Gold: The Once and Future Money

Nathan Lewis, an avid believer of the benefits of the Gold Standard & Low taxes, presents his view of what money fundamentally is, and the misunderstandings of a political economy and how they lead to the mismanagement of money. He offers concrete examples of periods of calm and crises contrasting the Gold Standard with the current Floating system. He puts the current 35+ year old floating system's relative youth into perspective, while attempting to debunk common misunderstandings about the Gold Standard.

Completely changed my view of value, currencies, and monetary history. He references a number of notable historic persons and their works, good starting points for my continued look into monetary economics.

Nathan Lewis: chief economist, writer, asset manager
Pros: fascinate read; comprehensive treatment of the subject.; debunked many commonly-held misinformation and economic mantra
Cons: lack of in-depth analysis to many events in the later chapters; a bit too much reductionism (contributing all explanations to stable currency and tax)