Secrets of the temple

What Hacker News says

1. datavirtueJun 2025
   Yeah, when I really want to learn about something I buy a book. Power Broker, Secrets of the Temple...stuff like that. Real journalism.
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2. fjniJan 2024
   I’d recommend reading “secrets of the temple.”

   Though it will only validate your point.

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3. plaidfujiMar 2023
   As a layperson with no economic credentials, I’d recommend books with a bit of entertainment value, even if they may gloss over some details. It’s still important to understand the basic theory and mechanics of the financial markets, but it’s equally important to understand the human factors and politics involved, and some of these more narrative books are helpful in that regard.

   I found The Big Short both entertaining and enlightening on the 2008 crash, a while back I also read “The Number” by Alex Berenson, which focuses more on corporate equities and the rise of earnings per share as a driving metric.. I did also read about half of an older book called “Secrets of the Temple”, which gives a history of how Paul Volcker handled the inflation crisis of the 80s. That was more dense but really helped solidify my understanding of the Fed. I’ve also recently started “Random Walk through Wall Street”, which again is mostly equities-focused but so far seems to give a balanced take on the financial and human factors.

   As far as explaining the most recent crisis, I’ve found this blog [0] to be the most informative, approachable and somewhat entertaining. Very clear explanation of what exactly the BTFP program is doing, with a healthy amount of speculation about how it could be abused and potential effects of that. Disclaimer that it’s written by a crypto researcher, but there’s very little content about crypto.

   [0] https://entrepreneurshandbook.co/kaiseki-b15230bdd09e

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4. emodendroketMar 2023
   > We can say that inflation is good for those with assets

   If the assets are liquid ones not really; that's one of the reasons asset-holders start to clamor for the Fed to do something when inflation is high. I read the introduction of Secrets of the Temple, which is kind of a counter-conventional wisdom explanation of how higher rates of inflation were salutary for regular people at the expense of the ruling class, and it was pretty compelling.

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5. rhyswallaceSep 2022
   Surprised not to see Secrets of the Temple listed here — a very intimate account of a few years of Volcker's time as chair. Highly recommend.

   https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Temple-Federal-Reserve-Countr...

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6. aazaaDec 2019
   A good account of Volcker's tenure at the Fed can be found in "Secrets of the Temple" by William Greider.
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