The Answer by J.M. Garrett is a thought-provoking book that argues that there is a single solution to many of the world's problems. The solution is to change the way we think about money and power. The book is well-written and offers a unique perspective on some of the most pressing problems facing the world today. However, some people may find the solutions proposed by the book to be too simplistic or utopian.

I kept putting down this book due to other distractions so its taken me a while to get through it. Interesting read and combined with a reset during the recent pandemic can answer some burning questions regarding health over wealth however, real life demands infra structure, economy, peace, safety etc not to mention saving the planet and global communications. Ask a question and you open a whole can of worms. I liked some of the explanations on addition, hunger, power more than others.If you are planning on reaching your goals in life then this book might give you some answers, you still have to do the work but understanding the why and how might just help. A different view point and I did enjoy the read, once i got into the style. Thank you #NetGalley for the copy to review.

The book starts off by talking about how we're better educated and more socially conscious than ever before. We know more than we ever have and yet we still have problems. The answer is money, and the book then focuses on money and power.

It's very American focused, rather than being global or perhaps Western focused, and I suspect that was the whole point of it all - it was about the US financial system. As a non-American, I was less interested in that, and admittedly skimmed it in sections.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"The Answer" makes an emphatic claim on its cover to be the answer to many things starting with Prosperity, followed by Addiction, Hunger, Anger, Crime, Hate, Wages, Obesity, Loneliness, Environment and Anxiety. Therefore, judging by the cover, with topics like Addiction, Anger, Hate, Obesity, Loneliness and Anxiety this book would appear to be a self-help book which would appeal to anyone with an interest in psychology, therapy or self-help.

Solutions to any one of these would be profoundly valuable to the reader. Unfortunately, the only thing that's profound is how misleading the cover is. because this book has absolutely nothing to do with Psychology or self-help, but it does attempt to answer the issue of Prosperity.

"The Answer" begins by explaining how great the world could be were it not for the state of the financial system. The author writes, "In this book, we explain how the global monetary system is a rigged system, but if we replace this system, we can reform society and bring about a new era of prosperity for all."

There follows a simplistic, rather than simple, explanation of a monetary system. which attempts to explain the flow of income, what Economists refer to as The Circular Flow of Income, without any injections or leakages.. In his model, rather than "Firms" and "Households" there are "people" and "bank", and the bank is in the wrong because it charges interest, thereby "creating money". Therefore, I won't give it away, but three guesses what the bank shouldn't do and you have your answer to all of the above, and, by the way, in this way also solving Addiction, Hunger, Anger, Crime, Hate, Wages, Obesity, Loneliness, Environment and Anxiety.

It reminds me of a Shakespeare play where the root of all evil is usury or interest, and demanding a "pound of flesh" may certainly open debate on anger, crime, hate, wages, and anxiety, but this is no Merchant of Venice!

Still not with such a dissimilar polemic, the author so passionately believes in his solution he presumably doesn't see the need to support his argument with any evidence outside his own reasoning. But then again, neither did Mein Kampf! But there are only eight works cited in the whole book including a reference to ."Mr. Robot, Season One Episode Two" and "The Terminator" which should give you a flavour of the pitch intellectually.

"The Answer" is clearly written but repetitive and incoherent in places, wandering from one opinion to the next opinion and from generalization to generalization, For example, "Typically, those who are enthusiastic about money are often familiar with the intricacies of the global financial system." Really? I thought everyone was enthusiastic about money, even if they didn't have a clue about the intricacies of the global financial system (Ahem! Slight cough! Mentioning no names!)

The simplistic explanations of the global financial system come with an ingenious link to videos, which are very impressive graphically and professionally made. In fact, all the graphics in the book are excellent. I think the author might be on to something with this dual formatting idea which really works for people like me who read on their laptop, and the author may be ahead of the game with this technique.

Unfortunately, this book doesn't even try to deliver what it says on the cover, and in that way is disingenuous and may upset a lot of people expecting something totally different, like me. I think the author missed a trick by not taking the gloves off, sticking to his guns, and saying what the book is really about on the cover, even if it's wrong, for example, something like, "My best financial system for America," and leave the tricky psychological issues to someone else. What I mean by 'take the gloves off' is re-write with "I think..." "I think..." "I think..." And clearly aim for the Conspiracy market because no Economist will take this book seriously.

That said, I thought Dave Eggars'., "Heart-breaking Work of Staggering Genius" was somewhat of an exaggeration, too, and look how successful that was!

The Answer is money, according to the author. Sorry to give away the punchline. There are some interesting ideas here. Some of them make a lot of sense. I value money as much as anyone, but I find a major faults in the premise. We need to make a lot of changes before we start focusing on money, such as caring for each other and learning to not be offended by "those" people. While I applaud the author for some seemingly good ideas, I don't recommend this. These kinds of books in general are also a challenge since they rarely ever make an impact, except to change a few minds that don't have the power to change anything. I know some readers will think this book makes a lot of sense, and if so, that's great. Where money can make an impact (and there's a lot) parts of this book have merit. Much of it didn't work for me. Regardless, I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to review this ARC. Thank you.