Ask HK: Understanding money

I kindly request pointers to material that can help me understand money.

Videos such as http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=461720 explain some concepts but also include a load of inaccurate statements. What I'm looking for is an (hopefully) unbiased description of modern banking, finance and monetary systems, and how it all works together.

Note: I'm not entirely sure this is appropriate for HN, so please let me know what you think.