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corletta29's review against another edition
4.0
Really interesting look back through time on how finance shaped civilizations throughout history and adapted based on the needs at the time. The author did a great job at detailing how these evolutions in finance simultaneously unlocked new abilities for humankind, as well as brought about potentially unforeseen issues
brishen's review against another edition
5.0
This is a book that changed my thoughts on what money and finance really is. To be honest, I started out disappointed, thinking that I'd bought a book that was going to explain money to me and instead was going on and on about credit and other financial innovations that people came up with over the past few thousand years. It was only after time that I started to put together that this was all money: that you can't disentangle finance and money because they are one and the same part of the process of bringing together the far flung regions of the world, the past, and all possible states of the future, to the here and now. Highly recommend.
ddrake's review against another edition
3.0
This book is a sort of financial companion to [b:A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World from Prehistory to Today|2413423|A Splendid Exchange How Trade Shaped the World from Prehistory to Today|William J. Bernstein|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328774642s/2413423.jpg|2420600] and perhaps [b:Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States|34324534|Against the Grain A Deep History of the Earliest States|James C. Scott|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1497092928s/34324534.jpg|55387238]. A lot of what we think of as a modern ill -- financial crises, government bailouts, and the like -- is actually millennia old.
Some of the historical chapters got a little dry, and the last chapter or so has a strong cheerleading tone, almost as if Geotzmann had written the entire book to lead up to the ideas of sovereign wealth funds and well-designed pension/retirement systems. But that's a minor quibble for an otherwise very impressive book.
Some of the historical chapters got a little dry, and the last chapter or so has a strong cheerleading tone, almost as if Geotzmann had written the entire book to lead up to the ideas of sovereign wealth funds and well-designed pension/retirement systems. But that's a minor quibble for an otherwise very impressive book.
booksthatburn's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death, Death, and Slavery
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