Double Entry: How The Merchants of Venice Created Modern Finance by Jane Gleeson-White
"So it has come to this. The global biodiversity crisis is so severe that brilliant scientists, political leaders, eco-warriors, and religious gurus can no longer save us from ourselves. The military are powerless. But there may be one last hope for life on earth: accountants."
Are Accountants the Last Hope for the World's Ecosystems?, Jonathan Watts
Back in the Thirteenth Century, when Venice ruled the waves, we can find the origins of modern capitalism. Back then the portents were vague, but the invention of bookkeeping and the introduction of Arabic numerals foreshadowed a revolution based on the stunningly original idea of being able to figure out whether or not your business was making a profit.
Roll forward six hundred years and we find that those inventions, suitably adapted, have not just stood the test of time, but have insinuated themselves into every nook and cranny of modern life. Welcome to the world of financialization where earnings per share is an imaginary number and money is the only objective measure of everything. Only it isn't.
