Money Before Banks: The little history of money, from barter to the first fortunes - understand the basics of finance through the great lessons of His (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798172774348)

A shell once bought a house. Salt once paid an army. A flower once ruined an entire country.

And behind each of these true stories lies a lesson about money that hasn't aged in five thousand years.

This book is not a finance course. No charts. No jargon. No products to sell. Just stories - true, simple, ones that anyone can understand - telling the birth of money, from the first barter to the tulip mania.

Through King Croesus, the granaries of Mesopotamia, the Phoenician merchants and the bankers of Venice, you'll discover where money comes from, how it really works, and above all the few timeless rules the powerful understood... and that most people still ignore.

Through these pages, you'll finally understand:

▸ why keeping part of what you earn changes everything;
▸ how to make your money work instead of letting it sleep;
▸ when a debt becomes a bridge... or a trap;
▸ why you should never bet everything on one place;
▸ how to keep a cool head when everyone else loses theirs.

No promises of easy riches. Just the essentials. The real ones. The kind that never age.

When you turn the last page, you'll know more about money than almost everyone around you.

And it will all have begun with a story.

A short, lively book, to read in one sitting - and to give to anyone who wants to finally understand money.