Synopsis: With £25,000 in his pocket from the sale of his flat, Conor Woodman travels across four continents, trading in all kinds of products with the aim of doubling his money.

Economist Conor Woodman used to buy and sell companies for hundreds of millions of pounds in the City of London. But even before the economy crashed, he’d had enough. He wanted to trade real things that he could touch and smell not just type numbers into a computer. So he’s chucked in the job, sold his flat and is off in search of adventure and fat profits on a round-the-world trip.

He’s taken £25,000 from the sale of his flat to invest in all kinds of products – animal, mineral and vegetable – which he trades across four continents and 16 countries. His aim is to make some serious money, but if it goes wrong, he could lose the lot.

Despite his City contacts, international trade proves hard for Conor. Unperturbed, his eventual deals include selling 4,000 bottles of South African chilli sauce to India; horse trading with cut-throat dealers in Kyrgyzstan and investing £5,000 in Chinese jade, confident he can treble his investment by selling to a rich Taiwanese collector.

In Mexico, Conor has 750 inflatable body boards and reckons that an endorsement from the country's most famous surfer will help them sell. Meanwhile, he hopes to sell 400 bottles of tequila bought in the actual town of Tequila for a sizeable mark up. He then decides to gamble on Brazilian teak, but the economic downturn means hard times for the UK house builders he hopes will buy his wood.

Will Conor blow his £25,000 or succeed in doubling his cash?

Buy Around the World in 80 Trades: Adventures in Economics, from Coffee to Camels and Back from Amazon.co.uk

Hot Brands Verdict
We missed this when it was on the television recently, but we found it a fascinating DVD, and in many ways better than watching it over a period of weeks, as watching it in one go you gain a better sense of the journey that Conor took. There are many real life lessons to be learned here too, as you share in his highs and lows. If you are looking to travel the world from your armchair this weekend, Conor is an interesting narrator and it’s a very entertaining story. Great for escapism !