Niall Ferguson, Television Personality

Niall Ferguson's latest book, The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World, made the shortlist in the globalization category of our book awards this year. And, as if that wasn't enough fame for the man, he mounted a brief English Invasion of our televisions on Tuesday. First he showed up on PBS, hosting a film creatively titled "The Ascent of Money." We learn in the introduction that he has spent the last two years working on a series for PBS about the history of finance, which will be aired "in a few months" and which I'm guessing will be the partner of his book (really looking forward to that). Tuesday's program was about the current crisis, and maps out in great detail the financial freeway that led us here. When you have the time, it's well worth it. You can watch the full video here. Later that night, I turned over to The Colbert Report and there he was again, Niall Ferguson... discussing the idea of money as a relationship, money as trust, and even the possibility of money as Stephen Colbert himself. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure if this is worth your time, but it's pretty darn funny.