It would be bad form to review Dave Birch’s excellent new book [amazon_link id=”1907994122″ target=”_blank” ]Identity is the New Money[/amazon_link] here, given that I commissioned him to write it. To entice readers, however, here is his argument in a nutshell: “This book argues that not only is identity changing profoundly but that money is changing equally profoundly, because of technological change; and that the two trends are converging so that all we will need for transacting will be our identities.” It’s thought-provoking, informative and entertaining. Anyone interested in any of money, social networks and/or mobiles should read it – after all, there are few experts who know as much as Dave about the overlap between digital technology and money.

[amazon_image id=”1907994122″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Identity is the New Money (Perspectives)[/amazon_image]

Trail over, I was interested to read this article by Paul Laity about Penguin’s revival of the Pelican imprint, its series of accessible, reasonably short non-fiction books on a wide range of subjects of contemporary interest. Sound familiar? Our Perspectives series got there a year ago, albeit sadly without Penguin’s marketing budget. Still, I agree with their sense that the ‘thirsty public’ is back – even though non-fiction book sales have apparently been declining. Surely [amazon_link id=”067443000X” target=”_blank” ]the Piketty phenomenon[/amazon_link], if nothing else, will reverse that in 2014’s figures?

One of the first Pelican titles will be Ha Joon Chang’s [amazon_link id=”0718197038″ target=”_blank” ]Economics: A User’s Guide[/amazon_link]. I found the style of his [amazon_link id=”0141047976″ target=”_blank” ]23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism[/amazon_link] irritating but it was nevertheless well worth reading. I’m sure the new one will be equally valuable.

[amazon_image id=”0718197038″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Economics: The User’s Guide: A Pelican Introduction (Pelican Books)[/amazon_image]