Book excerpt: In this fascinating volume Kenneth O Doyle provides a conceptual framework for understanding the social meanings of money and property, and the psychological, cultural, economic and political variables which contribute to these meanings. The author advances the concept of money as talisman, by which individuals protect themselves from their individual fears: of incompetence, abandonment, disorganization and constraint - to mention but a few. Examples in support of this argument are drawn from many social systems, contemporary and historical.