Book Description

For almost 40 years, the author has lived and worked all over the world, from the United Kingdom to South Korea, Indonesia, China, Ukraine, Mongolia and Sri Lanka. He witnessed revolutions, debated with the International Monetary Fund, played golf with Chief Financial Officers of some of the world's largest companies, discussed bond financing with Ministers of Finance, and saw currencies lose 500% of their value in just a few months. He travelled extensively and went above and beyond what tourists and journalists typically get to see when visiting countries. He paints a picture of political, financial economic crises with devastating detail and a cool sense of humour. He has no compassion with politicians or corporate citizens who pretend all is fine and blame everything that goes wrong on the outside world, instead of themselves. Mongolia: Cracks in the Eternal Blue Sky is the first book in the series Life is Good, Potentially. The author takes us on a journey starting in 2016 when he arrives in Mongolia and ends in 2020 after abruptly being locked out of the country because of the Covid-19 pandemic. With deep emotional engagement he writes about the state of the country, from semi-feral horses on nearly pristine steppe, to failed property projects in Ulaanbaatar. He describes in painful accuracy why presidents and politicians are the reason why Mongolia is not the rich country it could - and should - be, how chicanery in the banking sector destroyed what little international credibility the country had, and why the number of people living below the poverty line does not reduce when the economy booms. The people the author writes about all have a name, the issues are all true and the facts accurate. Still, the book is meant to be generic. The author hopes it will contribute to an improvement of the political and social situation of Mongolia, a country where Life is Good, not just potentially.