Money
The Unauthorised Biography
- Published: 6 June 2013
- ISBN: 9781448138913
- Imprint: Vintage Digital
- Format: EBook
- Pages: 352
It’s a wealth of understanding for understanding wealth
Esquire
Combines breadth of scholarship with a wealth of practical experience in tackling the most elusive of economic subjects - the nature of money
John Kay
Magnificent – hugely imaginative, clear, coherent
Robert Skidelsky
A most accessible and thrilling read. If you want to read just one book about money, this is it
Ha-Joon Chang
Martin’s remarkable book, Money, is economic history – and indeed cultural anthropology – with a difference... His sparkling book is worth taking seriously
Raymond Tallis, Prospect
We should ask ourselves not just: what is the euro?; but also: what is money? An excellent new book, Money, written by the macro-economist Felix Martin, does just this
Ben Wright, Financial News
Felix Martin condenses the broadest of subjects into a searing and potentially life-changing read that destroys all accepted knowledge of this thing we sell our souls for
Shortlist
The virtue of Martin’s book is that it exposes the deep flaws in the way we have traditionally thought about money. The exposition is clear… Fresh
Alex Brummer, New Statesman
If you don’t know about economics, this is a really good introduction…gets right to the heart of it
Misha Glenny
I’m going to read Money by Felix Martin. I’m determined to find out how it works
Lucy Mangan, Stylist
Stimulating and timely
David Priestland, Guardian
Since the banking crisis, masses of books arrive every week. Scanning them all would be incompatible with eating and sleeping... Much the most entertaining is just called Money
Samuel Brittan, Financial Times
Entertaining
Economist
Two chapters in, I realized that this was the book I needed when I was having conversations during the Occupy movement, and friends were all trying to understand what had happened and what we wanted to happen differently, and I think if I had read this at the time I would have had more language and stories to talk about that whole argument
Ellah Allfrey
A very spritely and lucid and well written book
Kevin Jackson
Covers a vast geographical and historical spread
Martin Shubik, Nature
Like a thriller writer, Martin inserts little hooks at the end of his chapters for the next section – and he deserves…credit for creating a readable work on such a potentially bone-dry subject
Ian Birrell, Observer
Martin tells an interesting story and his diagnosis is persuasive
Josh Glancy, Sunday Times
A superb synthesis...a lucid, colourful introduction to 3,000 years of monetary history... So replete with literary and historical examples that the story almost tells itself
Martin Sandbu, Financial Times
Engrossing
Jon Ihle, Sunday Business Post
This book is a great read, and one that I think non-economists will find completely accessible… The historical detail is fascinating, and the ideas they are used to illustrate are clear and thought provoking, so I’m very glad I read it
Simon Wren-Lewis, MainlyMacro Blog
[Martin] demonstrates a capacity both for wit and literary style in this engaging, timely history
Frank Trentman, BBC History Magazine
Brilliant… A fascinating new way of telling the story of what money is
John Lanchester, Guardian
An entertaining history of one of the most powerful, misunderstood forces in the world around us. Not one of those awful books about how to get rich
Stuff
A wonderfully original and entertaining history of money. If you have ever wondered why the whole system seems so dangerously and chronically unstable, this is the book to read
Liaquat Ahamed, author of Lords of Finance, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
Splendid
Adam Fergusson, Literary Review
This is an excellent book to read, full of interesting history and insight, and very clear and well written... A beautiful and sometimes even entrancing study of human thought about money
Tyler Cowen, Times Literary Supplement
An important insight into how finance and economics blindsided each other in the runup to the financial crisis
George Hay, Reuters
Fizzing with ideas
Sunday Telegraph
Compulsively readable
New York Times
Startling insights in clear, intelligent prose… You will emerge better informed, and also surprisingly entertained
Nicholas Lezard, Guardian
A terrific analysis
William Leith, Evening Standard
Money isn’t just an entertaining read, it’s also really useful
Big Issue
A thought-provoking book
Good Book Guide