A history of ancient Rome and its coinage, by a guy who is really into coins. Each chapter is about a particular coin and the economic, artistic, and political forces that created that coin. I was hoping that this book would help me pinpoint the time when the portraits on ancient Roman coins transitioned from high-quality to the more busted look of Byzantine coinage (e.g. Heraclius on the Solidus). I didn't really get a definitive answer, but I did learn a lot about what we know and don't know about ancient minting, the end of the Roman Republic, the Colosseum, and how much I still don't know about ancient Rome. Reading this book, it's good to keep in mind the point that David Graeber made in Debt (the First 5000 Years), that commodity money (e.g. gold coins) usually becomes important in times of instability, because in times of peace it's easier to buy and sell using credit than to lug a bunch of gold around, but in times of uncertainty, business can only be conducted with gold and silver upfront. A History of Ancient Rome in 12 Coins doesn't really say it, but it made me wonder if the Imperial conversion to Christianity was partly driven by the Emperors' need for sources of gold and silver, and the fact that pagan temples held a lot of it. As an American, it is wild to imagine living in a place where one can expect to come across truly ancient artifacts such as coins that you can just take home. The closest thing I can think of in my experience is finding obsidian arrowheads, which I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to disturb (at least on National Park land).