If learning about bitcoin, ethereum or cryptocurrencies is on your New Year resolution , then welcome ! I’ve curated a list of the best rated books on the subject. The list contains a couple of complex books that dive deep into the technical details of bitcoin and ethereum, a couple of non technical books that explain what is a blockchain and how to invest in CryptoAssets and a couple of stories about the bitcoin subculture and it personages.
Let’s get to it :
Mastering Bitcoin: Programming the Open Blockchain 
This book takes a deep technical dive into the building blocks of bitcoin. The book really shows how a transaction works, how blockchain works, and why it is needed, along with a history and and thorough introduction to bitcoin.However this is not an introductory test and for that you should check Blockchain Basics or CryptoAssets .
Mastering Ethereum: Building Smart Contracts and DApps
Building on the success of Mastering Bitcoin, Andreas Antonopoulos offers the reader an easy to follow guide into the world of ethreum and distributed applications or dapps. This book is mostly intended for coders. If you can use a programming language, this book will teach you how smart contract blockchains work, how to use them, and how to develop smart contracts and decentralized applications with them. The first few chapters are also suitable as an in-depth introduction to Ethereum for noncoders. The coding examples from the book are in Solidity, Javascript and Vyper and are available in a github repository. Unlike the first 300,000 Ethereum developers and enthusiasts who learned the concepts piecemeal you can learn in a sequence that makes logical sense. Key concepts that require depth (cryptography, transactions, and security) are covered fully. This book is a great companion for analysts, developers, technical architects and all cryptocurious minds
For the less technical reader ,
Blockchain Basics: A Non-Technical Introduction in 25 Steps
, offers a pretty good primer. Its step-by-step approach might test some readers’ patience, but one might find that helpful in cementing their understanding.This text is fairly hype-free and it’s very honest about blockchain’s challenges.
What’s striking is that given the amount of effort the blockchain goes through to achieve its objectives, one really needs to have an appropriate use case that requires a distributed, peer-to-peer architecture and non-trusted nodes, plus can tolerate “eventual consistency”.
By now, everybody’s heard about the wild fluctuations in bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices. However, where there’s volatility, there’s opportunity.Therefore, after learning the technical details of the blockchain, bitcoin and ethereum, one may want to understand where these opportunities are and how to evaluate the myriad of CryptoAssets out there. Amazon has one well reviewed book that covers that :
Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor's Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond
. The book answers three questions in regards to CryptoAssets : What are they ? Why invest in them ? and How to evaluate and invest in them? Cryptoassets gives you all the tools you need:
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* An actionable framework for investigating and valuing cryptoassets
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* Portfolio management techniques to maximize returns while managing risk
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* Historical context and tips to navigate inevitable bubbles and manias
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* Practical guides to exchanges, wallets, capital market vehicles, and ICOs
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* Predictions on how blockchain technology may disrupt current portfolios
The authors define a clear and original cryptoasset taxonomy, composed of cryptocurrencies, cryptocommodities, and cryptotokens, with insights into how each subset is blending technology and markets. If , after reading this, you decide to open a trading account on coinbase , do it using the following link so that we both get $10 : https://www.coinbase.com/join/5a198f8cad5a4000e3b68004.
Now that we understand how cryptocurrencies work, we understand how to price and trade them , how about some stories about their origin?
Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money
is an example of very fine writing and detailed reporting of the bitcoin subculture. Not a book to learn how to mine bitcoins or where to buy them .
The second book that I recommend is the current #1 Best Seller book in the “Digital Currencies” section of Amazon is
American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road
. Siera Wilson from the Amazon Book Review describes it best : The Silk Road was once an ancient trade route through Asia, but in 2011 an idealistic young man named Ross Ulbricht used the moniker for a new enterprise that the internet age had never seen; A Dark Web site where everything from drugs and guns to passports could be bought and sold—this was the new Silk Road. Ulbricht was an extreme libertarian who never imagined his revolutionary new free market enterprise would become a billion dollar empire, or that he would be sought by multiple agencies of law enforcement over the coming years. American Kingpin takes us back in time, from Ulbricht’s early failures to becoming Dread Pirate Roberts, the name he adopted to hide himself online. We see how a small pink pill in an anonymous envelope caught the eye of a low-level Homeland security employee and became the catalyst for Federal agency power struggles, and cops who became criminals over the course of a massive manhunt for someone they weren’t even sure existed. The cast of characters involved, those who Ulbricht enlisted to aid him and those who worked to bring him down are a fascinating mix of personalities, but none more so than Dread Pirate Roberts himself. American Kingpin is addictive reading, and whether or not you are already familiar with the Silk Road, by the time this book ends you will likely want to know even more about the Dark Web and the legacy of the world’s largest online retailer of illegal goods.
At last, I would like to mention the new book from Ben Mezrich, the author of Bringing Down The House
and Accidental Billionaires
, called
Bitcoin Billionaires : A True Story of Genius, Betrayal and Redemption
the fascinating story of brothers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss’s big bet on crypto-currency and its dazzling pay-off. This book is going to be released on May 21st 2019 , but can’t wait to get my hands on it.
Mastering Bitcoin: Programming the Open Blockchain 
Mastering Ethereum: Building Smart Contracts and DApps 
