To most people, even most investors the words "entertaining" and "derivatives" do not belong in the same sentence. Yet Satyajit Das' Traders, Guns, & Money is one the most entertaining investment books I've read in a long time, and is also on excellent primer on topics including derivatives, risk management, and Wall Street's inner workings. This will sound like hyperbole but it isn't: this is possibly the best insider account of a career in investments since Michael Lewis's book Liar's Poker came out in 1989.

Das is able to combine an informative introduction to the "dazzling world of derivatives" along with a jaded, cynical depiction of Wall Street greed. He discusses financial markets using a well-known quote from Donald Rumsfeld, and it is surprisingly effective: "There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."

Das uses this to discuss efforts to quantify risk, which he often describes as silly, and suggests that most professionals know it is too: "Risk management is like any religious text; nobody is willing to criticize it in public but few follow it completely in private." His stories about the sophomoric antics among young traders are entertaining, and may discourage some young people from pursuing a career on Wall Street (or encourage it in some cases).

In all, I can't recommend this book strongly enough. Risk management and derivatives are fields that all investors should have some knowledge of because they are such a large part of financial markets today. Traders, Guns, & Money is a great way to learn about them.

On a side note, Warren Zevon's song Lawyers, Guns, and Money (I assume the title of this book is a take-off on it) is a classic and should be on the iPod of every investor.

Start screaming crazier and crazier edicts and pronouncements if you want to be a tyrant these days. If you have any doubts about this, read a few of the gems that have escaped from the lips of North Korean President Kim Jong Il, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. I emphasize their first names because they make everything so personal and we see and hear them so often that I feel like they must want to be friends in some perverse way.

Hugo has called President Bush the devil during a worthless diatribe to the United Nations, and Kim has threatened the United States, Japan, South Korea, and anyone else that questions his tyrannical, ego-maniacal nuclear ambitions. However, you will note he has not threatened China. This I point out as evidence that he may appear crazy, but he is not stupid!

Mahmoud, on the other hand, has threatened only a third of the world including, with no lack of emphasis, Israel. He has stated Iran has no compunctions about losing 250,000 of its own people in the process of a first strike. However, the fact that Israel has second strike capability and the figure could reach 25 million people has not made it into any of his speeches. The latter figure no doubt might test the limits of his list of willing martyrs.

While there is an outside chance that this is all bluster, I can assure you (having started this story while traveling in Jerusalem) that the Israelis are taking these comments very seriously and are not likely to sit around doing nothing forever. While the idea of Israel striking first would not be unprecedented, it would also raise the stakes in what would be the scariest of bad-boy games.

If Mahmoud backs the Israelis into a corner... well that might be the all time dumbest stunt ever and could be the opening scene for Jackass 3. My perception is that Mahmoud will continue to threaten with the intent of keeping his enemies and rivals off balance and unfortunately might guess wrong about the edge of sanity (never mind wisdom, we long ago passed that mark), where he appears to teeter back and forth.

Patience, patience, this story is about economics...