Debt: The First 5,000 Years

OH boy! This book took a long time to read. It is so dense with information that every page required an hour to completely comprehend and digest. (An exaggeration, of course.) But there were definitely pages that took a toll on the intellect.

And the best part? It never really got to the point. I mean, maybe it eventually did, but by then you didn’t particularly care what “point” David was trying to make. You were too immersed in all the strange and fascinating ways he had taught you to look at the history of the world.

This was probably my first anthropology-heavy book, so maybe that’s just how they are! Graeber wanders through ancient civilizations, religion, slavery, war, markets, morality, human relationships—and somehow keeps dragging it all back to this seemingly simple idea of one person owing something to another.

But be prepared to have your preconceived notions about how MONEY, CREDIT, and DEBT first emerged thoroughly messed with.

Everything you know is wrong. SIMPLE.

Everything you’ve been taught about money is a big fat lie.

Or, at least, that’s what David wants you to believe.

And by the end of 5000 years, he makes a pretty damn interesting case for it.