The History of Money

By: Jack Weatherford

Narrated by: Victor Bevine

Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

From primitive man's cowrie shells to the electronic cash card, from the markets of Timbuktu to the New York Stock Exchange, The History of Money explores how money and the myriad forms of exchange have affected humanity, and how they will continue to shape all aspects of our lives--economic, political, and personal.

Listen to An Interview with Author Jack Weatherford.

©1998 Jack Weatherford (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Cringe

I am listening to Chapter for so this is a pre-review.

I will keep listening to this book but I have two complaints about cringing.

1. If I hear another list in this book I am going to scream. There is no information given when a list is provided, unless one is shopping. The information in this book does not need lists. This has happened often enough I have almost been triggered to stop listening.

2. Unnecessary, even implausible, descriptions of the body. Like stressing that money led to whorehouses and sale of sex. Betcha that had been going on a little earlier!! But the author seems to delight in mentioning that. And in Chapter Four he describes the mass execution by burning of Templar bankers, a fate some people wish on bankers, in a ridiculous description of opening skin, melting rivulets of fat... really? REALLY? It's like the author was standing right there roasting marshmallows.

This type of amateurism in writing should have been caught by an editor. Such lapse in style might seem colourful, but they make me cringe....

Oh well, on I got listening....

George Young
Montreal, Canada
20221129

Fascinating and instructive

This book was like auditing a colourful lecture series. A great learning experience ... if only I had taken notes!

slowburn but satisfactory for those interested

I loved the book, granted is a slowburn in the beginning for modern standards but is really satisfactory in the last chapters... the subject is complex and filled with detail well explained, Jack Weatherford is great explaining abstract monetary concepts

the performer is also great, it change cadences, pitch and tones of voice to make more entertaining the subject, I highly recommend it

Everyone should read.

Who doesn't use money? Sure neat to know how it became what it's become. Very interesting read.

HISTORY OF MONEY

The “History of Money” is an interesting historical journey, written by Jack Weatherford. However, at times, resource selection seems loosely based on the title’s inferred theme. One of Weatherford’s references is to Michel Montaigne. Montaigne’s reference to money in his book, “Essays”, is superfluous. Montaigne said little about the historical role of money, except as an inheritance and burden.

Weatherford explains that we have entered a new age of money. Early civilizations disclaimed the importance of money; the ruling class coveted money for power; the merchant class acquired money for trade; the industrial class sought money for production; and now the capitalist class has risen. Like the Romans, capitalists acquire money for power.

However, the medium of money has become unanchored by the physical world. Money lives in cyber space, untethered by physical relationship. Capitalists have become the new Caesars backed by money that never touches human hands. Though Weatherford does not address bitcoin, he infers a new form of money is being created out of nothing.

One might argue money has always been created out of nothing, except convenience. Money is certainly more conveniently handled today than in ancient times. The concern is that the speed of change, figuratively and physically, is less controllable in cyber space.

entertaining must read history book

listening to it over and over again. It is packed with lot's of good fundamental information.

From Cacao to Bitcoin

Without knowingly doing it so this book provides a depth understanding in how the technology behind bitcoin may change current markets as did the first gold coins, bank notes, paper money or credit cards. It had been a while since the last innovation in Money.

Important history lesson

Most in the US have not studied the very concept of "money" nor its known history. This book jumps around chronologically and does so in order to get across that money is nothing more than what we collectively agree it to be. I found it both informative and entertaining. Some may not know the role that gold and/or silver has had in shaping what we currently call "money" across the globe, so it may seem like this is a pro-gold standard diatribe when it's actually covering what used to be "money" and the reasons for the longevity of metals as currency. Included are various history lessons, including how money and debt played a role in the conversion of the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire ca. 27 BC.

I highly recommend it.

Not bad, but outdated

I made the mistake of buying this book because I liked Weatherford's Genghis Khan so much. Mr. Weatherford is an excellent historian/historic storyteller, and that is where this book succeeds: the telling of the history of money. So the book delivers? Not entirely.

The book is written in 1998, the dawn of the internet hype. And that is where the problems are. When the writer explains where money is now and where it is going to, it stays too much in the hyperbole of the day. 24 hours non stop everywhere, blink of an eye billions of dollars across the globe hype of the end of the 90's. Although here and there he strikes a hit (currencies less and less in the grip of national governments), for the current reader there is just too much that has happened in the last 15 years for this part to be interesting.

My recommendation would be to read the book if you are interested in a historic story about the development and meaning of money for society (big, always). And just avoid the stuff about the most 'recent' developments, which is about the last 2 hours.

Wide, deep, thoughtful, colorful

Yes, as a reviewer notes, this work is not exhaustive. There are gaps, in the history and in geographic areas. I might have titled it "a" history of money, rather than "the" history. And some points of view might not be exhaustively represented, particularly some modern political slants. But this book is a treat, end to end. I would think a person lopsided and unimaginative for fixating on these supposed imperfections and missing the bright, illuminating treasures scattered all over this work, both in character-and-detail-rich stories, and in imaginative presentation of concepts. The author is a born storyteller and explainer. I feel myself enlightened and empowered by having heard this.