
Ask HN: Bitcoin Christmas reading - porjo
Looking for recommendations on books to read over the Christmas break about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies generally. eBook format preferred.
======
bdcravens
It's so obvious it shouldn't be said, but I've met many who want to dive into
blockchain and cryptocurrencies yet haven't read Satoshi's whitepaper.

~~~
porjo
Thanks for the reminder. I see somebody claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto is
flogging it on Amazon..no thanks! I found a Kindle friendly version (.mobi)
here instead: [http://www.readliberty.org/books/bitcoin-a-peer-to-peer-
elec...](http://www.readliberty.org/books/bitcoin-a-peer-to-peer-electronic-
cash-system)

~~~
bdcravens
Canonical source is of course
[https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf](https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf)

------
shiado
The biggest problem right now facing Bitcoin is the scaling problem. The
current debate is between the "small-blockers", which support scaling bitcoin
by limited block size increases and implementing off-chain transactions, and
"large-blockers", which advocate continuous block-size increases. I personally
don't think either method will scale in the long term, especially considering
the original goals of decentralized digital cash. It is my opinion that both
scaling paths force centralization of the network. This paper details
Lightning Network, the current best design of off-chain scaling
[https://lightning.network/lightning-network-
paper.pdf](https://lightning.network/lightning-network-paper.pdf)

~~~
ThomPete
Bitcoin is a gold standard and it will be used to settle multimillion-dollar
agreements between large organizations or nations states. It's not relevant as
a currency, other alternatives are already there.

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curuinor
David Gerard is definitely a hater, but he knows more than 99.9% of BTC people
[https://www.amazon.com/Attack-50-Foot-Blockchain-
Contracts-e...](https://www.amazon.com/Attack-50-Foot-Blockchain-Contracts-
ebook/dp/B073CPP581)

~~~
brian_cloutier
Agreed; I'm a total believer in bitcoin but the people who are publicly
skeptical tend to be the ones who are making the most sense and David Gerard
is firmly within that group. This book is a pretty easy weekend read. You
won't find in-depth technical analyses but you'll get a lot of funny stories
about the crazy times we live in and some good criticisms of the entire space.

------
narak
list: [https://lopp.net/bitcoin.html](https://lopp.net/bitcoin.html)

book: [https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bitcoin-Programming-Open-
Bl...](https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bitcoin-Programming-Open-
Blockchain/dp/1491954388)

book+lectures:
[http://bitcoinbook.cs.princeton.edu/](http://bitcoinbook.cs.princeton.edu/)

------
thisisit
Depends on what is the context. Is it technical then I guess:
[https://www.amazon.de/Mastering-Bitcoin-Unlocking-Digital-
Cr...](https://www.amazon.de/Mastering-Bitcoin-Unlocking-Digital-
Cryptocurrencies/dp/1449374042)

But, if you are looking from a usage perspective it is kind of difficult. You
can check this blog too:

[https://blockchaintechblog.com/](https://blockchaintechblog.com/)

------
ivoras
Self-promotion: here's a booklet I wrote to describe Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies
and the blockchain to barely technical people who kept asking me to describe
it all over again:
[http://scepticsguide.ivoras.net/](http://scepticsguide.ivoras.net/) . It
covers some history, the hows and the whys, and takes a "don't rush in just
because everyone's doing it" stance. It's a light read.

------
chamoda
This playlist is very good. Watch it on 1.5x or 2x speed.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwA2TkcAQgQ&list=PL6TbWIxWsL...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwA2TkcAQgQ&list=PL6TbWIxWsLY0VPlese2_z5xDZZ33ZuvV6)

------
qertoip
Mastering Bitcoin is the no. 1: [https://www.amazon.de/Mastering-Bitcoin-
Unlocking-Digital-Cr...](https://www.amazon.de/Mastering-Bitcoin-Unlocking-
Digital-Cryptocurrencies/dp/1449374042)

~~~
ydnaclementine
Jw, is this book a newer version of the one you posted?
[https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bitcoin-Programming-Open-
Bl...](https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bitcoin-Programming-Open-Blockchain-
ebook/dp/B071K7FCD4/)

Same author, reviews make it seem the same

------
brandonhall
Just came out and published by McGraw-Hill. Cryptoassets by Chris Burniske and
Jack Tatar. It approaches crypto as an asset class and isn't very technical.
Very much written for fund managers and active investors. Highly recommended.

------
otras
If you haven't already read it, Fermat's Library has the original Bitcoin
paper [0] with helpful annotations.

[0] -
[http://fermatslibrary.com/s/bitcoin](http://fermatslibrary.com/s/bitcoin)

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itamarst
"Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds", published 1841.

------
inersha
I'm making a website for beginners:
[http://learnmeabitcoin.com/](http://learnmeabitcoin.com/)

I'm trying to make it as easy as possible to understand (and work with)
bitcoin data.

------
arzt
Digital Gold by Nathaniel Popper is incredible context.

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faktor10
The book of satoshi by Phil champagne, basically comment on every email
interaction he had. Nice read

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siavosh
Any resource on the range of dapps that may suite this space that isn’t hand
wavy?

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baldgeek
coursera has a course, and edX has course on enterprise blockchains

[https://www.coursera.org/learn/cryptocurrency](https://www.coursera.org/learn/cryptocurrency)
[https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:LinuxFoundationX+L...](https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:LinuxFoundationX+LFS171x+3T2017/course/)

~~~
MrUnderhill
Another one on Coursera, "IBM Blockchain Foundation for Developers".

[https://www.coursera.org/learn/ibm-blockchain-essentials-
for...](https://www.coursera.org/learn/ibm-blockchain-essentials-for-
developers)

