Double Entry
By Jane Gleeson-White

Double Entry

How the Merchants of Venice Shaped the Modern World - and How Their Invention Could Make or Break the Planet

By (author) Jane Gleeson-White

Format: Paperback

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Double Entry by Jane Gleeson-White

Our world is governed by the numbers generated by the accounts of nations and corporations. We depend on these numbers to direct our governments, our institutions, corporations, economies, societies. But where did they come from and how did they become so powerful? The answer to these questions begins in the Dark Ages in northern Italy with a new form of record keeping perfected by the merchants of Venice called double-entry bookkeeping. The story of double entry stars a Renaissance monk, mathematician, magician and constant companion of Leonardo da Vinci, his 27-page treatise for merchants, renaissances in art and mathematics, and revolutions in communications and industry. The rise and metamorphosis of double-entry bookkeeping is one of history's best-kept secrets and one of its most important untold tales. Why? First, because it made possible the wealth and cultural efflorescence that was the Renaissance. Second, because it enabled capitalism to flourish, so changing the economies of the world forever. Third, because over several centuries it grew into a sophisticated system of numbers which in the twenty-first century governs the global economy. And finally, and most significantly, because today bookkeeping has the potential to make or break the planet.

ISBN: 9781741757552
ISBN-10: 174175755X
Classification: History: specific events & topics , Economic history
Format: Paperback (208mm x 146mm x mm)
Pages: 352
Imprint: Allen & Unwin
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Publish Date: 1-Nov-2011
Country of Publication: Australia

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Double Entry, Paperback (February 2012)

Australian Classics by Jane Gleeson-White

Australian Classics, Paperback (September 2010)

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A book on why the greatest works of literature matter, and what they can give us today. It contains many contemporary authors' lists of their favourite classics - from JK Rowling, who loves Jane Austen, to JM Coetzee, whose 'top ten' includes Cervantes and Samuel Beckett.

» View all books by Jane Gleeson-White

Book Reviews - Double Entry by Jane Gleeson-White

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Book Review: Double Entry by Jane Gleeson-White - Reviewed by Boomer (10 Jan 2012)

A history of double-entry bookkeeping is not, at first thought, a likely subject for a riveting book. Yet that is what wordsmith Jane Gleeson-White gives us, by crafting a book that may be read two ways. For readers interested in modern accountancy she describes the ancient origins of the profession, its rapid ascendency during the Italian Renaissance and its transformation into the powerful financial management tool we know today. Her view of its future importance is startling and sobering. The more general reader should enjoy her detailed exploration of the life of the ‘father’ of bookkeeping, Renaissance man Luca Pacioli. A multi-talented man, friend and collaborator of Leonardo da Vinci and other luminaries, Pacioli’s crowning achievement was the writing of a 27-page treatise explaining, for the first time, the theory and application of what has become known as double-entry bookkeeping. The merchants of Venice were quick to understand...

» Read all 1 book reviews for Double Entry by Jane Gleeson-White