The World's Best Book Summaries
How did the idea of money develop? What does the history of money tell us about our world today? The history of money is one that starts with bartering and ends in the modern financial world. Money has been one of the primary factors in the creation of a global society. We’ll cover the origin of money and how the concept evolved over centuries.
What are the problems with capitalism? Are there ways around these problems? The problems with capitalism include inequality, exploitation, and aggressive greed. These problems don’t make capitalism inherently evil, but they are hard to rectify. We’ll look at the three biggest problems with capitalism.
A dollar bill is just a piece of paper. Why is a piece of paper with Alexander Hamilton’s or Benjamin Franklin’s face on it worth more than the paper of books filled with words? In other words, why does money have value? How does money get its value? Money has value because we all believe it’s valuable. We trust other people value it, and trust is the foundation of our economic system. We’ll cover the varying values of ancient currencies, the role of mutual trust, and the difference between inherent and noninherent value in money.
What is the history of capitalism? How did it originate? How is it tied to science and imperialism? What are some of its problems? We’ll cover the history of capitalism, from the invention of credit to the codependency of science and capitalism.
What were the types of money used throughout history? What were the advantages and disadvantages of these types of currency? Ancient types of money included cattle, animal skins, grain, salt, beads, and cloth. These have all been used as types of currency in various cultures and time periods. We’ll cover the major kinds of money throughout history and why a few particular types prevailed.
What does capitalism theory say about how the economy should be governed? What kind of ethics has capitalism introduced into society? Capitalism is a system of private ownership based on the ethics of individual wealth. It gets its name from the word “capital”: money and resources that are invested in the production of a product or service. We’ll cover the basics of capitalism theory and look at the new set of ethics capitalism introduced into society.
What is the barter system? How did the barter economy work before currencies were invented? What were its advantages? What were its problems? The barter system is a system of trading one thing for another. It was the predominant economy before the invention of money. We’ll cover how the barter system worked and the flaws in the barter economy.
Who is Wing Chau of The Big Short fame? What was his role in the 2008 financial crisis, and why was it controversial? And how did he make an estimated $26 million shuffling papers? Wing Chau is an investment advisor and bond manager whose role as a CDO manager was depicted in The Big Short. Wing Chau wasn’t happy with the way he came across in the book and movie. Learn why his position as a “CDO manager” was, and is, controversial and how he contributed to the 2008 financial crisis.
How were the credit rating agencies involved in the financial crisis of 2007-2008? Why did they fail so miserably in their role rating subprime? We’ll cover how credit rating agencies contributed to the financial crisis and why their failures were the result of both incompetence and greed.
The movie The Big Short, starring Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt, among others, is based on the 2010 book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis. Do you know the real story behind the movie? The Big Short explores the origins of and fallout from the 2007-2008 financial crisis through the eyes of a handful of eccentric and oddball investors who saw that the U.S. housing market—and, by extension, the entire financial system—was built on a foundation of sand.