Excellently researched and well-written business biography. Recommend to anyone interested in cryptocurrencies and tech industry. It may be less engaging if you are not into these topics.

Thanks to the publisher, Perseus Books, PublicAffairs, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

5/10 (rounded up to 3 stars)

Laura is a former writer for Forbes, she’s been covering crypto for years and hosts Unchained, arguably the best, most insightful podcast available about web3/cryptocurrency.

Cryptopians is the story of how Ethereum was created and grew. Laura has done a massive amount of research for this book. Her knowledge is impressive - it’s one of the reasons why I was excited to read it.

For the record, I am technologically savvy, I know more than the average joe about crypto but I am by no means an expert.

Ok, you’ve got the background, let me talk about the book.

This book is probably going to be loved by crypto insiders. The people who have been investing or playing with crypto since the beginning, the ones who understand the technology and know the players. Though that is a relatively small group of people, it’s a passionate niche.

For others, it’s a tough read. I was really hoping/expecting this book would be written more like Nick Bilton’s “American Kingpin” - which took the complexities of Silk Road and Bitcoin, and made them understandable for all.

I gave/give kudos to Laura for the massive amount of research she did on this book. Unfortunately, it seems she was compelled to use every item of her research. As a result, there is so much pointless minutiae in the book (eg a paragraph about the beer brands people had at their wedding), it’s tough to keep track of the story.

The thing is, there’s a good story in here it just needs to be brought out.

The book is organized by dates which, IMHO, doesn’t matter because there isn’t any suspense around the dates. They mean nothing. The story in my mind is about the personalities and interpersonal dynamics that led to the creation of Ethereum. This book would’ve been much more compelling if, say, a section was first about Vitalik, then Ming… highlighting the individuals in their journey.

Anyway, I’m glad I read it. I had to power through the last half and try to sift through the minutiae but I made it.

Again, if you’re a crypto insider, you’ll probably love this book. For others wanting to better understand Crypto, listen to Laura’s podcast, Unchained. It’s still slightly advanced for the newbie, but it’s still highly compelling.