"As the marketing partner in a City law firm I discovered that our new staff had no understanding of how the financial markets work. So I started telling them about it, based on my knowledge as a City lawyer and a former financial journalist. These talks turned into training courses.

I've written this book because there aren't any good basic guides to the financial markets - either they get too technical too quickly or they are monumentally boring. This book is designed to be a quick read: it gives you enough to ask questions without feeling stupid, and it tells you what else to read next if you want or need to. I've had to cut corners, leave things out and simplify a bit in the interests of getting the message across quickly and simply. But what's in here is all I've ever needed to know in 25 years of working in and around the City."

It’s your first day at work. Your clothes are starchy new. Your shoes are stiff and pinch your feet. You don’t know what you’re doing or where you’re going.

But you hazard a smile. After all, this is the zenith of all that hard work and all those ambitions. It's what your parents and Gran have always wanted for you. You've started work, it's your first job and you're working in the City. Only everyone else seems to be so much more knowledgeable and confident. Everyone must be looking at you. There goes that new bug, they must be thinking, new to the City.

Whatever you do or say you don't want to look an idiot: you don't want to torpedo your career before it's even got under way. If this is you - and, don't worry, we've all been there - then this book tells you all you need to know to avoid making a fool of yourself. And, crucially, it gives you the confidence to ask questions to find out more.

ROCKET SCIENCE MADE SIMPLE

What's in this book is what I've pieced together from almost 30 years of working on the peripheries of the financial markets, from reading stuff about them, writing about them and talking to people in them. The financial markets are full of really clever people with PhDs and rocket-science minds - and that's the problem: they start explaining something and, three sentences in, you're lost.

This book isn't like that. It's written by an ordinary joe for other ordinary joes. Once you understand enough about the financial markets to move on to more serious, weightier (and, dare I say it, more boring) books, you won't need this one any more. But it will have got you started. And that's often the most difficult thing in life.

For that reason this book doesn't purport to be the gospel truth or the last word, but rather the first word. If it's your 'first word' to understanding the financial markets, then it's as good a start as you'll get anywhere. It's also (I hope) short and light and quick to read.

WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR

I originally wrote this thing for young professionals: young bankers, brokers, fund managers, lawyers, accountants, insurance brokers, surveyors, PRs and actuaries, among others. But also for support staff: secretaries, PAs, business managers, people in Accounts or HR or Business Development; in other words, people who are specialist in their own jobs but need to understand what the 'fee-earners' in the business do in order to help them perform their roles. You are all professionals in my eyes.

But it turns out many others have read it too. I have given courses on which this book is based to a roomful of City magistrates. And to people outside London who still need to know what goes on in the City because it affects their company or their clients. In fact, I reckon that everyone these days needs to know about the City, not least because the City looks after your savings and pension.

But that aside, the City is a fascinating place. The dark, narrow alleys that link the streets which radiate out like spokes from Bank tube station (where the Bank of England is) can't have changed much in 300 years. And the street names - Bread Street, Wood Street, Milk Street, Cheapside - are where actual markets used to take place.

So, if you've ever wandered around the dark alleyways of the City, looked through an office window at people behind screens and wondered what they were doing, this is the book for you. Ditto, if you've ever craned your neck up at the tall towers of Canary Wharf in Docklands and wondered who worked there and what they did. Or if you've found yourself chatting to someone at a party and been unable to maintain the conversation after they've revealed that they're 'an investment banker' or 'a fixed-income trader'.