Back to the Futures: Crashing Dirt Bikes, Chasing Cows, and Unraveling the Mystery of Commodity Futures Markets

I am an active researcher in commodity markets and have known Scott for decades through his academic work and I was expecting a treatise on commodity futures. What I got was a mix of personal stories interwoven with serious discussion on major commodity futures topics. At first, I was scratching my head wondering where this work was going, but the personal stories were engaging and the commodity work was thoughtful. I finally got to know Scott and I learned some new things about commodity futures markets.If you are a linear thinker and only want the facts, this is not a book for you, but if you want to take a journey through America farming, the story of a boy who grew into a top-flight researcher, and learn more about commodity futures this is a good read. As someone who is usually very linear, I found myself not only liking this book but not putting it down. For those with just a side interest in commodity futures or an active user, this is a fun book.

What a hoot. I was totally entertained reading Scott Irwin's rollicking tales of growing up on a Midwest farm and his insider's stories about the modern development of the Chicago futures markets (the CBOT and the CME). Anyone familiar with farm and rural upbringing will love reading about his farmboy antics, wild events of his youth and college days. And if you have ever wondered about the Chicago commodity futures exchanges (including trading of cryptocurrency and oil futures), this book will keep you totally entertained with its insider's stories of the personalities that played key roles in their critical junctures. It is a toss-up as to which aspect of Irwin's story telling is best, but the way he weaves the two together, his upbringing with his later national-level expertise in the commodity futures markets, is captivating. You will look forward to each chapter!

First off, I can tell a lot of time and energy went into this book from start to finish. The way the authors manage to weave Scott's personal experiences with the transformation of futures markets is well executed and makes it an easy and entertaining read.For those wondering, I'd say this book was roughly 45% biography, 40% market history, and 15% "ah-ha" moments or nuggets on the the underlying (e.g., crop growth and conditions, weather, market psychology, etc.).5 Stars, glad I came across this book as well as Scott's more recent articles on yields.

I found Back to the Futures to be a well-written, quick reading book that really makes you think. The author weaves his ag background into stories that help the reader see how the futures markets work. There are laugh-out-loud stories followed by fairly deep glimpses into market theory. I wish I had read this 40 years ago when I began studying the grain markets and how they operate.

So, do find yourself you reading business section of the paper, or stories about big business trends and how economies are moving, maybe you peruse articles from Forbes, WSJ or The Economist? Then you are going to enjoy this book as your summer read. Fun personal stories frame the insight into trade, risk and the role of the futures market.Commodities run your life, you just don't know it, and this can give you a peak behind the curtain on how food really gets to the table and around the world, but at the macro scale of commoditties and the efforts to stabilize and de-risk the market through the futures exchanges. It both gets personal and sweeps out to teach to wider perspective in a great way that makes an easy read.It also gives a history of the comoditties trade which starts with food, moves through oil, and now meets the needs of a new era of commodies for things like biofuels (which seems to involve gophers somehow). Strongly recommend this book for the summer.

Back to the Futures is an excellent read on commodity futures, the CME group, and the past, present, and future of commodity trading. It is a great read that kept my attention with entertaining stories of Irwin’s adventures as well as a thorough study of commodity futures. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in futures trading, the CME group, and especially anyone learning about agricultural economics. This book is a delight!

Great read! He used life lessons to explain marketing principles. I bought 15 copies for our ethanol board.

I traded for 30 years at CME. In my gut, I know what the markets are like. It always helps to get a little academic knowledge to prove what you feel in gut. The old saying is, "It works in practice, but does it work in theory?"If you don't understand how a market works, or even why they exist, this book is for you. If you think that central planners can derive a price better than a diverse marketplace, this book is for you.There are underlying lessons in the book too. In one chapter, Professor Irwin outlines what happened in the wheat market back in 2007/08. I knew people that were long time floor traders who lost fortunes, in some cases their entire net worth when that dislocation happened. If you know microeconomics and understand price ceilings, you will find this chapter fascinating. If you don't know microeconomics, you will find that chapter totally instructive and you will learn something. You might even be able to bring it into your own business.Professor Irwin's stories about his childhood are entertaining. We are lucky he is around to write this book

This is an amazing book.I feel like Back to the Futures is a breath of fresh air when talking about books on grain/futures markets because of the way the author put it.The Merchants-of-Grain-esque books sure are great, but having fun while also learning is a way more enjoyable experience. The personal stories in the book are super funny and the way they meshed their concepts with futures and grain markets make for a really dynamic reading experience. There’s plenty of insights and knowledge from people in the industry as well.Back to the Futures is already a top futures/grain book to me and I’m recommending it to friends and colleagues.

Farmers are risk takers in more ways than you might think, and where there’s commodity price risk there’s a benefit from knowing more about the futures markets. Look beyond your own back yard to find what’s really determining local grain prices, learn to love the futures traders and speculators who want to take the weight of price risk off farmers shoulders so they can hedge their margins in the biggest zero sum game on the planet. And when you’ve read it, read it again, you might just catch the commodity futures fixation shared by so many of us around the world…

For anyone who would like to learn about futures markets and specifically commodity futures, then this book is certainly for you.Scott Irwin does a marvellous job of incorporating his own life experiences with an area within the futures arena.Highly recommended to both practitioners who need to re-freshen at times, especially after a losing streak and especially beginners alike.Great Job Scott