Review of "Bubble or Revolution?: The Present and Future of Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies," by Neel Mehta et. al.

 Review of

Bubble or Revolution?: The Present and Future of Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies, by Neel Mehta et. al. ISBN 9780578528151

Five out of five stars

Excellent primer on cryptocurrencies

 This book was published in 2021 and a lot of crypto-bits and ephemeral crypto-fortunes have been gained and lost since then. Cybercurrency bitcoin values have displayed massive swings. The high in 2021 was over $68,000 and the low was less than $29,000. The current price at the time this is being written is approximately $27,000. Cryptocurrency exchange company FTX had a spectacular meltdown in late 2022, with billions of dollars seemingly vaporized.

 In this volatile environment, there is great risk, but there is also a lot of potential to make a profit. Provided you have knowledge of what cryptocurrencies are, how they are created and how they can and will be used. Since they are based on the computer tactic of blockchain computations, it is also necessary to have some understanding of that topic as well.

 This book is one that anyone pondering getting involved with cryptocurrencies should read. It is an excellent primer on cryptocurrencies as well as the foundational blockchain computations. It was written by product managers at Google, Microsoft and Facebook, people tasked with understanding and implementing new technologies.

 It is still too early to answer the question stated in the title of the book. However, after reading this book, you will have a basic understanding of how blockchains are created and used to create and maintain cryptocurrencies and how they are used to manage product and resource tracking.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review of "The Autumn Dead," by Ed Gorman

  Review of The Autumn Dead , by Ed Gorman, ISBN 0345356322 Four out of five stars An aging ex-cop is handed a case to retrieve a case   Jack Dwyer is an ex-cop that now works for a private security agency. Most of what he does is bust shoplifters and other petty criminals. He is a bit overweight and has few prospects to improve his situation. However, he has an interesting past that is focused on his high school years.   A woman that was a flame of his in high school and has retained her beauty suddenly pops back into his life. She offers Jack a significant amount of money to retrieve a suitcase from the house of a man she had been living with. Since she has a key and claims that the suitcase is really her property and she still has a significant sway over Jack, he agrees to take the job.   When he gets there he finds the owner unconscious from a blow on the back of the head. This is the first hint that the case is much more complex than Jack thought. Hi...
Read more

Review of "The Forty-Minute War," by Janet and Chris Morris

  Review of The Forty-Minute War , by Janet and Chris Morris, ISBN 0671559869 Three out of five stars Absurd initial premise and bad ending   This book begins with an absurd premise, not the event, but the context. A group of committed terrorists manage to acquire a nuclear weapon and a plane. The manage to fly it from Saudi Arabia to Washington D. C. where they detonate it. Distraught over the knowledge that his wife and family have been killed, the American President orders a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union. They retaliate and it is all over in 40 minutes. After ordering the strike, the American President takes a gun and kills himself.   There are two reasons why this premise is absurd, one major and the other minor. The major one is that the intelligence services of the United States were aware of the nuclear weapon and had an elite anti-terrorist team on the ground ready to take out the terrorists. However, the team was given a stand-down order. Whil...
Read more

Review of "Heat," by Mike Lupica

  Review of Heat , by Mike Lupica, ISBN 9780142407578 Five out of five stars More about life than sports   Satchel Paige is arguably the all-time best baseball pitcher. One of his teammates once said, “The good lord didn’t give Satchel an arm, he gave him a whip.” Michael Arroyo was also born with what his father said was, “the arm.” Even though he is still young enough to play Little League baseball, Michael can throw an 80-mph fastball and he has excellent control. His goal is to help his team move on to the Little League World Series.   While baseball is his joy, his life is complicated. His father brought Michael and his seventeen-year-old bother Carlos with him in an escape from Cuba and they now live in New York City. Their father died suddenly of a heart attack and the boys are terrified that social services will learn of their plight and either separate them into foster care or send them back to Cuba.   With the help of some kindly neighbors, the ...
Read more