This book was good, I learned a lot about Bitcoin, which is something I've been wanting to do for awhile now. I think the author's prose is was; he didn't blow me away with how he told his story, but it was still interesting and engaging throughout, although the review copy I got was definitely not finished with editing- the lines ended all over the place and made it difficult to read. That's not a fault of the book, but it did make it more difficult to enjoy. I would overall really recommend this as a short look into how Bitcoin started and into cryptocurrencies in general.

Fascinated by the new and transformative world of cryptocurrency, I fell on this book. It’s a fast paced fun read about one person’s journey in the world of ‘binance’. I would have liked more of an overview, less introspection as I finished with hundreds of still unanswered questions.

I was given a free copy of this book for review by through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

In truth I requested this book because, beyond knowing that Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, I know very little about Bitcoin or being a Bitcoin miner. I requested this book because I was interested in understanding something that my husband is into.

This book is absolutely not a how-to guide. It also doesn’t hand hold you and explain the nuts and bolts of being a Bitcoin miner which isn’t what I expected going in. Despite this, the book was fascinating. Ethan Lou writes very compelling narrative which isn’t a surprise given his background in journalism. The book covers the period from 2008 to 2020 and depicts the highs and lows of both the Bitcoin price and the people involved in the circles Ethan Lou was a part of. I especially enjoyed reading about the North Korea trip and the rich descriptions used to describe Canada where he lived during the period. The book is partly biographical and partly a commentary on what was happening at the time. The events were strangely Gatsby-Esque in places. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the ‘history’ of Bitcoin but doesn’t have much knowledge. I found it very accessible.