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laci's review
5.0
It gets the best rating because it's well-written, understandable, and most of all: very well organized. It first gives an overview, so the reader knows what is Bitcoin even supposed to be and do, then explains how to use it, and only then, when the reader has an idea of what we're talking about, delves into the more "technical" stuff and the underlying principles.
arensb's review
3.0
This is pretty much what the title promises: an introduction to Bitcoin for the novice who wants to know more. Barski covers the history of Bitcoin, what makes it different from dollars or Euros, how to get started, and more, even going so far as to provide instructions on how to automate certain Bitcoin operations with JavaScript.
Along the way, he provides a lot of detail about topics that the average person may not need, such as public-key and elliptical path cryptography, the Byzantine Generals problem, and more. To be honest, I skimmed a lot of these parts, but I mention them because:
This book also contains a fair amount of evangelizing. Barski's excited by Bitcoin, and wants us to be, too. But of course, this means alleviating the worries that any reasonable person might have about this strange new money-like thing that seems to be controlled by faceless Internet people rather than by a government. And he does this fairly well, largely by explaining the underlying issues and showing why they're not a problem.
I'm still left with a number of questions, including: Why are there only 21 million bitcoins? Why was this number chosen? There are many ways to lose money by accident; does that mean that the supply of bitcoins in circulation is shrinking, or can that money be recovered by miners? But on the whole, I know a lot more than when I started.
Along the way, he provides a lot of detail about topics that the average person may not need, such as public-key and elliptical path cryptography, the Byzantine Generals problem, and more. To be honest, I skimmed a lot of these parts, but I mention them because:
This book also contains a fair amount of evangelizing. Barski's excited by Bitcoin, and wants us to be, too. But of course, this means alleviating the worries that any reasonable person might have about this strange new money-like thing that seems to be controlled by faceless Internet people rather than by a government. And he does this fairly well, largely by explaining the underlying issues and showing why they're not a problem.
I'm still left with a number of questions, including: Why are there only 21 million bitcoins? Why was this number chosen? There are many ways to lose money by accident; does that mean that the supply of bitcoins in circulation is shrinking, or can that money be recovered by miners? But on the whole, I know a lot more than when I started.
jramm's review
5.0
Don't be fooled by the cheesy cover! A very in-depth explanation of bitcoin. Some of the math was over my head but concepts were clear and engaging. I was fascinated by the cryptography behind bitcoin.
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