Bear Markets and Beyond

Unicorns, narwhals, yaks, cows and civets - what have all these creatures got to do with your hard-earned cash? Well, far more than you would think at first glance. They are all beasts that appear in the global economic ecosystem. They pop up as warnings, as messages, as signals and also useful analogies able to help navigate what can be a confusing, closed-off world. People have been using animals since prehistoric times as linguistic tools. Cave paintings show creatures sketched carefully and are indicative of the human cognitive ability to think, learn from the past and prepare for the future - and also pass on these messages to the rest of the community.

In this book, BBC business journalist Dhruti Shah guides you through the confusing world of business jargon with a bold, graphic bestiary. As well as more familiar terms such as piggy bank, loan sharks and rat race, there are alligator spreads - which occur when an investor will never be able to make a profit on their transactions, or a lobster trap, which is a type of strategy a company will deploy in order to prevent a hostile takeover. There is even the memorable honorific of 'vampire squid' given to Goldman Sachs.

The jargon of the business world is a code but this illustrated A-Z is here to take you on a safari - seeking out ants, zebras and a whole lot more - and helping you to understand them. You wouldn't want to enter a bear pit unprepared, so keep our guide to the animals of the financial jungle to hand in order to survive in the business world.

Dhruti Shah is an award-winning British Indian Kenyan journalist with more than a decade's experience at the BBC. She studied English Language and Literature at Oxford University before spending her formative years working in local papers. She is an Ochberg Fellow at the Dart Centre for Trauma Journalism at Columbia University, New York and a Rotary Peace Fellow, having studied peace and conflict resolution at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. She is a member of the Clore Cultural Leaders Network and the Women of the Future network.

Dominic Bailey is a creative journalist with 19 years' experience working for the BBC News website where he is now part of the specialist Visual Journalism department. He helps create infographics, interactives and animations to explain, enhance and promote the day's news stories. He started out on local newspapers in the south of England before reporting on national and international news for the BBC.