I’ve been enjoying what author Dave Birch of Consult Hyperion calls a blook – this year’s reader of his tomorrow’s transactions blog posts. Any regular reader of the blog, or indeed Dave’s book [amazon_link id=”1907994122″ target=”_blank” ]Identity is the New Money[/amazon_link], will know how astoundingly entertaining retail payments and electronic ticketing can be. His historical knowledge is extensive, as is his range of cultural references.

The blook also gathers in one place so many examples of the dimness of the financial services industry, explaining why there is so much fraud around. Why do chip and pin cards still get issued with magnetic stripes on the back – “trivially counterfeitable”? Why do we still need to sign the back? (Dave never signs with his real name – “I don’t want theives who steal my card to have a copy of my real signature to practice with.” It’s also from him that I learned never to sign up for free wifi with my real email address because that just results in more spam. They don’t know my name isn’t Doris Day.)

But above all, it’s very funny. I can’t see the 2015 reader on Amazon yet, [amazon_link id=”B00JVXFN4K” target=”_blank” ]only the 2014 one[/amazon_link], but no doubt it will be there soon. Or there’s always the tomorrow’s transactions blog.

[amazon_image id=”B00K86O66A” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Identity is the New Money (Perspectives)[/amazon_image]  [amazon_image id=”B00JVXFN4K” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Tomorrow’s Transactions – the 2014 Reader[/amazon_image]