Secret Life of Money: How Money Can Be Food for the Soul [Paperback]

Tad Crawford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1994 | ISBN-10: 0788198947 | ISBN-13: 978-0788198946

Drawing on stories from ancient Greece to the Bible, from Grimm's fairy tales to Native American teaching tales, this artful book suggests that money has power over us because we have not looked at it closely enough and do not appreciate its symbolic value. When we do, we discover--in a whole new way--that ''money talks.''

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This study of money by the president of Allworth Press in New York City appears indebted in equal measures to Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell and sundry classic tales (e.g., The Wizard of Oz). After dispensing with the standard economic definition of money as a medium of exchange, which must be freely accepted, offer a measuring device to evaluate goods and services and exist in a storable form, Crawford considers money's deeper symbolism and concludes that it represents life forces, especially fertility; money serves us, in other words, as a kind of energy. Crawford analyzes sacrifice, hoarding, inheritance, debt, credit cards, the stock market and the society of consumerism, tying all to his central thesis. Readers may observe strain in Crawford's close analysis of classical tales in economic terms, but the book should also enlighten those who tend to view money only in the most literal terms.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Crawford, an attorney and author specializing in issues related to the visual arts, observes that individuals often become mistakenly preoccupied with the accumulation of physical wealth by pursuing the things that money represents rather than seeking inner harmony independent of physical wealth. He draws from literature and mythology to support his personal conviction that monetary wealth lies in the perfection of individual talents and abilities. There are some interesting historical facts about the origin of coins and paper money, but Crawford's literary interpretations tend to be subjective. Ultimately, this book is more suitable to self-help collections than business collections.
Joseph Barth, U.S. Military Academy Lib., West Point, N.Y.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 287 pages
• Publisher: Allworth Press (March 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0788198947
• ISBN-13: 978-0788198946
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,187,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Allworth Press publisher and founder Tad Crawford is an author, attorney, and artists' rights advocate.

Born in New York City, Crawford grew up in the artists colony of Woodstock, New York. Interested in writing both fiction and nonfiction, he majored in economics at Tufts College and graduated from Columbia Law School in February 1971. ("That explains the unusual amalgam of my activities," Crawford says. "A lot of legal skills are crucial for helping the artist and for running a publishing company. Of course, writing is an excellent background for publishing. So it's come together very well.")

Crawford clerked for a judge of the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, then went to work for a small general law firm in New York City while writing and teaching writing and literature at the School of Visual Arts. Until he took the teaching assignment at the School of Visual Arts and learned of the need for materials to help artists understand their rights, he had not envisioned being an advocate of artists' rights.

"I found nothing in print to help artists deal with such legal matters as copyrights, contracts, income taxes, the 'hobby loss' problem, estate planning, or even how to get grants," recalls Crawford. And so, responding to what he saw as "an extreme need," he wrote a book dealing with those and other relevant issues, titling it Legal Guide for the Visual Artist and using it as a text for the "Law and the Visual Artist" course that he taught at the School of Visual Arts. Published in 1977, Legal Guide for the Visual Artist is now in its fourth edition and has one hundred thousand copies in print.

He followed this with The Writer's Legal Guide in 1978 (which has been updated and reissued with The Authors Guild as co-publisher and Kay Murray, the General Counsel for the Authors Guild, as co-author). With Arie Kopelman he wrote Selling Your Photography in 1980 and Selling Your Graphic Design and Illustration in 1981. At the same time Crawford served as Chairman of the Board for the Foundation for the Community of Artists, legislative counsel for the Copyright Justice Coalition (which had many arts groups as members), and general counsel for the Graphic Artists Guild. In 1982 Crawford was asked to help publish books for some of the organizations that he had represented as an attorney. In response, he became publisher of Madison Square Press, which issued annuals for such artists'organizations as the Society of Illustrators, the Society of Publication Designers, the Art Directors Club of New York, and the Art Directors Club of Los Angeles.

In 1988 he decided to strike out in a new direction, "to create a press that would offer the kind of information that was more like what I had taught, written about, and lobbied for." Crawford saw the need for a publishing company that would provide practical information to creative professionals, such as artists, photographers, designers, and authors. He knew first hand the issues faced every day by such creative people and could envision a spectrum of books to help them survive and prosper professionally.

In the Fall of 1989, Crawford published Allworth Press's first book, a revised edition of his classic Legal Guide for the Visual Artist. Ten more titles followed in 1990, offering information about marketing, promotion, pricing, copyright, contracts, health and safety, and much more. The first edition of Business and Legal Forms for Photographers was published in 1991. "The information in these books,"Crawford says, "can make all the difference in terms of success and prosperity." Today Allworth Press has a backlist of more than 250 books, publishes 12-15 books annually, and employs a staff of six very talented people.

Crawford's last involvement as an active lobbyist was in 1986, and he's given up active practice of the law to devote his energies to his publishing and his writing. The full list of books that he has authored follows:

AIGA Professional Practices in Graphic Design (editor)
The Artist-Gallery Partnership (with Susan Mellon)
Business and Legal Forms for Crafts
Business and Legal Forms for Fine Artists
Business and Legal Forms for Graphic Designers (with Eva Doman Bruck)
Business and Legal Forms for Illustrators
Business and Legal Forms for Interior Designers (with Eva Doman Bruck)
Business and Legal Forms for Industrial Designers (with Eva Doman Bruck and Carl W. Battle)
Business and Legal Forms for Photographers
Legal Guide for the Visual Artist
The Money Mentor
The Secret Life of Money
Selling Your Photography (with Arie Kopelman)
Selling Your Graphic Design and Illustration (with Arie Kopelman)
Starting Your Career as a Freelance Photographer
The Writer's Legal Guide (with Kay Murray)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to find spiritual life through understanding money, October 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Secret Life of Money: How Money Can Be Food for the Soul (Paperback)

A fascinating look at the spiritual, mythological, and psychological aspects of money, replete with terrific stories, that leads the reader on a journey that places money in service to life and not vice versa. An outstanding book!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great overview, December 1, 2005

By 

Michael Thomas "mthomas1776" (Logan, UT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secret Life Of Money (Hardcover)

This is a casual but deep reflection on the meaning of money. Too often people start thinking about this question as if money were pure greed. To really wrap your mind around such a complex concept find a copy of this book and read it. The antecdotes really bring out some of the more subtle meanings between the way people react to one another, which is the basic role of money. From aztec human sacrifice to modern unemployment there is a connection which explains how society makes difficult choices.