What is Money? A Quest to Answer the Question of the Ages

What is money? It seems such a simple question, one that is scarcely worth asking. Everyone knows that money is money, you either have it or you don't. It goes by various names, dollars, Benjamins, wampum, pesos, yen, quid, Euros, Yuan, rupees, rubles, and most humans will spend their entire adult lives trying to earn or beg enough of it to give to those who demand money from them in exchange for something. Some will have money left over when they take their final breath; some will take their last breath a net debtor, leaving their unhappy creditors behind.
In a sense, much of one's adult life is spent gathering and protecting what they believe to be money. Given the inordinate amount of time spent by humans trying to obtain money, is it sufficient to simply define it by the name of a national currency or a slang derivative of the official name? The premise of this book is that it is not, for the ability to correctly answer the question, what is money, may not only mark the difference between taking one's last breath on the debtor's or creditor's side of the ledger, it will determine the very fate of mankind.
Beginning from this premise, we seek to gain an understanding of and form a working definition of money that will help the reader not only enrich themselves, but at the same time, enrich the human race and the planet that we have been entrusted with.
While the benefits of such an understanding are tremendous, we are compelled to advise you, dear reader, that you are about to cross the rubicon, and you may never again be able to view your paystub or bank statements in the same light.
This will serve as your final warning. If you prefer to take the blue pill, you may stop reading now. Your paystub and bank statement will look exactly the same as they did before you opened these pages. However, if you take the red pill and read on, we'll guide you to as complete of an understanding of what money is as has been given to man to understand.