Money
The True Story of a Made-Up Thing
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $19.18
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Jacob Goldstein
-
Written by:
-
Jacob Goldstein
About this listen
The cohost 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 (and what doesn't) is the result of choices we make, and those choices have a profound effect on who gets more stuff and who gets less, who gets to take risks when times are good, and who gets screwed when things go bad.
Lively, accessible, and full of interesting details (like the 43-pound copper coins that 17th-century Swedes carried strapped to their backs), Money is the story of the choices that gave us money as we know it today.
©2020 AG Prospect, LLC (P)2020 Hachette BooksYou may also enjoy...
-
The Classical School
- The Birth of Economics in 20 Enlightened Lives
- Written by: Callum Williams
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What was Adam Smith really talking about when he mentioned the "invisible hand"? Did Karl Marx really predict the end of capitalism? Did Thomas Malthus (from whose name the word Malthusian derives) really believe that famines were desirable? In The Classical School, Callum Williams debunks popular myths about these great economists and explains the significance of their ideas in an engaging way.
Written by: Callum Williams
-
A Human History of Emotion
- How the Way We Feel Built the World We Know
- Written by: Richard Firth-Godbehere
- Narrated by: Richard Firth-Godbehere
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In A Human History of Emotion, Richard Firth-Godbehere takes listeners on a fascinating and wide ranging tour of the central and often under-appreciated role emotions have played in human societies around the world and throughout history — from Ancient Greece to Gambia, Japan, the Ottoman Empire, the United States, and beyond.
-
-
changed how i saw the world
- By Anonymous User on 2022-11-09
Written by: Richard Firth-Godbehere
-
Flash Crash
- A Trading Savant, a Global Manhunt, and the Most Mysterious Market Crash in History
- Written by: Liam Vaughan
- Narrated by: Liam Vaughan
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On May 6, 2010, financial markets around the world tumbled simultaneously and without warning. In the span of five minutes, a trillion dollars of valuation was lost. The Flash Crash, as it became known, represented the fastest drop in market history. When share values rebounded less than half an hour later, experts around the globe were left perplexed. A real-life financial thriller, Flash Crash uncovers the remarkable, behind-the-scenes narrative of a mystifying market crash, a globe-spanning investigation into international fraud, and the man at the center of them both.
-
-
Flowed very nicely. Easy to listen to.
- By Anonymous User on 2024-04-10
Written by: Liam Vaughan
-
Ten Tomatoes That Changed the World
- A History
- Written by: William Alexander
- Narrated by: Paul Bellantoni
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Supported by meticulous research and told in a lively, accessible voice, Ten Tomatoes That Changed the World seamlessly weaves travel, history, humor, and a little adventure (and misadventure) to follow the tomato's trail through history. A fascinating story complete with heroes, con artists, conquistadors, and—no surprise—the Mafia, this book is a mouth-watering, informative, and entertaining guide to the food that has captured our hearts for generations.
-
-
A story about botany, genetics, business and pizza
- By Stanley Gee-Silverman on 2022-08-09
Written by: William Alexander
-
Backable
- The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance on You
- Written by: Suneel Gupta, Carlye Adler
- Narrated by: Suneel Gupta, Carlye Adler, Landon Woodson, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A groundbreaking book that boldly claims the key to success in business is not talent, connections, or ideas, but the ability to persuade people to take a chance on potential.
Written by: Suneel Gupta, and others
-
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
- Incerto, Book 1
- Written by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Narrated by: Joe Ochman
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fooled by Randomness is the word-of-mouth sensation that will change the way you think about business and the world. Nassim Nicholas Taleb - veteran trader, renowned risk expert, polymathic scholar, erudite raconteur has penned a modern classic that turns on its head what we believe about luck and skill. Set against the backdrop of the most conspicuous forum in which luck is mistaken for skill - the world of trading - Fooled by Randomness provides captivating insight into one of the least understood factors in all our lives.
-
-
Excellent book with a great narrator.
- By Al on 2019-04-19
Written by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
-
The Classical School
- The Birth of Economics in 20 Enlightened Lives
- Written by: Callum Williams
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What was Adam Smith really talking about when he mentioned the "invisible hand"? Did Karl Marx really predict the end of capitalism? Did Thomas Malthus (from whose name the word Malthusian derives) really believe that famines were desirable? In The Classical School, Callum Williams debunks popular myths about these great economists and explains the significance of their ideas in an engaging way.
Written by: Callum Williams
-
A Human History of Emotion
- How the Way We Feel Built the World We Know
- Written by: Richard Firth-Godbehere
- Narrated by: Richard Firth-Godbehere
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In A Human History of Emotion, Richard Firth-Godbehere takes listeners on a fascinating and wide ranging tour of the central and often under-appreciated role emotions have played in human societies around the world and throughout history — from Ancient Greece to Gambia, Japan, the Ottoman Empire, the United States, and beyond.
-
-
changed how i saw the world
- By Anonymous User on 2022-11-09
Written by: Richard Firth-Godbehere
-
Flash Crash
- A Trading Savant, a Global Manhunt, and the Most Mysterious Market Crash in History
- Written by: Liam Vaughan
- Narrated by: Liam Vaughan
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On May 6, 2010, financial markets around the world tumbled simultaneously and without warning. In the span of five minutes, a trillion dollars of valuation was lost. The Flash Crash, as it became known, represented the fastest drop in market history. When share values rebounded less than half an hour later, experts around the globe were left perplexed. A real-life financial thriller, Flash Crash uncovers the remarkable, behind-the-scenes narrative of a mystifying market crash, a globe-spanning investigation into international fraud, and the man at the center of them both.
-
-
Flowed very nicely. Easy to listen to.
- By Anonymous User on 2024-04-10
Written by: Liam Vaughan
-
Ten Tomatoes That Changed the World
- A History
- Written by: William Alexander
- Narrated by: Paul Bellantoni
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Supported by meticulous research and told in a lively, accessible voice, Ten Tomatoes That Changed the World seamlessly weaves travel, history, humor, and a little adventure (and misadventure) to follow the tomato's trail through history. A fascinating story complete with heroes, con artists, conquistadors, and—no surprise—the Mafia, this book is a mouth-watering, informative, and entertaining guide to the food that has captured our hearts for generations.
-
-
A story about botany, genetics, business and pizza
- By Stanley Gee-Silverman on 2022-08-09
Written by: William Alexander
-
Backable
- The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance on You
- Written by: Suneel Gupta, Carlye Adler
- Narrated by: Suneel Gupta, Carlye Adler, Landon Woodson, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A groundbreaking book that boldly claims the key to success in business is not talent, connections, or ideas, but the ability to persuade people to take a chance on potential.
Written by: Suneel Gupta, and others
-
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
- Incerto, Book 1
- Written by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Narrated by: Joe Ochman
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fooled by Randomness is the word-of-mouth sensation that will change the way you think about business and the world. Nassim Nicholas Taleb - veteran trader, renowned risk expert, polymathic scholar, erudite raconteur has penned a modern classic that turns on its head what we believe about luck and skill. Set against the backdrop of the most conspicuous forum in which luck is mistaken for skill - the world of trading - Fooled by Randomness provides captivating insight into one of the least understood factors in all our lives.
-
-
Excellent book with a great narrator.
- By Al on 2019-04-19
Written by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
-
Eating on the Wild Side
- The Missing Link to Optimum Health
- Written by: Jo Robinson
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In an engaging blend of science and story, Robinson describes how and when we transformed the food in the produce aisles. Wild apples, for example, have from three to 100 times more antioxidants than Galas and Honeycrisps. How do we begin to recoup the losses of essential nutrients? By "eating on the wild side" - choosing present-day fruits and vegetables that come closest to the nutritional bounty of their wild ancestors. Robinson explains that many of these jewels of nutrition are hiding in plain sight in our supermarkets, farmers markets, and U-pick orchards.
Written by: Jo Robinson
-
The Library
- A Fragile History
- Written by: Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Famed across the known world, jealously guarded by private collectors, built up over centuries, destroyed in a single day, ornamented with gold leaf and frescoes, or filled with bean bags and children’s drawings - the history of the library is rich, varied, and stuffed full of incident.
-
-
Great Overview
- By RandomAccount007 on 2023-04-09
Written by: Andrew Pettegree, and others
-
The Misbehavior of Markets
- A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence
- Written by: Benoit Mandelbrot, Richard L. Hudson
- Narrated by: Jason Olazabal
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his first book for a general audience, Mandelbrot, with co-author Richard L. Hudson, shows how the dominant way of thinking about the behavior of markets-a set of mathematical assumptions a century old and still learned by every MBA and financier in the world-simply does not work. As he did for the physical world in his classic The Fractal Geometry of Nature, Mandelbrot here uses fractal geometry to propose a new, more accurate way of describing market behavior.
-
-
Very Good
- By Cal on 2021-01-23
Written by: Benoit Mandelbrot, and others
-
No Limits
- Blow the CAP off Your Capacity
- Written by: John C. Maxwell
- Narrated by: Chris Sorensen
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We often treat the word capacity as if it were a natural law of limitation. Unfortunately most of us are much more comfortable defining what we perceive as off limits rather than what's really possible. Could it be that many of us have failed to expand our potential because we have allowed what we perceive as capacity to define us? What if our limits are not really our limits?
-
-
Good matériel, terrible reader
- By Sonia Larochelle on 2023-07-04
Written by: John C. Maxwell
-
Collective Illusions
- Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions
- Written by: Todd Rose
- Narrated by: Jay Ben Markson
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience, behavioral economic, and social psychology research, acclaimed author, former Harvard professor, and think tank founder Todd Rose reveals how so much of our thinking about each other is informed by false assumptions that drive bad decisions that make us dangerously mistrustful as a society and hopelessly unhappy as individuals.
-
-
somewhat biased
- By lucien on 2023-02-21
Written by: Todd Rose
-
Weird
- The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World
- Written by: Olga Khazan
- Narrated by: Renata Friedman
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most of us have at some point in our lives felt like an outsider, sometimes considering ourselves "too weird" to fit in. Growing up as a Russian immigrant in West Texas, Olga Khazan always felt there was something different about her. This feeling has permeated her life, and as she embarked on a science writing career, she realized there were psychological connections between this feeling of being an outsider and both her struggles and successes later in life.
-
-
Everybody is weird
- By Andrey on 2023-03-06
Written by: Olga Khazan
What the critics say
A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Selection in Business & Economics
"Jacob Goldstein is a lucid, entertaining explainer of all things economic." —Ira Glass, host and executive producer of "This American Life"
"A sweeping new history....Money is fast-paced and chatty: We meet all the characters an academic book would include, their ideas and innovations blended with scandal and gossip to propel the story along. The effect is a history of currency full of astonishing tales you might tell a friend in the pub....This story gets to the heart of why money matters....Money should be required reading for every financial regulator....Money is great preparation for turbulent times: a vibrant and accessible grounding in how the evolution of cash -- organic, random, and social -- really works." —The New York Times
\"Jacob Goldstein of 'Planet Money' has a remarkable gift for making complicated economic issues beguilingly simple. He has written a wonderfully entertaining, freewheeling history of money, told with all the verve and wit and smart insights that have made his NPR show such a success."—Liaquat Ahamed, author of Pulitzer Prize winner Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World
What listeners say about Money
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sam
- 2021-10-13
Good book
Avid Planet Money listeners should be forewarned that much of the book comes from episodes of that podcast. Despite having heard a lot of the content before, I found the book to be worth the credit I paid for it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Heather
- 2020-10-02
If you love Planet Money and Jacob Goldstein you will love this book.
Written in the typically clear, animated and sardonic Goldstein style that makes Jacob’s Planet Money episodes such a delight to listen to, this book is equally, if not more, enjoyable.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bradley Arsenault
- 2021-06-05
fun money book
fun book. nothing new for money nerds, but entertaining history none the less. enjoyed the recap of the history of money. an easy listen
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alicia LaValle
- 2021-01-30
a very interesting story about an often dry topic
made money all the more mysterious while at the same time demystifying why it came to be what it is today
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- leesh
- 2021-02-15
very glad I read this
I found this book informative, the author engaging and the information well researched. I especially enjoyed the overall unbiased point of view.
Someone mentioned swearing in the book which almost turned me off from trying it. I'm glad I didnt listen to them. the swearing in the book is actually the author reading transcript from investors in the 2008 market crash. It's not the author saying it but instead a text readout of a phone conversation.
Highly recommend and appreciate how relevant and modern it gets near the end.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- JC
- 2021-12-09
New insights
I learned a lot including new theories on how governments can overspend continually without catastrophe
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!