In Debt: The First 5,000 Years, anthropologist David Graeber explores the fascinating history of debt and economies. It starts out by debunking the common myth that prior to coinage, everyone were trapped in this inefficient mode of barter.If you had a chicken to give and wanted sugar from Gandalf, but Gandalf was a vegetarian, you had to first trade your chicken to Frodo, who’d give you the barley, that Gandalf wanted for his sugar.
