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A Quick History of Money : From Cash Cows to Crypto-Currencies

A Quick History of Money : From Cash Cows to Crypto-Currencies

Published: 6 Jul 2021

Paperback / softback, 128 pages

Recommended for age 9+ and 11+

By Clive Gifford

Illustrated by Rob Flowers

Published by Wide Eyed Editions

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Why is a GBP5 note worth GBP5? Where do coins come from? What do banks actually do? All this and so much more is answered in A Quick History of Money, a crash course from cash cows to cryptocurrency. Money might sound all grown-up and serious, but the history of buying, selling, saving and stealing is full of crazy stories and unbelievable facts. A Quick History of Money is here to show you the silly side, as well as give you the lowdown on the important stuff like interest, stocks and shares and wealth inequality.

You will discover: How the earliest societies got by without a penny in their pockets. Why gold gets all the glory. How the first banks started making money from money.

Who invented the first banknotes and the concept of 'fiat' money. The craziest money-making cons of all time, from shaving coins to selling the Eiffel Tower... twice.

How wealth is measured in the modern-day. History's most expensive money mistakes. What money might look like in the future.

Great tips for slick saving and smart spending. Plus, read about the world's weirdest wonga, from the four-tonne stones used as currency on the island of Yap, to teacups and seashells in ancient Asia, to beaver pelts in colonial Canada. Learn how hyperinflation leads to some mind-blowing money maths like the Bitcoins used to buy two pizzas in 2010 that would be worth GBP75 million today.

The Quick Histories series

A Quick History of Money : From Cash Cows to Crypto-Currencies
A Quick History of Politics : From Pharaohs to Fair Votes
A Quick History of the Universe