Also interesting is that the answers about what a bank does are very biased towards a modern western standpoint (=charging interest on credits) + handing our credit money, not speculation.
What's the difference
Either way, banking today doesn't work like that anymore, as money is created by handing out credit.
If you published this book in some former times, you might get into quite some trouble, as interest equals usury... 
Even Islamic Banking allows mediating loans and savings with fees (aka "interest"). Maybe a more modern circumscription of the term "usury" would be socialism for the rich, i.e. the rich lobby that they don't have to carry the appropriate risk for their investments, i.e. they can privatize profits but socialize losses.
I'm not too sure if this relates 100% to Bitcoin, as it talks about made-up money and some theories behind I thought it might be interesting and also might help some discussions about Bitcoins. For example, how would they fit into the book's description of "money"?
It would fit well, as you said:
The "history of money" section implies somethow that there is still a gold standard...
...a property which Bitcoin emulates.