Satyajit Das: It's a gigantic train wreck & we're stuck

Pravin Palande/ Forbes India

Satyajit Das works in the area of high finance. His new book Extreme Money takes on the cultural history of high finance and brings the subject closer to readers by linking it to popular culture

This is more like a book of history and quotations. How much of it is first hand reporting?

I started this book in 2005. During the past six years, the entire financial crisis played out. A chunk of the book is first hand reporting. I did not want to write about the global financial crisis and preferred going back 40 years. Finance has become a different beat during these years. I have observed the growth of the hedge fund industry, derivatives and securitisation and private equity.  I have seen people do financial manipulation and use finance as a driver of profits. In that sense, this is a very personal history.

You wanted to bring finance closer to people from other walks of life?

I wanted to place finance in a broader setting. It is regarded as an arcane area. But to me there are cross currents. Somebody once asked me when did the markets look absurd to me. My answer: When I saw Steven Cohen pay $8 million for Damien Hirst