William J. Bernstein

Traces the evolution of international trade, from ancient Mesopotamia to today's global marketplace, exploring the influence of commerce on agriculture, technology, politics, and civilization as a whole.

How Trade Shaped the World

A Splendid Exchange

Bouke van der Bijl

An in-depth history of world trade. It's surprising to me that even hundreds of years ago it was quite common to consume grains, meat, and many other things from abroad. The main change right now is that ships are able to traverse the world much faster and reliably. Even during the time of the Roman Empire there was quite an extensive trade between Europe, India, and China through the Eastern Desert and red sea. Also neat to learn that the spread of Islam through Southern Asia and what is now south east Asia helped people trust one another and aid in trade. Same as the Mongol Empire, which made the Silk Road possible.

Jeni Enjaian

If this book had been read by a narrator with a smidgeon of talent then my opinion of the book might be higher. He was just a step above "I'm not going to bother reading this book" status. That made reading/listening to the book quite the chore. While the topic was in fact fascinating I did not get much out of the book primarily because of the narrator. I hate to leave the review here but I had a hard time discerning enough of the book to write a decent review.

A Splendid Exchange How Trade Shaped the World

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