Coined
The Rich Life of Money and How Its History Has Shaped Us
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- 3,99 €
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- 3,99 €
Publisher Description
Money isn't just coins, bank notes or clamshells; it is more than a store of value or unit of payment. It's an idea, a transformative player in how we view, cope, and harmonise with the world. Money isn't just what makes the world go around; it is largely what makes each of us go around.
In Coined, Kabir Sehgal travels the world while presenting a multidimensional portrait of currency through the ages. He explores the origin of exchange in the Galapagos Islands, searches for hoards of coins from an ancient civilization in Bangladesh, and learns about the art that appears on money from coin collectors in Vietnam. He takes you from the vaults beneath the Federal Reserve in New York to a beehive where pollen can be understood as a natural form of exchange. He details the birth of money, to its place in our culture, to how the obsession for it can lead to death and destruction, all the while mixing engaging and entertaining stories from the front lines of global currency exchange with extensive, thoughtful research. The story of money is rich and varied because it is our story.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Investment banker Sehgal (Walk in My Shoes) undertakes a broad survey of topics connected (sometimes loosely) to money in its various functions as a medium of exchange, store of value, token of obligation, and even cultural artifact. Sehgal begins by reviewing fundamental biological exchanges such as the operation of mitochondria and the "evolution of cooperation," before turning to the psychology of financial decision making and the "anthropology of debt," the latter exemplified by elaborate Japanese conventions of gifts and social obligations. He examines competing historical views of money as "hard" or "soft" and their respective limitations and dangers, including the seductive, stimulative "alchemy" of expanding the money supply with soft money which, unlike the hard variety, is not backed by an intrinsically valuable asset. He then looks at the future of money from alternately bearish and bullish points of view. Finally, Sehgal touches on money's ethical aspects, and its artistic function in expressing national identity and aspirations. Sprinkled with light anecdotes and illustrations from the author's global travels for his banking day job, the book, Sehgal concedes, "does not advance a grand theory." Indeed, it would have been strengthened by greater integration of its disparate elements. Nevertheless, Sehgal may encourage the general reader to join him in thinking "about an ancient topic in new ways."
