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A review by caitlin_bookchats
Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing by Jacob Goldstein
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!