Blockchain Basics: A Non-Technical Introduction in 25 Steps
$12.00
| Author(s) | |
|---|---|
| Pages |
246 |
| Format |
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| Published Date |
2017 |
In Blockchain Basics: A Non-Technical Introduction in 25 Steps, fills the gap that exists between purely technical books about the blockchain, on the one hand, and the literature that is mostly concerned with specific applications or discussions about its expected economic impact or visions about its future, on the other hand.
Introduction:
The blockchain has received a lot of attention in the public discussion and in the media. Some enthusiasts claim that the blockchain is the biggest invention since the emergence of the Internet. Hence, a lot of books and articles have been written in the past few years about the blockchain. However, if you want to learn more about how the blockchain works, you may find yourself lost in a universe of books that either quickly skim over the technical details or that discuss the underlying technical concepts at a highly formal level.
The former may leave you unsatisfied because they miss to explain the technical details necessary to understand and appreciate the blockchain, while the latter may leave you unsatisfied because they already require the knowledge you want to acquire. Blockchain Basics: A Non-Technical Introduction in 25 Steps was written because a conceptual understanding of the technical foundations of the blockchain is necessary in order to understand specific blockchain applications, evaluate business cases of blockchain startups, or follow the discussion about its expected economic impacts.
Without an appreciation of the underlying concepts, it will be impossible to assess the value or the potential impact of the blockchain in general or understand the added value of specific blockchain applications. Blockchain Basics: A Non-Technical Introduction in 25 Steps focuses on the underlying concepts of the blockchain since a lack of understanding of a new technology can lead to being carried away with the hype and being disappointed later on because of unrealistic unsubstantiated expectations.
Contents:
- Terminology and Technical Foundations
- Why the Blockchain Is Needed
- How the Blockchain Works
- Limitations and How to Overcome Them
- Using the Blockchain, Summary, and Outlook
Blockchain Basics: A Non-Technical Introduction in 25 Steps By Daniel Drescher PDF
19 reviews for Blockchain Basics: A Non-Technical Introduction in 25 Steps
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Joel Barnes (verified owner) –
This book is easy to read and understand the concepts explained. It’s organized extremely well and the author gives great examples first to help you understand the concepts he introduces. There are a few “grammatical errors” but slight ones. Considering “English” may not be the author’s first language, it’s understandable. These errors in no way confuse the concepts and explanations for the reader. I give him an A+ for sure; and I am very picky and analytical when it comes to the organization, introduction of concepts, explanation of concepts, etc. In ANY book I read! This includes college textbooks and there are plenty of bad ones!
Marley Pierce (verified owner) –
Drescher offers a comprehensive overview of all elements of the blockchain technology in an exceptionally clear and straightforward manner. Countless books on blockchain technology exist yet few offer the clarity and depth of Blockchain Basics.
Dresher explains early in the book that “the core problem to be solved by the blockchain is achieving and maintaining integrity in a purely distributed peer-to-peer system that consists of an unknown number of peers with unknown reliability and trustworthiness.” If you are wondering what exactly this means, then this book is a must. Anyone seeking to understand what all the fuss is about with respect to blockchains should be reading this book.
You do not need a technical background nor even strong mathematical skills to grasp the contents of this book which is a testament to its presentation. Dresher’s exceptional use of metaphors and analogies to present the concepts makes this book accessible to people of all technical levels.
Among the topics covered, you will get a complete understanding of software architecture (distributed versus centralized), how peer-to-peer systems operate, hashing and encryption, and ultimately how integrity and trustworthiness is achieved via the blockchain. You will finish this book having a firm grasp on how the entirety of blockchain technology works, why it is having such an impact, and where it likely may lead in the future. Of all the books I’ve read on blockchain technology, this is the one I recommend first.
Meilani Combs (verified owner) –
Nothing is telling about what Bitcoin technology is and about Block chain works and the security related issues. The good and Bad side of this technology is.
Damir Alvarez (verified owner) –
There are plenty of books that claim to be uniquely designed to make technology topics understandable but few deliver as well as this one. The topic is fascinating but so is the way this book delivers the goods. I keep giving it to friends because it’s vastly easier than trying to explain this topic to the uninformed.
Ahmad Cunningham (verified owner) –
Very thoughtfully written. This book is organized and written to build on chunks of conveyed information to teach blockchain in an assessable format. .
You will learn everything you need to understand the basics that will help you evaluate anything related to crypto. Start with this book- it doesn’t take long to read.
Nalani Esquivel (verified owner) –
You do not have to know how to code, in fact you might not even like coding, still, this book will help you understand the very essence of the blockchain.
Liliana Brandt (verified owner) –
I give this book 4.5-stars
It’s a bit pedantic and repetitive, but that’s way better than erroring in the other direction of being vague and hand-wavy like most other authors are. And it’s easy to skim through some of the repetitive material.
Otherwise, it’s a terrific book that explains the mechanics of how bitcoin works that’s easy to grasp for non-technical people. It is very thorough. And he illustrates concepts with great metaphors that are easy to grasp and help visualize what is otherwise very difficult to picture in a tangible way.
Axton Soto (verified owner) –
I won’t go to in-depth as I don’t like spending to of my much time writing reviews but since I got the opportunity at this moment I figure why not help the author with a well appreciated simplistically put book breaking down the main idea of what block chain technology is. If you are looking for a great starter book. This one is a great place to start. If your looking for a very technical book for advanced folks. This is not the book.
Nicolas Austin (verified owner) –
The simplicity of language and the gradual presentation of concepts help to build a complete mind map that allows us to understand blockchain in these times. I recommend it as the first dive into the subject.
Palmer Hart (verified owner) –
My background is CS/CT, and Military cryptography. The space is not a cognitive “brick wall” to me. I started reading “Mastering Blockchain” by Bashir and found that I needed a better, perhaps not-technical overview of the entire space and of Blockchain technology itself. I took a chance on “Blockchain Basics” from amongst dozens of available books through Sacred Traders. I bought a few others to try to get a handle on this technology and the entire space inclusive of cryptocurrencies, application development, and security. This book was the best of what I bought and it gave me exactly what I was looking for. It is well written, non-technical and explained what a blockchain must do in a series of steps. The author explained what he will do, did it then summarized what he did very nicely. Then he pointed out what he will do next. I like the book very much and I use it as a reference as I move into some technical reading.
For an even higher level, broader introduction to the entire space, read “NFT” by Ben Stephen. This book is non-technical but do require some tech and crypto knowledge to get a good understanding of what is happening.
A good but lengthy and comprehensive book on cryptography is “Applied Cryptography” by Bruce Schneier. To really understand this space, you need a good understanding of cryptography.
Morgan Carson (verified owner) –
Got to the point. There is some fluff but I have a greater understanding. Some historic info not really related to bitcoin but minimal. Good read.
Quentin Jennings (verified owner) –
The headline of this review might seem to clash with the 5 stars I’ve given it, but if this were a 10 star rating I’d give it a 9.
Let me begin by saying that this book is a must-read if one is new to the block-chain. In a non-technical way it explains hash functions, hash references and puzzles, public-private keys, peer-to-peer networks, and how they interact to form block chains.
On the negative side, there are quite a few grammar errors, but they don’t interfere with one’s understanding. More negative is the fact that the book is somewhat pedantic; I think it could have been written in about half the length with perhaps a bit less confusion. It also fails to discuss the difference between miners and full nodes. Further, It fails to discuss proof of stake versus proof of work.
Having said all of this, unless you’re a techie, you should buy this book. It is basically a winner!
Eileen Flowers (verified owner) –
Read this book in conjunction with a college course. This book is a simple, concise, and thorough overview of Blockchain technology from an introductory standpoint. I recommend it if you’re curious about the subject and want a “crash course” that you can take at your own pace.
Shiloh Copeland (verified owner) –
The glue used in the book binding is defective. Some of the pages in the book fell out with normal usage of the book.
The content of the book is great and I would give the content five stars. However, I buy books for the long-term reference as well as for the content and having defective binding defeats part of the purpose for buying the paperback version of the book.
Bridger Ware (verified owner) –
While this book is “basics” I do believe in goes deep into block chain schematics. It’s organized, easy to understand, and insightful. Definitely recommend to someone in the finance sector, interested in cryptocurrency or wanting to learn about a growing trend like Blockchain. A must buy!
Saul Sampson (verified owner) –
Too convoluted. Hard to get any practical knowledge out of it.
Brynlee Dougherty (verified owner) –
If you want to learn about Blockchain, this is the book for you. The author uses easy-to-understand analogies to explain different technical concepts. He discusses actual and potential real-world uses, including cryptocurrencies. I read one chapter each day, then mentally digested what I just read. I will probably read it again in a few weeks to reinforce the knowledge, but it’s a great book and I know a lot more about Blockchain then when I started reading.
Brett Hunt (verified owner) –
Thank you Daniel Drescher for taking the time to write this. The metaphors were critical to my understanding of blockchain basics. There was also a lot of repetition, which annoyed me at first but I actually came to appreciate it later because as we know, repetition facilitates learning. I highly recommend this for those who need to see the forest before the trees.
Alivia Zamora (verified owner) –
As someone who purchased this book with only the most basic general understanding of blockchain, and no understanding of its technical aspects or infrastructure, this book was a godsend. I particularly appreciate its accessible language, logical organization, didactically strategic repetition, and consistent identification of apt metaphors.