Books Details
Author : Jacob Goldstein Pages : 272 pages Publisher : Hachette Books Language :
ISBN-10 : 031641719X ISBN-13 : 9780316417198
Books Descriptions
The co-host of the popular NPR podcast Planet Money provides a well-researched,
entertaining, somewhat irreverent look at how money is a made-up thing that has
evolved over time to suit humanity's changing needs. Money only works because we
all agree to believe in it. In Money, Jacob Goldstein shows how money is a useful
fiction that has shaped societies for thousands of years, from the rise of coins in
ancient Greece to the first stock market in Amsterdam to the emergence of shadow
banking in the 21st century.At the heart of the story are the fringe thinkers and world
leaders who reimagined money. Kublai Khan, the Mongol emperor, created paper
money backed by nothing, centuries before it appeared in the west. John Law, a
professional gambler and convicted murderer, brought modern money to France
(and destroyed the country's economy). The cypherpunks, a group of radical
libertarian computer programmers, paved the way for bitcoin.One thing they all
realized: what counts as money
