This episode in Alastair Sawday's ‘Little Book' series is a sharp, uncompromising view of money; how it works for us and how it works against us, and how we have the ability to turn it on its head.

Boyle takes us through a potted history of the origins and evolution of money citing pivotal moments and people in its history, but throughout he asks us to question our blind acceptance of its power over us and challenges us to create a system that will support a sustainable and just society. 

There are winners and losers in the existing monetary system that Boyle shows are there because we allow them to be, not because they have to be. 

Relatively modern institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are shown to be having a harmful effect on developing countries by promoting fundamentally unsustainable practices.  For example the structural adjustment programmes introduced by the IMF in exchange for loans insist ‘that poorer countries should shift resources from growing food for themselves towards cash crops' which only perpetuates their dependency on the richer countries. In contrast Boyle advocates the continued survival of natural diversity at a local level in order to retain a modicum of independence such as in the sub-Saharan Africa where women cultivate as many as 120 different plants in the spaces left alongside the cash crops. 

He highlights inspiring and proven alternatives to the established monetary system in which a few powerful nations and international corporations receive all of the rewards.  He provides contrasting examples such as the supermarket that removes the economic benefit from the locality compared with a community of local shops that trade among themselves.  In the latter paradigm what is earned by one shop is used in the next and so on, keeping the town centre vibrant and alive.  Boyle highlights that a pound spent on a local vegetable box scheme, for example, multiplies in the local economy nearly twice as much as a pound spent in a local supermarket. 

Relevant to the concerns of today in terms of the difference between a healthy economy and one in recession, Boyle focuses on the power of belief in terms of the perceived value.  He says that ‘image is central to the post-modern world of electronic money, and so is belief. If the world believes something is valuable, then it is...' This highlights the vulnerability of the existing monetary system to which we have relinquished control. 

By illustrating the benefits of alternatives such as micro-credit and citizens income Boyle arms us with solutions that we can adopt locally as well as globally - placing the power back in our hands rather than abdicating responsibility for our money to a system that does not serve us.

Although it is important reading and each of the mini-chapters are interesting the Little Money book is quite hard to read and the overall thesis is not pulled together in an easily digestible way. An academic book with some vital facts, but one that is quite demanding for the reader.