Agreed. I thought Ferguson's book would be interesting when I saw it at the bookstore last year, but quickly decided that it wasn't worth it after checking out reviews.
I don't have links to specific reviews I read, but my impression of the author is that he's turned away from research in favour of writing popular and shallow books on overly broad subjects. Apparently a couple of his earlier works were quite well regarded, but since then he's been dumping out a book a year.
I little cheesy for my taste (maybe I've been out of the UK too long...) but a welcome alternative to the financial woo that's been so popular on the Internet lately (particularly that Zeitgeist drivel).
edit:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-545930454338776455