possibilities but also enormous new challenges. The Age of Turbulence is Alan Greenspan's incomparable reckoning with the nature of this new world - how we got here, what we're living through, and what lies over the horizon, for good and for ill-channeled through his own experiences working in the command room of the global economy for longer and with greater effect than any other single living figure. He begins his account on that September 11th morning, but then leaps back to his childhood, and follows the arc of his remarkable life's journey through to his more than 18-year tenure as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, from 1987 to 2006, during a time of transforming change.

Alan Greenspan shares the story of his life first simply with an eye toward doing justice to the extraordinary amount of history he has experienced and shaped. But his other goal is to draw readers along the same learning curve he followed, so they accrue a grasp of his own understanding of the underlying dynamics that drive world events. In the second half of the book, having brought us to the present and armed us with the conceptual tools to follow him forward, Dr. Greenspan embarks on a magnificent tour de horizon of the global economy. He reveals the universals of economic growth, delves into the specific facts on the ground in each of the major countries and regions of the world, and explains what the trend-lines of globalization are from here. The distillation of a life's worth of wisdom and insight into an elegant expression of a coherent worldview, The Age of Turbulence will stand as Alan Greenspan's personal and intellectual legacy.

A Timeline of a Remarkable Career

Mar. 6, 1926 Born in New York City

1936 At 10 sees Roosevelt campaigning; becomes expert on the 1936 Yankees

1938 Takes up clarinet at 12

1943-44 Studies clarinet at Julliard

Mid 1944 Joins Henry Jerome Band

1948 Graduates (summa cum laude) from New York University. (He later earns a master's in 1950 and a Ph.D. in 1977, also from NYU.) Hired as economic analyst at the Conference Board.

1954-74 Co-founds Townsend-Greenspan & Co. Inc., an economic consulting firm in New York City. (He returns in 1977.)

1974 Nominated by President Ford as chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisors.

1983 Chair of bipartisan National Commission on Social Security Reform.

June 1, 1987 Nominated by President Reagan for Fed Chair. Confirmed by Senate August 3.

Oct. 19, 1987 Only 69 days into Greenspan's term, the Dow drops 508 points and 22%.

July 10, 1991 Nominated by President George H.W. Bush to a second term as Fed Chairman. Later nominated to a third (February 22, 1996) and fourth term (January 4, 2000) by President Clinton.

Apr. 6, 1997 Marries Andrea Mitchell

May 18, 2004 Nominated by President George W. Bush for a fifth term as Fed chairman

Jan. 31, 2006 Completes 18 ½ years at the Fed

Feb. 1, 2006 Forms Greenspan Associates LLC, an economic consulting firm

Alan Greenspan's Top 10 Classical and Jazz Favorites

Before Alan Greenspan embarked on his legendary financial career, he studied the clarinet at Julliard and played as a professional jazz musician (while doing tax returns for his bandmates). He chose 10 favorites for us from a lifetime of listening, including:

Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 23

Vivaldi, Complete Cello Concertos

Coleman Hawkins, "Body and Soul"

Customer Reviews

4 stars An OK book
Greenspan is smart and gives a good picture of how the U.S. economy works(and sometimes doesn't).
Near the end of the book he talks about the regulation of markets, in particular the investment industry. He doesn't think much of regulation and says things like hedge funds perform a fundamental good in the economy. Would the country be worse off if a hundred highly leveraged hedge funds closed down tomorrow? I personally don't think so....the country may be better. Charlie Munger thinks that a lot of liquidity brings out a bad side in humans. I think this has been shown with the credit/real estate situation now.
Charlie Munger says that Greenspan overdosed on Ayn Rand. I think so too.
Other than that chapter near the end of the book, its a fairly worthwhile read.

5 stars brilliant book from a brilliant man
before reading this book i never understood why so many people i consider smart think that Greendpan is extremely intelligent.
Now i do

5 stars Amazing book
GREAT book, and red it non stop. I was ready to read it a second time when reached the last page. Very well written, good English, amazing explanation of the FED, the US Capitalist system, and most institutions. Great Bibliography too. Loooooooooooved it.

5 stars Anectodal and insightful window into the mind of a financial guru
This book is an insightful collection of thoughts and predictions from an economist of Greenspan's stature. Age of Turbulence can be separated into two distinct section. In the first, Greenspan traces his steps from a curious boy in New York through experiences in college, private sector, government and ultimately as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The rest of the book explores economic and policy issues providing Greenspan's opinions on the main problems confronting the World today and into the future. This second portion of the book is a denser read, but contains enough background to allow the casual reader to follow.

Of the whole book, I found his experiences on how government works to be very interesting and revealing. Complementing this, I also found interesting his candid perceptions on the strengths and weaknesses of the major policymakers in the last century. These were formed after working at various levels of government across multiple administrations.

I also appreciated his down to earth analysis of the trends that will shape domestic and foreign markets and how social factors play into these equations. He not only tackled issues of population aging, social security, energy , political stability, globalization and economic growth from a technocratic perspective, but also from a social and philosophical one.

Overall, I gained a lot from this book in terms of policy and economics, and also was entertained by his mix of anecdotes, opinions and analysis.

5 stars Best Non-Fiction Of The Year
Outside of some of the economic jargon this book was very easily read. Not only was it a bit of an autobiography but also a great historical perspective of the last 50 years in America. What I enjoyed most was the enlightenment he gave on the role of politics in economic policy. A must read.

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