Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall by Zeke Faux

2 reviews

danpolta's review

funny informative medium-paced

5.0

A surprisingly-easy read about a rather abstract concept. Faux is at his weakest when trying to detail the intricacies of how the deregulation inherent to crypto exactly allows unethical players to conduct fraud, but he has a few shining moments that I suspect will convey the concept to most readers. The author never lingers for too long on any subject and has an appropriate sense of humor.
If you like this book, you may enjoy the podcast Behind The Bastards and vice versa.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking and Slavery

Moderate: Kidnapping and Pedophilia

betzal_eel's review against another edition

challenging dark informative fast-paced

4.75

Frustrating and terrifying to learn this is how so much money is controlled.  I feel like the author does a great job keeping the subject engaging and explaining financial and computer terms consicesly and clearly.  But I am taking off a quarter star because he does not really explain the significance of any of the memes that come up-- and *a lot* of memes come up.  I could still understand what was being discussed, because I'm online a bit too much, but if I gave the book to someone who isn't, I feel like the book would be hard to follow and some of the depth of how much these people treat massive sums of money (life changing amount of money, to the average reader) as trivial, is lost if you don't understand the memes mentioned.  Also, I worry that it makes this book understandable for only a short period of time- 20 years from now, readers will have to comb through this book with many tabs of know your meme open.  Maybe as it ages as glossary could be helpful? It sounds ridiculous, but I do feel like this investigation and commentary on cryptocurrency is worth preserving, and providing context to future readers is part of that.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Trafficking and Torture

Minor: Pedophilia and Drug use

In one of the discussions of the background of one of the founders of a cryto exchange, there is discussion of the person being predatory to teenage boys, and a few quotes from survivors of his abuse, about his abuse. Specific acts are not described. In the chapters Pig Butchering and "We have freedom", the investigates how some criminal groups kidnap and enslave people and force them to run cryptocurrency scams. He includes quotes from surviors about their experience and treatment, which is brutal. As for drug use- it seems like everyone in the crypto world is doing drugs. The author mentions it when he observes it. Nothing graphic.