This is a revised and updated version of one of the classic books of investing, beautifully updated in this hardback edition.It tackles the history of technology investing over the last 150 years, stating with the growth of the railways up to the contemporary tech behemoths of today.Nairn himself is one this country’s great long term investors, having being mentored by Sir John Templeton, and that permeates through this volume.In a year where the US market has been dominated by the Faangs companies such as Facebook, Google, Apple and the like, it is easy to miss how capital markets have been funding the next great technology developments over the last two centuries.Much of the early funding for the railways in the US and South America came from the UK’s investment trusts such as the Foreign & Colonial Investment trust, which has just celebrated its 150th anniversary.Fast forward to the present and those same investment trusts, such as Baillie Gifford’s managed Scottish Mortgage, have been the source of funding for the current generation of the technology.This delightfully written book gives a superb history of arguably the most important societal and investment theme of the last two centuries. It reminds us that we should never ignore technology just because it is new.
