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caitlin_bookchats's review against another edition
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
I really enjoyed this. I am, of course, biased being a long time listener of the Planet Money and The Indicator podcasts but I thought Goldstein did a great job choosing which pieces of the history of money would best shape the narrative of where Money started, where it is today, and how it got here.
I especially found the chapter on how the gold standard limited the power of governments to manage their currencies and how this may have significantly contributed to the best depression to be new to me and very well explained.
This is also the fourth book I've read in as many months to talk about cryptocurrency and although the other three were much more about cryptocurrencies and the culture and structures around them, Goldstein was the first to reach back before Satoshi Nakamoro's white paper to early proto electronic dollars and the privacy rights communities Bitcoin was born from.
Anyway, I thought this book did a lovely job explaining some of the weirdness of money as a concept as well as its importance, and in less than 6 hours too!
I especially found the chapter on how the gold standard limited the power of governments to manage their currencies and how this may have significantly contributed to the best depression to be new to me and very well explained.
This is also the fourth book I've read in as many months to talk about cryptocurrency and although the other three were much more about cryptocurrencies and the culture and structures around them, Goldstein was the first to reach back before Satoshi Nakamoro's white paper to early proto electronic dollars and the privacy rights communities Bitcoin was born from.
Anyway, I thought this book did a lovely job explaining some of the weirdness of money as a concept as well as its importance, and in less than 6 hours too!
lysettedavi's review against another edition
5.0
Really important book to read if you want to understand how money works. Easy to comprehend despite tackling a complex history.
lahowitt's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.5
[audiobook] Good and interesting overview of the history of money. I liked listening to Jacob Goldstein on the audiobook- felt just like a very long episode of Planet Money
lesserjoke's review against another edition
3.0
Another podcast turned pop science book, this one offering a whirlwind tour of the history of money as a concept, from its earliest known appearance in ancient civilizations through today's cutting-edge developments of cryptocurrency and MMT. Author Jacob Goldstein clearly knows his material, but he tends to breeze through it a bit too quickly for a reader like me who has difficulty with some of these abstract (and at times counterintuitive) economic theories. Although I've learned a few things from this title, it's generally lacking the level of detail and patient explanation that I at least would require for all of its lessons to really sink in.
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Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter