Foundation for Human Flourishing
Source details
- Canonical URL
- Foundation for Human Flourishing
Other formats
Bibliographic details
- Authors: Jeff Kearns
- Published: December 3, 2024
Overview
- Book reviewed: Money: A Story of Humanity by David McWilliams.
- Publication details (as given): Simon & Schuster, London, 2024, 416 pp., £25.
- Review author: JEFF KEARNS (on the staff of Finance & Development).
- Framing claim: “Our entire world revolves around this strange, invented notion,”—money presented as a foundational technology that underpinned and animated human flourishing.
- Temporal sweep emphasized: 5,000 years of history from early coins to crypto.
Thesis and scope
- Central question explored: Whether money enabled breakthroughs like writing, math, law, democracy, and philosophy, or whether those breakthroughs guided money’s evolution (“chicken-or-egg” formulation).
- Core proposition: Proficiency with the “ingenious technology” of money accompanied major human innovations; money is presented as one foundational technology often overlooked.
- Geographic focus: Strong emphasis on Europe, with other cradles of money (for example, China) touched only in passing; author states a need for selective focus linking monetary innovation to European economic progress.
Narrative, themes, and notable arguments
- Narrative method: Lively, conversational storytelling described as a “romp with an economist.”
- Human-centered account: “People predominate.” Historical figures featured include Nero, Jesus, Johannes Gutenberg, Charles Talleyrand, Alexander Hamilton, and Charles Darwin (linked through Thomas Malthus).
- Moral and political dimensions: Money used to divide and to wage warfare; European financial innovations linked to unleashing colonialism.
- Cultural connections: Digressions connect money to arts and urban life (example: James Joyce opening Dublin’s first cinema in 1909 used to illuminate wider economic and historical linkages including the Suez Canal, Karl Marx, and the role of open cities like Trieste).
Author background and approach
- David McWilliams’s background (as presented): former monetary economist at the Central Bank of Ireland and forecaster for commercial banks; later an author, journalist, documentarian, and festival host (Kilkenomics).
- Style and intent: Chatty, engaging, aimed at making money accessible and exciting; criticizes economists for making money dull and for not explaining why money matters beyond technical mechanics.
Comparisons, influences, and sources
- Works cited by the reviewer as antecedents or comparable titles: Money by Eric Lonergan; Money: The Unauthorised Biography by Felix Martin; The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest by Edward Chancellor.
- Author’s prior dissemination: Some material derives from McWilliams’s podcast and public storytelling.
Strengths and limitations (as noted)
- Strengths:
- Memorable, entertaining recounting of monetary history.
- Effective linking of money to human motives—“fuels our deepest urges, good and evil.”
- Accessible framing intended to resonate broadly.
- Limitations:
- Eurocentric emphasis; other monetary histories receive only brief treatment.
- Selective focus may leave out equally valid non-European narratives.
Key quotations and lines from the review
- “The entire world revolves around the invented notion of money.”
- Money described as “one foundational technology, often overlooked, that underpinned and animated human flourishing.”
- McWilliams’s self-characterization: a writer who did a “romp with an economist,” and a critique that his “own tribe” has taken the fun out of money.
Source: F&D Magazine — Foundation for Human Flourishing, Jeff Kearns, December 2024.
Content in this bundle
- Foundation for Human Flourishing