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Review: Money for Nothing: The Scientists, Fraudsters, and Corrupt Politicians Who Reinvented Money, Panicked a Nation, and Made the World Rich

Money for Nothing: The Scientists, Fraudsters, and Corrupt Politicians Who Reinvented Money, Panicked a Nation, and Made the World Rich

Money for Nothing: The Scientists, Fraudsters, and Corrupt Politicians Who Reinvented Money, Panicked a Nation, and Made the World Rich by Thomas Levenson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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What a great story! A romp through English history around 1700, showcasing several disparate characters (yes, all Great White Men) who unwittingly wove together the financial strands that built the Empire upon which the sun never set. In Econ101 I had learned of the first economic bubbles--tulipmania, and the South Sea bubble. The first was based on a product (tulip bulbs); the second, on trading promises. This book treats not of tulips, but of the imaginative development of the tradable stock certificate. Isaac Newton was so much more than a gravity and calculus inventor. What a fertile time for new thinking was 1700! Each chapter of this book describes a different character and his eventual influence on modern thinking.

Most of these characters are familiar, but their intertwined involvement is new to us. The author proposes one of the primary reasons for the success of the British empire endeavors of the 17 and 18 hundreds was due to their amazing ability to finance a military and trading enterprise much grander than any other. 


This book is a must for any student of British history, or financial history. The narrative is fast-paced and exciting, imagining the fervor of scientific discovery as well as stock market fever! I also note the advances in governmental ethics since that time, wherein we thankfully now have greater expectations of honesty and probity in our representatives. The years 2016-2020 in the US hearkened back to those self-dealing days of yesteryear. 

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