The book is a dialogue between a money manager and a young man who asks whether or not he should invest. Their conversation explores How 'for money' and 'not-for-money' investment differ; How accounting and economic assets compare with social and natural assets; How time is central to all of investment, building capabilities in the present which can deliver resources in the future; How banks collectively create and destroy money; How the yield curve shows the market interest rates for financial assets of different durations; How competitive advantage is important in determining the returns achieved on real assets; How 'fundamental value' differs from price, or what someone is prepared to pay; How 'fundamental analysis' and 'technical analysis' of price data provide insights into risk; How mean-variance analysis of price data is the conventional approach to risk; How the economic ecosystem creates prices How capitalism may be a lousy system and yet the best available as it adapts continuously to align money prices and human values.