Proselytes for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin extol them as a liberation technology to free us from big government. Sceptics insist that while they have been the source of useful technologies, as units of value, account and exchange, they will remain marginal. Here, digital currency expert David Birch chooses five books to help you understand the utopian roots of cryptocurrencies, the technology behind how they work, their functions and uses, and their broader place in the long history of money.

At its worst, finance leads to crises and economic dislocation and, yet, it’s absolutely vital to solving many of the problems society faces today. MIT’s Andrew W Lo introduces some of the best books on finance and explains how it can change the world for the better.

Burton Malkiel, a professor of economics (emeritus) at Princeton University and author of the bestselling A Random Walk Down Wall Street, recommends his top picks of books to read on investing.

The author and Wall Street Journal personal finance columnist, Jason Zweig, explains why there’s truth in the old adage that investors get the returns they deserve, and recommends books that might help you avoid being taken for a ride.

Blaming “the quants” for the 2008 financial crisis is simplistic and short-sighted, says the author of The Physics of Wall Street. He picks five books showing the contribution physics has made to understanding financial markets.

A key figure behind the Massachusetts and Obama healthcare reforms tells us about the purpose and uses of public finance economics, and explains how Romneycare and Obamacare are both different and alike.

Understanding finance is key to understanding how the world works, but many people  know very little about it. Journalist John Lanchester picks five accessible books to bring the layperson up to speed.

Yale professor Gary Gorton says today’s financial crisis may feel like a unique event, but in the US and in the UK crises are historically common. And we have a history of similar responses.

The former banker and author of 12 books on economics says that over the last 30 years economics has been colonising every science. “Even something like education all comes down to incentives”

Marc Faber, the infamous investor known as “Dr Doom”,  discusses books he considers indispensable for those interested in investment. He stresses the importance for investors to be historically aware, and holds that Irving Fisher is one of the best economists of the 20th century.

Modern microfinance was born in the late 1970s, and is now viewed as a key way of helping people in poor countries get out of poverty. Author and practitioner Stuart Rutherford recommends the best books to get a basic understanding of microfinance.