Minted: The Story of the World’s Money by Johnny Acton is an amazing book about the history of money around the world, from bartering to credit cards. It begins by talking about the birth of money and how money had to have certain properties including scarcity, durability, and portability. It then gives history of the three major currencies in the world: The United States Dollar, the Great British Pound, and the Euro. Next it talks about currency around the world from A-Z. It has 68 pages and pictures of currency from everywhere from Afghanistan to Zambia. Personally, I found the part about Antarctica’s money quite  interesting. At the end of the book, there is a section about unusual denominations of currency around the world such as the Jersey 1/13, 1/26, and 1/52-shilling coins. The most fascinating part of the book to me was Burma’s 15, 35, and 75 kyats. The dictator, Ne Win cancelled those denominations and made 45 and 90 kyat notes due to the digits adding up to his favorite number, 9.

This is an amazing book with many pictures and many random and unusual facts about money, of which I have only mentioned a few of in this review.