Graeber's book is about how debts work in different societies and cultures and what they mean. i finished the book being more confused about debt and money tha

Graeber's book is about how debts work in different societies and cultures and what they mean. i finished the book being more confused about debt and money than when i started. that said, it was an interesting read, i don't regret reading it. in contrast, this brief blog post by Morgan Housel gives a small visual metophor and a rule of thumb about how too much debt might be fatal when operating a business. arguably it teaches you something actionable, but doesn't tell you anything about your society. Graeber's book is not at all concerned with giving you actionable advice on how to best use (or avoid) debt to run a business within your society. that said, Graeber's book may give you some actionable advice on how to get along better with your neighbours, family and community. the tip would be: try to have everyone in the village owe each other debts. the idea is everyone should feel they have some obligation to others that they can never fully repay, but maybe they can return some other incomparable favour or assistance in future. this encourages cooperation. trying to fully repay or balance these debts would be frowned upon -- such behaviour is what one might do if one were seeking to not participate in society any more. not pro-social.