I think the best way to understand it all is to understand the history of how it came to be. I would start with something like: Money: Whence it Came, Where it

I think the best way to understand it all is to understand the history of how it came to be. I would start with something like: Money: Whence it Came, Where it Went by John Kenneth Galbraith The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson