About the book: 2009 / Donald Thompson is a Harvard professor, a famous economist and art connoisseur. In his book, he talks in detail about all components of the world of contemporary art: dealers, auction houses, galleries, collectors, art brands and emerging artists. Thompson provides scandalous details and reveals to the reader the shocking truth about the market mechanisms of the art business. The author, an economist by training, tells in his book how one enterprising art dealer tried (and was unsuccessful) to sell dead fish for fabulous money. The first problem the seller faced was the price. Another, but no less important problem is the fact that this work weighs just over two tons. This almost five-meter taxidermy “sculpture” of a tiger shark is installed in a giant glass display case and has the creative title “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of the Living.” There was another reason for concern. In the art world, many doubted that this miracle could even be called a work of art. Meanwhile, this question is of fundamental importance, because 12 million dollars is more than has ever been paid for a work by a living artist, with the exception of Jasper Johns; that's more than they ever paid for Gerhard Richter, Robert Rauschenberg or Lucian Freud. The main conclusion that the author comes to is that to sell any object, you just need to find two (for the element of competition) millionaires who agree to shell out that kind of money. At the same time, the author doubts the prospects of investing in art, especially contemporary art. The conclusions he draws are disappointing: most inexpensive works will never be resold even at their original price, let alone a five-meter shark for 12 000 000.