Chris Yencha, Outside Reading 1

I will apologize ahead of time for my outside reading selections. Given the amount of work that I have this semester, I have had little time to read for pleasure; however, I did read one book that I thoroughly enjoyed and finally finished the 600 page mammoth about a week ago. A History of Interest Rates by Sidney Homer was a very 'interest'ing (Yeah, I totally made that joke) book. The earliest parts of the history I found particularly fascinating. Did you know that loans existed about 2 thousand years before barter? For instance, let's assume your yard is full of leaves and you have company coming over this evening. You have no rake to use to dispose of the leaves but you are so concerned with getting rid of the mess that you walk over to your neighbor's house and ask to borrow a rake. Your neighbor is extending a loan to you when he allows you to borrow his rake. He expects only two things in return: 1.) The rake back in a timely manner in an equivalent condition and 2.) The understood condition that if he ever needs to borrow a rake from you (or any other item within reason) that he is welcome and allowed. Expectation #2 is particularly interesting because it suggests that credit may exist without being clearly defined and is what works to help prove the existence of loans before barter.