Trading and Exchanges by Larry Harris

Textbook introduction to most of the financial products worth building with, and the exchanges they trade on.

Market crashes are like automobile an airplane crashes. In boht cases, crashes usually do not occur for a single simple reason. Instead, a number of factors cause people to become confused about wht is happening. Their confusion becomes most dangerous when they are uncertain about risk. They they pay attention to the wrong issues, they ignore important risks, and, if things happen too quickly, they panic and lose their ability to make good decisions. In all types of crashes, the survivors rarely make the same mistakes again. (lol) When crashes reoccur, it is often because new participants have failed to learn lessons learned by others.
-- Chapter 28, Bubbles, Crashes, and Circuit Breakers