The History of Money: A Story of Humanity

 
        綜觀世界歷史，「金錢」始終與人類史緊密相連。
 
       經濟學家大衛‧麥克威廉斯（David McWilliams）是位說故事大師，他將宏觀的金錢史，描繪地既有深度又有趣，帶領讀者優遊古今：從數千年前古巴比倫的貨幣起源，到絲綢之路的貿易開端；從摩洛哥馬拉喀什的市集，到當代紐約華爾街的金融中心。在這趟充滿軼聞與驚奇的旅程中，我們將遇見創新者、統治者、騙徒與投機者。各種人與金錢交織出的故事，不僅左右社會秩序，更改變了生活方式。
 
       金錢貫穿文明的每一個層面，從政治到藝術無所不在。它界定勞工與雇主、買家與賣家、商人與生產者的互動，也決定統治者與被統治者、國家與公民之間的關係。金錢能為慾望、藝術與創意定價，驅動人類追求享樂、創造與冒險，同時也喚醒人性的陰暗面——貪婪、嫉妒、仇恨、暴力，甚至殖民主義。金錢居於如此核心的位置，而本書為這個主題做了最精采的紀錄與詮釋。(文/博客來編譯)
 
       各界讚譽：
 
       「愛爾蘭經濟學家大衛‧麥克威廉斯邀我們搭上熱鬧非凡的列車，疾駛穿越金融演化史，從兩萬年前的伊尚戈骨，一路抵達今日的 M-Pesa（肯亞的行動支付系統）……讀來暢快，也獲益良多。」——《貨幣崛起》（The Ascent of Money）作者尼爾‧佛格森（Niall Ferguson）
 
       「它是罪惡，它買不到愛，它是萬惡之源，它讓世界運轉，它也是我所渴望的……金錢自古以來就是歌謠與諺語的題材。而今，我們終於迎來《The History of Money》，這部深入而迷人的作品，清楚解說了金錢的本質，以及它究竟如何運作。」——心理學大師史迪芬‧平克（Steven Pinker）

＂Learned, lively and often irreverent, David McWilliams’s The History of Money is rich with surprising details about currency, then and now.＂
--The New York Times

In this fresh, eye-opening global history, economist David McWilliams charts the relationship between humans and money--from clay tablets in Mesopotamia to cryptocurrency in Silicon Valley.

The story of humanity is inextricable from that of money. No innovation has defined our own evolution so thoroughly and changed the direction of our planet’s history so dramatically. And yet despite money’s primacy, most of us don’t truly understand it.

As leading economist David McWilliams shows, money is central to every aspect of our civilization, from the political to the artistic. ＂Money defines the relationship between worker and employer, buyer and seller, merchant and producer. But not only that: it also defines the bond between the governed and the governor, the state and the citizen. Money unlocks pleasure, puts a price on desire, art and creativity. It motivates us to strive, achieve, invent and take risks. Money also brings out humanity’s darker side, invoking greed, envy, hatred, violence and, of course, colonialism.＂

In The History of Money, McWilliams takes us across the world, from the birthplace of money in ancient Babylon to the beginning of trade along the Silk Road, from Marrakech markets to Wall Street. Along the way, we meet a host of innovators, emperors, frauds, and speculators, who have disrupted society and transformed the way we live. Filled with memorable anecdotes, and with a foreword by Michael Lewis, The History of Money is an essential, extremely readable history of humanity’s most consequential invention.

David McWilliams is a former central bank economist based In Dublin. He hosts The David McWilliams Podcast and is the founder of the world’s only economics and stand-up comedy festival, ＂Kilkenomics,＂ described by the Financial Times as ＂simply, the best economics conference in the world.＂ McWilliams also writes a weekly column for TheIrish Times and is adjunct professor of global economics at Trinity College Dublin.