'Money may be the husk of many things but not the kernel. It brings you food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; acquaintance, but not friends; servants, but not loyalty; days of joy, but not peace or happiness' - Henrik Ibsen Money is big in the news. Banks have collapsed, the property bubble has burst and national debts are at almost unimaginable levels. The Book of Money will help you understand what is happening. Mentioning terms such as the 'financial market' and 'global economy' are daunting prospects, even without the added dreaded notion of recession. Money, and our worldwide struggles with them, is a constant source of doom and gloom news bulletins, leaving us fearing for our savings and bank balances. More often than we consider, this anxiety is down to our lack of understanding of how the economic climates and financial systems work. The Book of Money will demystify and explain economics to help you understand the modern financial world, and answers all the questions you were too afraid to ask. This beautifully illustrated book, with full colour photography, offers comprehensive diagrams to explain the most baffling of systems such as 'Who Owes What?' with national debts, an accurate portrayal of how tax is spent, and the World's top 20 banks' assets. It shares a potted history of how money came to life, charting the rise of the shekel in the Mesopotamian civilisations, the 'Lydian Lion' and profiles of notable figures who wrote about money, such as Adam Smith and Karl Marx. You can explore the many different types of banks with descriptions of how they function, varieties of bonds and how they can affect you, the structures of hedge funds and how the criminality and money intertwine through fraud, rogue states and cybercrime. The Book of Money Includes... A Brief History of Money Rich World, Poor World Money and Government Banks & Banking The Markets Investing & Finance Money & Business The Science of Money Money & The Law Life Stages Saving, Spending & Giving ... and much more!

"A sweeping work of history and analysis, Changing Fortunes chronicles the worlds economic upheavals since 1945 and the challenges to American prosperity and hegemony--from the perspective of two distinguished statesman, an American and a Japanese." "Paul Volcker, the legendary former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, and Toyoo Gyohten, one of Japan's leading economic policy makers, have been major figures on the world scene for more than two decades. In Changing Fortunes, they explain the huge changes in the international monetary order both helped to shape. With candor and insight, Volcker and Gyohten explore the decisions and personalities that have influenced the world's economy over the last fifty years." "Changing Fortunes begins with the stability and wealth of the Bretton Woods era and stretches through the financial turmoils of the Vietnam War; the devaluation, floating, and ensuing decline of the dollar; the oil shocks of the 1970s and the Federal Reserves battle against inflation; the Latin American debt crisis; and, finally, the Reagan administration's attempt to manage the international economy after first ignoring the consequences of its policies for the rest of the world." "Volcker and Gyohten recount each episode from an American and a Japanese position, offering a uniquely broad view of critical issues. Through keen portraits of the people and the politics of international economics, the authors bring a complex subject to life and address fundamental questions for the world's economic order after the Cold War--a world in which the United States must share the burdens of leadership." "As Paul Volcker writes in the introduction: "How much of the relative decline of the United States was natural, how much of it was desirable, and how much of it came from self-inflicted wounds? Should we, with the help of the Japanese, have worked harder to maintain the Bretton Woods system and the stability its exchange rates provided? Has the breakdown of that system been partly responsible for the slower world growth and greater instability in the past two decades? Where do we go from here without so dominant and enlightened a leader as the United States was at the end of World War II?"" "Lucid, accessible, and full of challenging insights, Changing Fortunes is essential reading for anyone interested in the world's money--past, present, and future."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Ferguson tells the human story behind the evolution of money, from its origins in ancient Mesopotamia to the latest Wall Street upheavals. The author shows that finance is, in fact, the foundation of human progress.

The universal lament about money is that there is never enough. We spend endless hours trying to figure out ways to stretch every dollar and kicking ourselves whenever we spend too much or save too little. For all the stress and effort we put into every choice, why are most of us unhappy about our finances? According to Laura Vanderkam, the key is to change your perspective. Instead of looking at money as a scarce resource, consider it a tool that you can use creatively to build a better life for yourself and the people you care about. Drawing on the latest happiness research as well as the stories of dozens of real people, Vanderkam offers a contrarian approach that forces us to examine our own beliefs, goals, and values.

From Simon & Schuster, The World's Money is Michael Moffitt's exploration to international banking from Bretton Woods to the brink of insolvency. For any reader looking to understand our banking system and its many failings, The World's Money is a must read and, despite, its publication date, its principles remain as relevant today as they did 30 years ago.

The 10th anniversary edition, with new chapters on the crash, Chimerica, and cryptocurrency "[An] excellent, just in time guide to the history of finance and financial crisis." —The Washington Post "Fascinating." —Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek In this updated edition, Niall Ferguson brings his classic financial history of the world up to the present day, tackling the populist backlash that followed the 2008 crisis, the descent of "Chimerica" into a trade war, and the advent of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, with his signature clarity and expert lens. The Ascent of Money reveals finance as the backbone of history, casting a new light on familiar events: the Renaissance enabled by Italian foreign exchange dealers, the French Revolution traced back to a stock market bubble, the 2008 crisis traced from America's bankruptcy capital, Memphis, to China's boomtown, Chongqing. We may resent the plutocrats of Wall Street but, as Ferguson argues, the evolution of finance has rivaled the importance of any technological innovation in the rise of civilization. Indeed, to study the ascent and descent of money is to study the rise and fall of Western power itself.