There are loads of books out there about Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and blockchain, but which should you choose this Christmas? Maybe you’re looking for a gift, or perhaps want to use some of your holiday time to read one yourself.
Well, let us give you a helping hand. Hard Fork has picked out some options for a variety of experience — and reading — levels. Take a look!
For the baby in your life
No one is too old, and for that matter too young, for Bitcoin. So, what better way of getting your offspring into cryptocurrency than gently nudging them towards it during their formative years! Or maybe you just want to help them with their ABCs with words more interesting than apple, boat, and cat.
If that’s the case then Graeme Moore’s: “B is for Bitcoin” will be right up your street. Moore came up with the idea for the book after realizing that he needed a way to speak to his two-year-old niece about, you guessed it, Bitcoin.
If you or the hodler in your life is looking for a similar excuse, buy them this book and pray for their children.
For the beginner
If you’re looking for a book about Bitcoin or cryptocurrency for someone just getting into the topic, Dominic Frisby’s: “Bitcoin, The Future of Money,” is a great place to start. Frisby was formerly a comedian-cum-financial columnist and has a witty and wry spin which he uses to explain Bitcoin and its history in plain English.
I personally rave about this book a lot because it is such a good page-turner, and it’s unlikely to alienate any of its readers. Numerous sections of this book read more like a political crime thriller than they do a book about an emerging technology. It serves for an entertaining read regardless of experience, but is a great place to start for complete newbies.
For the intermediate
Blockchain Basics by Daniel Drescher is great if you’re buying a book for someone who’s got their handle on all things cryptocurrency and blockchain, but is still looking for a foundation of knowledge to build on.
What’s great about Drescher’s book is that it isn’t tied to any particular coin or cryptocurrency project, so it gives a good generalist’s overview. A useful starting point if you’re beginning to build on some basic knowledge.
Like Frisby, Drescher writes in an easily comprehensible style that opens up a highly technical topic to a broader audience by splitting down the topic into a number of steps. The steps get more complex as you progress through, but by then you’ll already be building your understanding so it shouldn’t be too challenging.
For the more advanced
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is a massive topic, and if you class yourself as advanced, you’ve probably read most of what there is to read on it. But if you’re just getting into the more technical aspects of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency and are looking for one book that gives a broad overview of Bitcoin, from fundamentals to deeper dives on specific developments, then Andreas Antonopoulos’: “Mastering Bitcoin” is a good place to start.
You’ll learn more than just the Bitcoin protocol and also look at decentralized networks, peer-to-peer architecture, and beyond. If the Amazon reviews are anything to go by, people are very pleased after reading this book.
One reviewer on Amazon said: “If you are planning to do any kind of serious technical work related to Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency then this is the best place to start.”
Like I said at the top of this article, the mountain of available books about Bitcoin, blockchain, and cryptocurrency is ever growing. I certainly haven’t read them all, but these are a few favorites that rate highly among those that have.
So, go out and read, read, and read some more, so long as it’s about Bitcoin.
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