Alexander Paris-Callahan, author of 500 Events That Shaped the History of Money, has studied economics, history, and mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. He also reads widely about world history and politics, with a particular interest in the Middle Ages and East Asia. To complement this, he has pursued an array of languages, including Chinese, Korean, Hebrew, and Latin. The last, to be sure, still proves surprisingly useful in modern life. Paris-Callahan travels to experience what books alone cannot fully capture. The Dutch and English countrysides delight him, as do the vibrant cities of Seoul and London. He strives in his writing to make complex topics understandable, sharing the joy of knowledge with those less inclined than he to wade through turgid texts by long-dead authors.