Cover photo: James St. John (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)
Gold: A History of Obsession
Why one metal has driven humans to extremes, again and again, on every continent and in every era.
About
In eighteen forty-eight, John Sutter is financially ruined because gold was found on his land. It's not the first time something like this happens — and it won't be the last.
From the "flesh of the gods" in ancient Egypt, to Croesus of Lydia, who lost his kingdom trusting the same wealth that made him — to Mansa Musa of Mali, who crashed gold's own value simply by giving it away, to El Dorado and the gold fevers of California and the Klondike — this audiobook follows one question across every continent and every era: why does this one metal make people lose everything?
And it closes somewhere entirely unexpected: in the universe, where gold was actually born, inside a collision of dead stars, long before Earth ever existed.
Sources
- World Gold Council, How Much Gold Has Been Mined — https://www.gold.org/goldhub/data/how-much-gold
- Britannica, California Gold Rush — https://www.britannica.com/event/California-Gold-Rush
- History.com, Gold Rush: California, Date & Sutter's Mill — https://www.history.com/articles/gold-rush-of-1849
- Egypt Museum, Gold in Ancient Egypt — https://egypt-museum.com/gold-in-ancient-egypt/
- LBMA, Lydian Electrum Coin / Croesus Stater — https://www.lbma.org.uk/wonders-of-gold/items/lydian-electrum-coin
- Britannica, Croesus — https://www.britannica.com/biography/Croesus
- Britannica, Musa I of Mali — https://www.britannica.com/biography/Musa-I-of-Mali
- The Collector, The Legend of El Dorado: Myth vs. History — https://www.thecollector.com/legend-el-dorado-myth-history/
- LIGO/Virgo Collaboration, GW170817 neutron star merger observations — https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/news/ligo20171016
Similar audiobooks
Economics & Business18 minBitcoin: The Currency Nobody ControlsBitcoin: The Currency Nobody Controls
A currency with no bank, no government, and a creator who vanished leaving billions untouched.
History22 minRome: The Eternal CityRome: The Eternal City
From the she-wolf of Romulus to the coins of the Trevi Fountain — twenty-seven centuries of history, layer by layer.
Psychology & Growth19 minNicotine: The Molecule That Hacks Your BrainNicotine: The Molecule That Hacks Your Brain
How a plant molecule reaches your brain in seconds — and why it's so hard to quit.
Politics20 minIsrael and Palestine: One Land, Many MemoriesIsrael and Palestine: One Land, Many Memories
From ancient Canaan to today's war, the story of a land that became home to two peoples.
Economics & Business18 minCrisis: The Most Expensive Decade in Greek HistoryCrisis: The Most Expensive Decade in Greek History
How Greece built its own debt crisis, leading to the largest sovereign debt haircut in history.
Politics22 minUkraine: The History Behind the WarUkraine: The History Behind the War
A thousand years of broken promises, language bans, and famine behind today's war.
Society & Culture15 minRoma: The People Without a HomelandRoma: The People Without a Homeland
Europe's first official record of the Roma isn't German or French — it's Greek.
Economics & Business17 minThe Price of OrderThe Price of Order
The real history of tax — from a payment for protection to the foundation of the welfare state.
