From new crypto kings to the invention of money: 2024's best books on economics
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Down through the ages, Money been the object of humanity’s desires and the engine of our genius. For some, it is civilisation’s greatest invention, and whether we like it or not, our world revolves around it.
Yet we rarely stop to think about money - what exactly is it, where does it come from, and can it run out? What is this force that drives trade, ignites revolutions, fuels discoveries and inspires art, philosophy, and science? Economist David McWilliams takes an often irreverent journey through the history of money, from ancient Africa’s tally sticks to medieval Arab mathematics, the fervour of the French Revolution, and on the birth of the US dollar. Tracking humanity’s complex relationship with legal tender, right up to today’s crypto-currency era, McWilliams tracks the innovators and disruptors whose ideas about money have reshaped societies and sparked progress over the last 5,000 years.
Ever since he was a kid on the mean streets of East London in the shadow of Canary Wharf’s skyscrapers, Gary Stevenson wanted something better and bigger.
In some ways, he believes he was born to be a trader. “It wasn’t just the streets of East London I shared with those gleaming, towering temples of capitalism. There was something else too, some kind of shared belief. Something about money. Something about want.” The importance of money, and the knowledge that his family didn’t have much of it, was something burning deep within him. In 2006 he entered the Citibank Tower in Canary Wharf, for a job on the Citibank trading floor. It was a place he shared with colleagues who were dysfunctional geniuses and insecure bullies - but where, against the odds, he became the bank’s most profitable trader, closing deals worth nearly a trillion dollars a day. In a world governed by time zones and the 24/7 cycle of money that never sleeps, Gary Stevenson climbed onward and upward on his journey to reach the highest peak. It was a journey that came at considerable cost, and one he stepped away from before becoming totally consumed by the financial beast that never sleeps.
Sam Bankman-Fried wasn’t just rich even by the multi-zero standards of today’s financial world.
Before he turned 30 he'd become the world's youngest billionaire as the founder of FTX crypto-currency exchange, making a record fortune within that volatile new money frenzy. He was the go-to guy on the union of AI, bitcoin and crypto, as CEOs and world leaders vied for his time. At one point he even considered paying off the entire national debt of the Bahamas so he could take his business there.
“I asked him how much it would take for him to sell FTX and go do something other than make money,” Lewis writes. “He thought the question over. ‘One hundred and fifty billion dollars,’ he finally said-though he added that he had use for ‘infinity dollars’”. But then it all fell apart for the so-called genius in a rumpled t-shirt and cargo shorts. Applying the same detailed eye he brought to previous bestsellers like Liar’s Poker and Moneyball, Lewis was right there when it happened, with open access to Bankman-Fried during his epic rise, through the trajectory of a character who never played by any rules.
For centuries, women were denied equal access to money and the freedom and power that came with it. They were restricted from owning property or transacting in real estate. Even well into the 20th century, women could not take out their loans or own bank accounts without their husband's permission. They could be fired for getting married or pregnant, and if they still had a job, they could be kept from certain roles, restricted from working longer hours, and paid less than men for equal work. It was a raw deal, and women weren't happy with it - so they pushed back. In Women Money Power, financial journalist Josie Cox tells the story of women's fight for financial freedom. A journalist and author, Cox has worked on staff for Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, MSNBC and Fortune. She is also a founding editor of The Persistent, a digital journalism platform committed to amplifying women's voices and perspectives that launched in 2024. The book is an account of the female pioneers who took on social mores and the law, including the ‘Rosies’ who filled industrial jobs vacated by men during WWII, the heiress whose fortune helped create the birth control pill, the brassy investor who broke into the boys' club of the New York Stock Exchange, and the namesake of landmark equal pay legislation who refused to accept discrimination. Cox delves deep into the challenges women face today and the culture and systems that hold them back.
From award-winning journalist Parmy Olson, Supremacy is the story of the battle between two AI companies, their struggles to use their tech for good, and the dangerous direction that they are now going in.
In the ruthless shadow race between Microsoft and Google, both compete to develop a mass-market AI, while juggling existential questions of ethics, human progress and the future of the world as we know it. Olson, a tech journalist for Bloomberg, charts the creation of ChatGPT and how the world changed overnight. Rather than a new tech toy, the real danger dawned that untested automation could undermine our way of life, sucking value out of our economy, replacing jobs in all sectors and enabling a new era of disinformation. Featuring a cast of larger-than-life characters, including Elon Musk, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Peter Thiel, Supremacy is a story of manipulation, secrecy and ruthless progress that will impact the world into the future.