David McWilliams

In this fresh, eye-opening global history, economist David McWilliams charts the relationship between humans and money—from clay tablets in Mesopotamia to cryptocurrency in Silicon Valley. The story of humanity is inextricable from that of money. No innovation has defined our own evolution so thoroughly and changed the direction of our planet’s history so dramatically. And yet despite money’s primacy, most of us don’t truly understand it. As leading economist David McWilliams shows, money is central to every aspect of our civilization, from the political to the artistic. “Money defines the relationship between worker and employer, buyer and seller, merchant and producer. But not only that: it also defines the bond between the governed and the governor, the state and the citizen. Money unlocks pleasure, puts a price on desire, art and creativity. It motivates us to strive, achieve, invent and take risks. Money also brings out humanity’s darker side, invoking greed, envy, hatred, violence and, of course, colonialism.” In The History of Money, McWilliams takes us across the world, from the birthplace of money in ancient Babylon to the beginning of trade along the Silk Road, from Marrakech markets to Wall Street. Along the way, we meet a host of innovators, emperors, frauds, and speculators, who have disrupted society and transformed the way we live. Filled with memorable anecdotes, and with a foreword by Michael Lewis, The History of Money is an essential, extremely readable history of humanity’s most consequential invention.

A Story of Humanity

The History of Money

why we ended up in a debtors' prison - and how we can break free

The good room

Ireland's New Elite

The Pope's Children

How the Pope's Children Rewrote the Rules for Ireland

Renaissance Nation

In 'Follow The Money' we catch up with old friends, Breakfast Roll Man and Miss Pencil Skirt, and meet new characters like the Merchant of Ennis, Shylock and the Godfather.

The Tale of the Merchant of Ennis

Follow the Money

The Pope's Children are turning 30 and in the four years since David McWilliams introduced us to the generation that could have had it all, the Pope's Children have been betrayed. This book is about real people and how good people can be broken by bad economics. But it doesn't have to be like this. There is a way out. We catch up with old friends, Breakfast Roll Man and Miss Pencil Skirt, and meet new characters like the Merchant of Ennis, Shylock and the Godfather. We have late night tea with Brian Lenihan and cross swords with Seanie Fitzpatrick. We learn why the average drug dealer on the side of the street has more in common with the banker than either would care to mention, as we follow the money – in both rackets – from its source at the very top right down to the `buy now, pay later' deals at rock bottom. Why should we trust the people who got us into this mess in the first place? They were wrong then and they are wrong now. The politicians, bankers and developers think they can hand us the bill and walk away from the carnage. They want us to follow a route that will make things worse for the ordinary man on the street while saving the bankers at the top of the tree, insisting that there is no other way. But there is an obvious alternative which has been adopted by every economy that has successfully emerged from this type of crisis. Follow the Money is an optimistic and uplifting book about that alternative, which is well within our grasp if only we'd wake up and seize it. `If you want a dry economic tome, this is not the book for you. However, for analysis of post-boom Ireland, how we got here and the issues we now face, it makes a lot of serious points in an entertaining and provocative way' Sunday Business Post `This is a vivid, witty and provocative book' Richard Bruton, Irish Independent

David McWilliams Ireland 2

David McWilliams' Follow the Money

In this groundbreaking book, renowned global economist David McWilliams unlocks the mysteries and the awesome power of money: what it is, how it works, and why it matters. The story of money is the story of our desires, our genius, and our downfalls. Money is power—and power beguiles. Nothing we’ve invented as a species has defined our own evolution so thoroughly and changed the direction of our planet’s history so dramatically. Money has shaped the very essence of what it means to be human. We can’t hope to understand ourselves without it. And yet despite money’s primacy, most of us don’t truly understand it. As economist David McWilliams states, money is everything. “Money defines the relationship between worker and employer, buyer and seller, merchant and producer. But not only that: it also defines the bond between the governed and the governor, the state and the citizen. Money unlocks pleasure, puts a price on desire, art and creativity. It motivates us to strive, achieve, invent and take risks. Money also brings out humanity’s darker side, invoking greed, envy, hatred, violence and, of course, colonialism.” Money isn’t just paper or coins or virtual currency. Money is humanity. Leading economics expert, David McWilliams answers these questions and more in Money, an epic, breathlessly entertaining journey across the world through the present and the past, from the birthplace of money in ancient Babylon to the beginning of trade along the silk road to China, from Marrakech markets to Wall Street and the dawn of cryptocurrency. By tracking its history, McWilliams uncovers our relationship with money, transforming our perspective on its impact on the world right now. McWilliams is no dusty economist; he is a communicator at the highest level, a highly telegenic and marketable expert who is as comfortable in front of a large audience talking about his favourite subject as he is appearing on podcasts, social media, and even in stand-up comedy. He’s been called Ireland’s most important economist and is ranked among the leading economists working today. The story of money is the story of earth’s most inventive, destructive, and dangerous animal: Homo sapiens. It is our story.

Money

Carole Boulanger

This book provides a holistic and multi professional approach to maximising the chances of a successful recovery for the ICU patient surviving a period of critical illness. An admission to ICU with a critical illness has a well-recognised physical, psychological and social impact all on the individual and their loved ones of which need to remain in sharp focus from admission. Successful discharge from ICU requires significant attention to detail on all aspects of care concurrently to ensure a return to the best quality of life achievable. Early focus on structured rehabilitation and avoidance /prevention of ICU related complications are identified as paramount to improve both short and long term outcomes. This attention to detail needs to continue through the transition to the ward and planning discharge home. ‘Passport to a successful ICU discharge’ explores key areas to look forward to a successful recovery beginning with admission through to discharge in a holistic way. A Passport to discharge covers some key aspects to be achieved to the highest standards to create the best environment for success. A focus on promoting the best quality of life for the individual by careful attention to detail to benchmark every stage of their ICU journey which begins with admission. Chapters written by multidisciplinary ICU team members provide expert guidance and an evidence based approach to improve outcomes and return patients to their families.

Passport to Successful ICU Discharge

After ten years of a boom and on the eve of a downturn, Irish society has been turned on its head by a Generation War. The clear winners have been the middle-aged Jagger Generation, enormously enriched by the property boom, while the younger generation – the cash-stripped Jugglers – will be badly exposed as the credit wave recedes. Then there are the Bono Boomers, wedged between the winners and losers, who are not about to grow up just because the economy is doing badly, preferring instead to enjoy life as permalescents – a permanently adolescent generation, too young to be old, too old to be hip. As the Jaggers, Jugglers and Bono Boomers struggle to maintain their slice of a diminished pie, David McWilliams explains how it's time to take stock, learn from history and harness the collective power of past generations. He argues that if Ireland can exploit its unique ecomonic resource – it's global tribe – Ireland as a nation will be reinvigorated. He believes that now is the time to play the Generation Game.

The Generation Game

Renaissance Nation is the story of how the Pope’s Children rewrote the rules for Ireland. In four decades, bookended by the visits of the pope in September 1979 and August 2018, Ireland has managed to become one of the wealthiest and most progressive nations in the world. Here David McWilliams presents the story of modern Ireland and how, once we threw off the shackles and replaced the torpor of collective dogma with the vibrancy of individual freedom, the economy too started to motor. Meet the everyman revolutionaries who made it all happen, heroes like Sliotar Mom and Flat White Man. Feel the pulse of the Radical Centre and celebrate the optimism of a tolerant, accepting, ‘live and let live’ nation. In a world where other nations are divided, their economies stalled, lurching to the extremes, convulsed by existential fights pitting one part of the population against the other, Renaissance Nation shows how a well off, relatively chilled Ireland, with a growing economy and surfing a wave of liberal optimism, may not be perfect, but it isn’t a bad place to be. A triumph of popular economics and social history, this is the story of how, almost without anyone noticing, an insurgent middle class carried off something extraordinary – a quiet revolution – and with it, reshaped our national destiny.

David McWilliams

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