Scott Irwin is a great storyteller, of life on the land and the mystery surrounding futures markets. There is a lot to learn from this book.
The author gives an entertaining insight into his own farm-life experiences, he’s also extremely knowledgeable on world economics.
Readers must give themselves time to digest the information presented and to understand how the commodity trading process operates. An informative study of the business world.

Thanks to the publisher, NetGalley and the authors for the opportunity to read this book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really thought that I would like this book. It's a subject that I know nothing about, but has always interested me. Unfortunately, I was lost. The background stories were interesting, kind of reminded me of Michael Perry's stories of growing up on a farm. But when it came to understanding the mechanics of futures trading, I just could not follow. Absolutely more of a reflection of me, and not of the author's abilities. I guess at the young age of 64, I will not become a wealthy futures trader!

I have studied and taught about futures markets for years, but this book brings those markets to life for me in new and engaging ways. The authors have a unique knack for untangling complicated topics and making them accessible to readers, whether they are novices or more experienced with these concepts. I have adopted the book as required reading for my students, and they are raving about it. I cannot recommend this book strongly enough!

This book has fun stories and great explanations! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and feel like my understanding of Futures is significantly better than it used to be. All of the personal anecdotes make the learning fun and tangible in this book. I’ve read many finance books that are boring and feel like they go on forever- this book is the opposite of that! I’m grateful to the authors for writing this book. I have nothing but praise for Back to the Futures!

"Back to the Futures" tells real-life stories about life on the farm and life in the futures markets.

Those (like me) who thought life on a farm is dull will learn otherwise, and anyone interested in futures markets will learn things not learned elsewhere.

I learned that farms are exciting places, with snowmobiles, motorcycles, interactions with half-ton steers and territorial roosters, and often immature, treacherous behavior by kids of all ages.

I learned the inside scoop on interesting people and events that shaped the development of financial markets in our lifetime, highlighted by a group including Scott who solved a confounding riddle about non-convergence of wheat futures contracts.

Readers are led to see parallels between the two worlds, farming and futures, and will probably see that life on farms and financial markets are just two examples of what what we are all experiencing together, that is, life itself.

The stories are told from the perspective of a world-class expert in both the theory and practice of farming and finance.

My favorite farm story is about a rooster.

My favorite finance story is about the budding market in environmental credits, which I know, firsthand, is immature and treacherous.

My favorite life story is about digging deep to understand something at its root level and dealing with challenges faced when bringing such knowhow to those who should know it.

Read this book if you like real-life stories about farming, finance, or life.