When a perfect author connects with his perfect subject, a book like When Money Talks is born. I found something I wanted to learn (or be reminded of) on almost every page. Holt is a specialist who has written a needed book for generalists. Using popular and academic themes, he explains numismatics in a broader context than it is usually understood. Holt shows us where our money has been and reminds that we can hardly predict what it might become—e.g. bitcoin—yet he argues that “coined money in its original form of stamped metals is likely to endure this challenge” (p. 3). When Money Talks should be required reading for economists, historians, archaeologists, classicists, sociologists, and contemporary scholars, each of whose fields, among others, can benefit from better understanding money and its use.