Money - Maya & Myth: A Mini Book on the Idea of Money

by Shals Shrivastav

This work is about ‘Money’ - not how to make money or money scandals or the psychology of money-making etc. It is about the Idea of Money. It raises crazy questions, and calls for bold changes to the world of capital and finance.

This creation has 11 sections – each linked to a separate social or commercial trend that can have a bearing on the future of money.

157 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 9, 2025

About the author

Working across the South Asia region to channel global investments. Combining engineering, special situations and capital structuring experience. One of the many million migrants to the mega city of Mumbai. An observer of financial markets, gender politics and office quirks. Being chastened to Gen Z realities every day by my feisty offspring. Believing in the power of books to heal, humour and ignite.

Reviews

[Wendy Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Money-Maya & Myth by Shals Shrivatav is an enjoyable, eye-opening read which I devoured in two sittings. I have no hesitation giving it a well-deserved five-star rating. The book is not about wealth creation but the concept of money. There is a section that traces the history of money. The book contains some demonstrative charts, the most interesting of which concerns the uneven distribution of wealth between the rich and the poor. A discussion of the stock exchange and speaks of the misguided catergorisation of stocks. The material is logically explained. However, because of the subject's complexity, the reader must invest the time needed to digest the information. The depth of the author’s experience in capital markets shines through, as does the extent of her research. This will be a fulfilling read for those interested in economics and capital markets. Congratulations to the author.

[Fiza Pathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm giving Shals Shrivastav's ‘Money - Maya & Myth: A Mini Book on the Idea of Money’ a solid 4 stars & I'm absolutely thrilled that I discovered this little gem!

This is not your typical money book, dear readers! This is not about ‘get rich quick’ schemes or investment strategies or cryptocurrency trading tips. No, no, no! This is something far more intellectually rigorous & philosophically profound. Shals Shrivastav has written a mini book—157 pages to be exact—that asks us to step back & examine the very Idea of Money itself. What is money? Why do we believe in it? How has it shaped our civilizations & our consciousness? These are the ‘crazy questions’ that Shrivastav raises & boy, are they necessary questions for our times!

The book is structured beautifully into 11 sections, each linked to a different social or commercial trend that impacts the future of money. I absolutely loved this organizational approach because it allows readers—whether students in IBDP Economics classes or teachers like me designing Global Perspectives curricula—to dip into specific sections based on our interests. This modularity is pedagogically brilliant & makes the book highly accessible for classroom use, especially for AS & A Level students studying economics, sociology, or even TOK (Theory of Knowledge) in the IB programme!

What struck me most powerfully about this work is Shrivastav's use of the Sanskrit concept of ‘Maya’—illusion or delusion—to frame our understanding of money. As someone who teaches both Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) under NEP 2020 & international curricula, I found this philosophical framing absolutely exquisite! The title itself—'Money - Maya & Myth’—invites us to see money not as an objective reality but as a collective fiction that humanity has agreed upon. This echoes the great mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik's insight that ‘Food is satya (eternal truth), money is maya (contextual truth).’ Shrivastav takes this ancient Indian philosophical distinction & applies it brilliantly to contemporary financial systems, showing us that what we worship as ‘wealth’ is essentially a shared story we tell ourselves.

The author is certainly not an armchair philosopher pontificating about money—she's someone deeply embedded in the financial world who has the courage to question its very foundations! She understands that Gen Z & Gen Alpha students (the very students I teach!) are growing up in a world where money is increasingly digital, abstract, & disconnected from tangible reality. Cryptocurrency, NFTs, digital wallets—these are the new ‘myths’ of money that need examination!

I particularly appreciated that Shrivastav calls for ‘bold changes to the world of capital & finance.’ This isn't just descriptive work; it's prescriptive. She's not content to merely analyze how money works—she wants us to reimagine it! For educators like myself teaching Critical Thinking (AS & A Level), this book provides excellent material for developing students' analytical & evaluative skills. Students can examine Shrivastav's arguments, weigh her evidence, consider alternative perspectives, & formulate their own positions on the future of finance.

Now, where I dock one star is simply this - at 157 pages, this is indeed a ‘mini book’ as the title promises, & I genuinely wished it were longer! Some sections felt like they could have been expanded with more concrete examples, case studies, or historical analysis. For instance, when discussing contemporary trends affecting money's future, I would have loved to see deeper engagement with specific examples—perhaps the 2008 financial crisis, or the rise of mobile banking in countries like India & Kenya, or the impact of COVID-19 on cashless transactions. These real-world applications would have made the philosophical arguments even more powerful & would have given teachers like me ready-made case studies to use in the classroom.

Additionally, while Shrivastav's writing is clear & accessible, I think the book would benefit enormously from discussion questions at the end of each section. As someone who writes educational content & short story analyses with discussion questions for my students, I know how valuable these pedagogical tools can be! They would transform this from an excellent individual read into an even more powerful classroom resource. Perhaps in a future edition, Shrivastav could add these elements?

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely, wholeheartedly, yes! I recommend it for:

1. Economics & Business Studies teachers looking for fresh perspectives on monetary theory
2. Philosophy & TOK educators exploring epistemology & social constructs
3. Global Perspectives & Thinking Skills instructors examining contemporary global challenges
4. NEP 2020 IKS educators teaching ancient Indian concepts in modern contexts
5. Students aged 16+ in AS/A Level, IBDP, or undergraduate programmes
6. General readers who want to understand money beyond superficial ‘how-to’ guides

This book made me think deeply about my own relationship with money & about how I teach economic concepts to my students, or rarely do rather – I need to change that about my teaching! It challenged me to move beyond technical definitions & formulas & to help my students see money as the powerful myth it truly is—a myth that shapes everything from personal choices to global power structures. In an era when so many young people feel anxious about economic insecurity, inflation, & wealth inequality, Shrivastav's book offers them intellectual tools to question, critique, & potentially reimagine the financial systems they're inheriting.

So go grab this book pronto! Read it, discuss it with your students or colleagues, argue with its premises, & let it challenge your assumptions. That's exactly what good books should do!

Happy reading, everyone! & remember—money may be maya, but education is satya!

[Karen Storey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose this book not knowing what to expect, but the concept about the idea of money being a myth intrigued me. I love that this isn’t a book about how to make money, or the perceived importance in obtaining it. Quite the opposite. The author asks us to consider the fact that money is a relatively new concept in the history of humankind. One that is merely a product of the human mind.

Now, I’m not in any way a finance expert, unlike the author, Shals Shrivastav who has worked in the financial world for nearly twenty-five years. So, I will admit that some of the information in this neat little book did go over my head, like some of the detailed graphs and statistics provided. However, the inclusion of this detailed information just went further to assure me how much Shrivastav really knows her stuff! She presents her thoughts intelligently and convincingly.

One of her conclusions is that the purpose of this book is to raise questions about the lop-sided power structures that puppeteer the world of money. And indeed this book does that brilliantly.

[D.H. Schleicher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most books about finance fall into two categories: dry textbooks, or what I like to call corporate self-help. Money – Maya and Myth is refreshingly neither of these. The author opens with a brief history lesson on the origins of money and financial instruments positing that money itself is an illusion. She then goes into anecdotes showing how this illusion of money has shaped humankind, brought rise to land ownership and governments, and both immense progress and grotesque inequities while producing increasingly complex and absurd instruments – I loved the explanation of derivatives!

The author raises a lot of great questions of a philosophical nature, though solutions aren’t often given and when they are mused on, are sometimes nebulous. There seemed to be an overly optimistic reverence toward crypto, AI, and entrepreneurs. As an American, I appreciated the examples from India, Japan and Singapore to drive home her points and show the universality of the inequities created. The book is divided into easy to digest parts and mercifully short. I could see this being used as a great conversation starter in finance or business ethics courses.

[sureshot · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author starts with the concept of money as maya. The descriptions and logic are clear. I found this to be an interesting way of looking at money. The author goes into the history of money. There are helpful charts to show this history. Most striking is the distribution of wealth. The author does a great job showing that the rich are very rich and the poor are very poor. The author then goes into the stock market. The discussion is very data driven and becomes technical. But it is illustrated that so much of the stock market is based on human interpretation rather than product reality. The lopsided distribution of stocks is also well illustrated. I really like the description of a feedback loop that benefits with the wealthy in the markets. The charts and graphs were also helpful. The book continued like this. At time, it was technical, but the author does a good job using data and visual aids to illustrate concepts. Overall, this is a fascinating book that discusses viewpoints about economics in a data driven manner.

[Sonia Rompoti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up expecting another book about how to “master money,” invest smarter, or decode the psychology of getting rich. Instead, Shals Shrivastav goes somewhere far more interesting: the idea of money itself.

This isn’t a how-to guide, and it’s definitely not a finance manual. The book spends most of its time stepping back and asking the slightly uncomfortable question we usually avoid: why does money exist the way it does, and why have we collectively agreed that it should run so much of our lives?

Across 11 short sections, the author connects the history of money with modern social and commercial trends, occasionally poking at the strange, almost mythical power we’ve given to what is essentially a shared belief system. It’s the kind of book that makes you pause and think, “Wait… this whole system is actually a bit absurd when you zoom out.”

At 157 pages, it’s a quick read, but it doesn’t feel shallow. The chapters are concise and reflective rather than dense or academic, so it works well if you enjoy thought-provoking ideas without wading through a 400-page economics textbook.

[James R · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book takes a step back from the usual “how to make money” advice and focuses on the bigger idea of what money really is. In a series of short sections, the author looks at how money influences society, business, and the way we think about value. The writing is simple and the chapters are easy to get through, but they still leave you with a lot to think about. It’s not a guide with clear solutions, but more a collection of reflections that encourage you to question how the world of money works.

[Louis Koeppen · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Money - Maya & Myth” by Shals Shrivastav is expansive in scope and helpfully strives to simplify the financial system (including with charts and graphs) so normal people don’t wander in blindly, or wander in at all where it’s complexity masking risky bets, e.g. derivatives (or maybe crypto).

Sometimes the book doesn’t take a stand, as when it simply points out that awe-inspiring price-to-earning multiples illustrate the enigmatic characteristics of money. Other times, it’s even more careful, as when it alludes to an alternative investments powerhouse as XXX.

It’s bolder in arguing for fairness, e.g. that the patient outlook and formal constructs for debt resets afforded to institutional borrowers should also be available to smaller borrowers. Or that the expansion of monetary and economic systems didn’t lead to prosperity for all.

But where it can be careful with words when it comes to private industry, it’s way more free when talking about governments, e.g. first noting that the growth of developing countries’ debt is alarming, because it’s not benefiting them as much as it is paying interest on old debt (contrasted with developed countries, which can use debt as stimulus). And later, going as far as calling the government a big brother bully and a form of the mafia. But which government, because the book is global in scope? Probably all of them, as those admittedly bold statements preface a discussion on numerous countries’ governments, ending with statements like the time is ripe to question deeply entrenched eco-political value systems.

Even though it’s not uniformly strident addressing problems in private and public spheres, it’s right to talk about potential problems with private credit, and to point out that there are conflicts of interest everywhere in the financial system, e.g. rating agencies being paid by the companies they’re rating. Its aim is pure.

[Martina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Money has always been perplexing to me, with the classic view that the harder you work the more of it you get never seeming to pan out, much less that regarding the higher your education. So, for it to be reframed, as it is in this book, as something completely imagined, actually makes a lot of sense, and lends more credence to those who argue that the money you bring in reflects your state of mind, your baseline accepted standards, your belief in your own worth.

This book covers many areas, some of which are a little out of my sphere of understanding, but all of which make it clear that the concept of money is a very new one, and one that is disturbingly imbalanced. The insights have strongly influenced my world view, particularly regarding the government as an ostensibly caring parent but in reality, a manipulative and exploitative bully big brother; debt and its potential for good where instead it is used to cripple and even destroy (often leading to suicide) the lower classes; land and how, despite being simply our earth, our shared human planet, has become unattainable to the vast majority; and marriage, in terms of how it has a lot less to do with love and a lot more to do with financial control.

Most striking, though, is the description of money in the opening chapter that highlights its completely fabricated, and infinite nature, it is Maya – illusion, magic. A force to be wielded by those who inherited it or learned its ways. I finished this book wanting to learn more about this fascinating topic, and feel it has given me the tools to grasp it a little easier.

[Book Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Money – Maya & Myth is an engaging and ambitious exploration of the financial world, shaped by Shals Shrivastav’s thirty years in international finance and the global debt markets. The author's experience shows, writing with the ease of someone who has spent a career watching capital, governments, and markets behave in unpredictable, often contradictory ways.

The book opens with a bold promise. Drawing on the Indian idea that money is Maya—illusion—Shrivastav sets out to explain the deeper mystery behind the thing we chase, hoard, fear, and depend on. It’s an enticing premise, and the title suggests a unifying insight that will tie together the many forces shaping our economic lives.

From there, the book ranges widely. Shrivastav touches on capital markets, debt structures, government incentives, asset classes, inequality, luxury, entrepreneurship, and the cultural psychology surrounding wealth. Much of this is genuinely interesting, especially for readers who want a compact tour of how money moves through modern systems. Her ability to distill complex mechanisms and occurrences into accessible observations is one of the book’s strengths.

Yet by the end, the threads remain scattered. The promised explanation of why money is Maya never fully arrives. Instead, the book becomes a collection of loosely connected reflections, all related to money but not really synthesized into a cohesive argument.

If the goal is to overwhelm readers with the sheer breadth of the topic, that certainly succeeds—but a clearer summing‑up would have strengthened the work considerably, pulling all the disparate parts together somehow.

[Rajesh Minocha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Money – Maya & Myth is not concerned with earning more or investing better, but rather with the fundamental question of what money is. The author encourages the reader to view money through the lens of a collective belief system we seldom question, rather than as a solid truth, in a series of short, idea-driven sections.

The book blends philosophy, social trends, and real-world examples from India and other countries to spark new ideas. Some points are intentionally controversial and open to debate, which adds to the enjoyment. The writing feels more like a conversation than a lecture.

This book is a lively, quick read for anyone tired of the usual money talk and open to seeing finance from a wider, sometimes challenging angle. It’s thought-provoking, imperfect, and refreshingly different. Still, some statements seem to reflect the author’s opinions rather than facts, which might influence how readers think.

[Ollie Kayuro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Shals Shrivastav reflects on topics including money, capital markets, taxes, loans, power, and more. Some of the ideas impressed me. I appreciated that the author supported the ideas with relevant data and statistics for 2025, which lends credibility to the book.

The numerous diagrams and statistical data reinforce the book's credibility, preventing the author from being viewed as merely a theorist. The discussion of banks, governments, and businesses as closely interconnected systems is sharp and thought-provoking. For example: "Large banks sit at the heart of the world’s credit system." Another quote: "What is owed by X is lent by Y. On a net basis, the debt all cancels out."

Overall, it is a compelling read that encourages a rethinking of credit, debt, and justice on Earth.

[Eve Loves Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Money – Maya & Myth is a short but reflective exploration of how we perceive money and the power we assign to it. Rather than focusing purely on numbers or strategy, Shals Shrivastav looks at the psychological and philosophical layers behind wealth, value, and belief. It’s more about mindset than mechanics.

What I appreciated is how the book encourages readers to question long-held assumptions about money—where our ideas come from, how they shape our choices, and whether they truly serve us. It’s a quick read, but it plants seeds for deeper thought. At times I wished certain ideas were expanded a bit further, yet as a concise reflection piece, it does what it sets out to do. A good pick for readers who enjoy thinking beyond the surface of financial topics and examining the beliefs that quietly guide their decisions.

[Davide Borrelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maya and the Economy
I love the association between Maya and money. Money is a veil that sometimes conceals the way the economy really works. It’s a thought-provoking book, offering a perspective different from my own, but one that is definitely well argued. An excellent read.