Money

The Unauthorized Biography

De: Felix Martin

Narrado por: Nicholas Guy Smith

From ancient currency to Adam Smith, from the gold standard to shadow banking and the Great Recession: a sweeping historical epic that traces the development and evolution of one of humankind’s greatest inventions.

What is money, and how does it work? In this tour de force of political, cultural and economic history, Felix Martin challenges nothing less than our conventional understanding of money. He describes how the Western idea of money emerged from interactions between Mesopotamia and ancient Greece and was shaped over the centuries by tensions between sovereigns and the emerging middle classes. He explores the extraordinary diversity of the world’s monetary systems, from the Pacific island of Yap, where value was once measured by immovable stones, to the currency of today that exists solely on globally connected computer screens. Martin shows that money has always been a deeply political instrument, and that it is our failure to remember this that led to the crisis in our financial system and so to the Great Recession. He concludes with practical solutions to our current pressing, money-based problems.

Money skips nimbly among such far-ranging topics as John Locke’s disastrous excursion into economic policy, Montesquieu’s faith in finance to discipline the power of kings, the social organization of ancient Sparta and the Soviet Union’s ill-fated attempt to abolish money and banking altogether. Throughout, Martin makes vivid sense of a chaotic and sometimes incoherent system—the everyday currency that we all share—in the clearest and most stimulating terms. This is a magisterial work of history and economics, with profound implications for the world today.

Kind of dry towards the end

It's a fun read but towards the end the ideas are somewhat dense and less interesting

A thoughtful journey with big flashes of insight

The book's opening (and various later visitations) takes a reasonably interesting idea: e.g., the Yap islanders' use of largely stationary stones as money (seen many times in other books), and beats it to death. Setting this aside, the book takes a fascinating walk through money's basic concepts as played out in historic scenes. Watch the Roman Empire struggle through a credit bubble and lender bailout. Watch the allowance of a private family of unofficial currencies destabilize ancient China, first playing out as the brilliant scheme of court philosophers' sub-celestial monetary harmony is shaken, finally as the private financiers turn their aims to political power. Here are the best-of-breed (of dozens of books I've read) descriptions of the story, details, meaning and impact of (1) Scotsman John Law's financial innovations and his wild adventures creatively running the finances of France (into the ground), (2) the birth of the Bank of England and the emergence of the City of London's money markets of the 1800s (with brilliant description of Walter Bagehot's genius and contributions), and finally, all this back-story as it filtered into the rising disciplines of academic finance and economics, and funneled, with a precise eye here to the flaws in the theories and framing of problems, into the 2008 crash and its aftermath. I am seriously more enlightened on all these things from this book. There is no addressing here of cryptocurrencies, yet, their meaning and possibilities (and flaws) were lit by many of the concepts and stories here: I got heaps of context for thinking about crypto. I suggest one sit through the few flat spots and awkward phrasings to get at the true gems of understanding here, which positively glisten. This among all finance books has changed and sharpened my views and understandings. I will definitely re-listen to this.

THE best book on monry

a remarkably insightful and well researched history of money. perspectives that every investor will find useful.

Probably the Best audiobook I've heard on popular Econ

Just really great all around both in its ideas and the clarity in which it expresses them

A good listen

I found the book insightful and enlightening. I'll relisten to it in the near future. I love books that have plenty of nuance and thick information. I rewound a few sections and relistened to a few chapters to ensure I understood the information. I'd recommend.