The History of Money by David McWilliams – Nonfiction Review
Sounds like a snooze, but it’s a delight. A fascinating, surprisingly entertaining history of how money shaped — and continues to shape — everything.
My Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5 stars: Great)
- Category: Economics, History, Business
- Published: 2024
- Runtime: 12 hours
Full disclosure: I started this out of obligation, but ended up loving it. A history of money sounded worthwhile but dull. Instead, it’s one of the most entertaining nonfiction books I’ve listened to in a while. It’s full of astonishing info and changed how I think about the economic systems we operate in every day.
David McWilliams opens with a reframe that sets the tone for the whole book: money isn’t just currency, it’s technology. And like all technologies, it has network effects. Money only works because everyone agrees it does. The moment people stop believing in its value (see: hyperinflation), the technology fails. That single lens makes the entire 5,000-year history that follows feel coherent and surprisingly urgent.
The book is strongest in its first half, covering ancient financial innovation from the Sumerians through the Renaissance. A few highlights that surprised me: the Sumerians didn’t just invent money, they used many tools we do today including high-medium-low projections of business profits. Gutenberg’s printing press wasn’t invented to bring books to the people; it was originally funded by the Catholic Church as a massive money making scheme to mass-produce indulgences. The first widely trusted international currency wasn’t backed by a superpower; it was Florentine gold coins, trusted globally because Florence made excellent textiles.
The later chapters on modern economics — 2008, fiat currency, bitcoin — cover ground that will feel more familiar if you follow financial news. Still worth it, just slightly less revelatory.
Put It To Work
- Money is invented, which means it can be reinvented: Every financial system we live inside was designed by someone, often in response to a specific crisis. Understanding that history makes you less likely to treat current systems as inevitable or permanent. That’s useful context for anyone thinking about AI’s economic implications, crypto, or the future of the US dollar.
- Control of money is control of behavior: From medieval church tithes to Hitler’s counterfeit British pound scheme (yes, really — he successfully produced undetectable fake pounds and nearly dropped them over England by air), whoever controls a monetary system has extraordinary leverage over how people act. Worth keeping in mind as digital currencies evolve.
- The 2008 crisis in one sentence: Banks simultaneously lent to developers to build houses and to buyers to purchase them — inflating both supply and demand on borrowed money — until everyone tried to sell at once and no one would buy.
The Audiobook Experience
★★★★★
Author-narrated, and it makes all the difference. McWilliams is Irish, and honestly, that accent alone makes 12 hours fly by. More importantly, he sounds like he’s telling you the most exciting story he knows, which it turns out he is.
Heads up on navigation: chapters aren’t labeled in the audiobook menu, only parts. But each chapter opens with the author reading its title, so you can easily scrub back to reorient yourself if you lose the thread.
High attention required compared to most narrative nonfiction — this rewards focus. I listened while cooking and doing chores but occasionally needed to circle back on denser sections.
Audio or print? Audio, for sure. The narration elevates the material significantly.
Read It or Skip It?
Read it if: you want historical context for the economic questions dominating headlines right now, like AI investment cycles, national debt, fiat currency, the dollar’s future dominance.
Skip it if: you’re looking for a deep technical dive into modern monetary policy specifically. This is a sweeping history, not an economics textbook.
Related: Boomerang by Michael Lewis for a surprisingly funny account of modern financial events (really, most of Michael Lewis’s books on finance), The Changing World Order by Ray Dalio for a more serious view of present-day financial system evolution.
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I only recommend audiobooks and resources I’ve personally experienced. This post contains affiliate links — if you purchase through them, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
