@gustavo07 if I read one Bitcoin book, what should it be?
@CryptosEra ?
very good replies already here!
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if I were to choose 1 book, for a gifting maybe, mastering bitcoin!
If I wanted to understand bitcoin, the whitepaper only!*
I think as bitcoin grows and new usecases are unlocked, it's definition also changes.
so finding one definitive book with up to date and accurate info is almost impossible!
the classics, like Mastering Bitcoin or Bitcoin Standard are good at providing a foundational understanding and also wrong or outdated at some points.
other point is Dixon is a VC so his book focuses on investing side and the Web3 side. While for example laura shin is a journalist and her book cryptopians provides a historical retelling of the industry.
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bitcoin whitepaper is very short, and the maths part skippable. so it's not a dense read at all.
there are 2 key innovation in the wp.
1. technical (timestamping)
2. monetary (block reward)
first gives you verifiability and censorship resistance, and second gives you incentive alignment.
this is why china, russia and USA can all agree on bitcoin.
no one can dispute what happened and when it happened on chain and everyone is incentivized to keep it online, to safegaurd their own bag.
so all you need to know is *why* it's verifiable and why the timestamps work.
perfectly explained in the whitepaper.
otherwise, mastering bitcoin or cryptopians.