The end of money counterfeiters, preachers, techies, dreamers-and the coming cashless society

"The age of paper dollars and metal coins is coming to a close. In The End of Money, David Wolman introduces the people, technologies, and trends powering this shakeup, taking us to hotspots of the cashless revolution. He zooms from the cash-strapped slums of Delhi, to the tech-obsessed streets of T...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wolman, David
Format: Books Print Book
Language:English
Published: Boston, MA : Da Capo Press, 2012.
Edition:1st Da Capo Press ed.
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Summary:"The age of paper dollars and metal coins is coming to a close. In The End of Money, David Wolman introduces the people, technologies, and trends powering this shakeup, taking us to hotspots of the cashless revolution. He zooms from the cash-strapped slums of Delhi, to the tech-obsessed streets of Tokyo, to London to hobnob with digital cash gurus. Then it's on to Reykjavik, where Icelanders are about to kill their national currency; Washington, to learn about high-tech counterfeiting; and Los Angeles, where scientists study our brains on cash. Along the way, Wolman examines the implications of next-generation payment innovations, investigates alternative and virtual currencies, and showcases the boon in mobile-phone banking. As cash gets pushed toward extinction, now is the time to explore its effect on our wallets and our lives"--
"The End of Money is the story of hard currency--its history, conflicts, champions, detractors, and eventual demise. As the role of bills and coins in our everyday lives and in the economy lessens, real money is becoming not merely an abstraction, but an abstraction of an abstraction. What will an increasingly cashless future mean for society, and for the people whose careers are linked to the production, management, and collection of hard currency? This is their story, but it is also our story--because the fate of real money impacts all of our wallets"--
Physical Description:x, 228 p. ; 24 cm.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-218) and index.
ISBN:9780306818837 (hardback)
0306818833 (hardback)
9780306819469 (e-book)
0306819465 (e-book)
Author Notes:David Wolman is a contributing editor at Wired . He has written for such publications as Outside , Mother Jones , Newsweek , Discover , Forbes , and Salon , and his work appeared in Best American Science Writing 2009 . A former Fulbright journalism fellow in Japan and graduate of Stanford University's journalism program, he now lives in Portland, Oregon, where he received a 2011 Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship. His previous books are A Left-Hand Turn Around the World and Righting the Mother Tongue . Visit his website at www.david-wolman.com and follow him on Twitter at @davidwolman.