Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing

“ Give me control of a nation’s monetary system and I care not who writes their laws” – Mayer Rothschild. This author strongly advocates for expansion of the money supply which by definition IS inflation and always results in the loss of purchasing power of the currency in rising prices. The low point of the book is when he refers to FDR as “genius”. Average unemployment rate from 1933-1940 was 18.58% is “genius”. Most people have never heard of the depression of 1920-1921. That’s because the government stayed out of it and allow the market to work it out quickly. Expansion of the currency supply as advocated by the author has already happened many times throughout history always with the same result. Hyperinflation and eventually the death of that currency. Go and buy a sheet of plywood at Home Depot and you will see that it has tripled in price in the last 12 months ($75/sheet). This is only the beginning – buckle up. The only reason I gave this book one star is because it does have some very interesting early history on money that I was not aware of. Everything else this author advocates foolishness.

I could have done without the swearing. The author seems to be trying to get street cred, but that\’s not going to happen in an economics book . Would have recommended to my kids when they get to high school if it wasn\’t for the low brow language.

Instantly one of the best finance, econ, or history books of all time! He explains everything so clearly and effortlessly as a great teacher should. He explains with stories about people as any great nonfiction writer does. The tone is approachable but the research thorough. He covers every topic as he should, but doesn\’t waste the reader\’s time and attention with narratives they\’ve heard countless times before. He doesn\’t make factual missteps or get pulled into the biases of most other authors on this topic. Many authors have tried this grand history of money book before, for centuries. They all come up short. This is the one! Better than Keynes, Friedman, Bagehot, Groseclose, Rothbard, or any of the rest. As a professor of monetary economics myself, I confess, I wish I had been clever enough to write it myself.

Was pleasant to listen to, gave brief overview on the history of money and also touched on Bitcoin. It was an interesting listen and prompted me to look for other books on the subject.

Who knew that the history of money could be so intriguing, and so full of weird and wonderful stories? This book educates while managing to be thoroughly entertaining. The author\’s narration is as enthusiastic and energetic as the text itself. Altogether a terrific listen. I didn\’t want it to end!

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