Money: A Story of Humanity by David McWilliams

Money: A Story of Humanity by David McWilliams explores money as a defining human invention and a force that has shaped societies over time. Written by a global economist, the book frames money as an object of desire and an engine for human ingenuity, setting out to examine its role in how people live and think.

Spanning more than 5,000 years, it traces a route from clay tablets in Mesopotamia through to today’s cryptocurrency. Along the way, it presents a journey of innovation, disruption and transformation, asking a central question: across millennia, have people changed money, or has money changed humanity?

Synopsis

David McWilliams takes readers from early forms of record-keeping on clay tablets in Mesopotamia to modern cryptocurrency, presenting an epic history of money across 5,000 years. The narrative focuses on innovation, disruption and transformation, and considers whether money has evolved through human design or whether it has, in turn, reshaped humanity.