The Power Of Paper is a cross between a history of paper, in particular paper money in all it’s many forms and the story of an extraordinary entrepreneur, Christopher Ondaatje. It does a great job of making the sometimes arcane world of finance more accessible. It describes events such as the South Sea Bubble and share his views on Alan Greenspan. The final chapter, “Warnings from History: The Abuse of Paper”, which was written before the current credit crunch, suggests that trouble is brewing in the world of finance. I doubt he expected to be proved right quite so quickly.

Christopher Ondaatje has had a number of jobs related to finance sometimes working directly in the industry and sometimes on the fringes before setting up his own businesses in publishing, art, investment brokerage and corporate finance. He was named an Officer, Order of Canada in 1993 and has received three honorary degrees, one from Dalhouise University in 1994, the second from the University of Buckingham in 2003, and the third from Exeter University in 2003. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen’s birthday honours list, June 2000, and awarded a Knighthood in the Queen’s honours list, June 2003.

I got several rather odd looks while reading this book (I tend to remove the dust jackets from hardbacks and the visible title is then “The Power of Paper”), everyone seemed to think I was mad, after all I was totally engrossed in a book about paper! I found it a fascinating read, if you’d like to learn more about the history and power of paper money then you will too.

You can buy it from Amazon UK or Amazon USA.

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