Mastering Bitcoin: Programming the Open Blockchain 2nd Edition

I have read a lot of books on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and the quality of this one simply blows all the others out of the water. This is a very murky area informationally, and I was frankly shocked at just how good this book is. If you're familiar with other O'Reilly Press programming books, it might be less surprising that this is exceedingly well-written, extremely useful, and incredibly enlightening, but still I was taken aback at the depth and quality of this book. (I've said it already, but it bears repeating that cryptocurrency books vary widely in quality and frequently toe the line of marketing rather than informing.) In any event, kudos to Andreas and his editors and I have already preordered (and breathlessly await) his forthcoming Ethereum book.One final note: this book is a great resource not just for programming, but simply understanding, Bitcoin. Much of it is reasonably complex and requires programming background, but the book does not require you to actually be plugging code into a command line to appreciate the insights and explanations.

amazing book from a master of bitcoin. If want to understand how bitcoin actually works, this is a must read.

I recently went back to Mastering Bitcoin and the graphical explanation of how to get from a public key to a P2PKH address is crystal clear. This is not the first time that I was using some internet source and ended up having to go back to Mastering Bitcoin to see what the correct answer was.It is also nice to have clear and correct information all in one place, and presented in order. If you start at the beginning of this book and finish at the end, you will have covered everything you need to know about the bitcoin code protocol at the time the book was written.Note that you can get this book online for free... in small pieces. If you are considering buying it maybe try using the online version to read about something you are on clear on before paying.

This is the best technical book I have found on the subject, where many other blockchain and bitcoin books appear to be more popular science than technical education. This book prepares the reader to develop on this platform, as well as architect solutions. Each chapter describes the ingenious approaches that developers have come up with to solve practical, as well as existential, problems of trust and distributed exchange. Even if you are not a developer, it is fascinating to read about the solutions that have been developed, and how each one builds on the ones that came before it. The book is well-written and has been carefully edited for grammar, organization, diagrams, code examples, and so on. Of course, one should probably expect this quality of technical writing and publication from O'Reilly. I enjoyed it and have pre-ordered "Mastering Ethereum", by the same author, Andreas M. Antonopoulos.

Great book to read. It is very in-depth and may take a few re-reads to get all the concepts but it is a great way to learn a about the Bitcoin network and from all aspects. From mining to wallers. The programming excersies are limited and for beginners might need more hand holding but this is a great reference to have for any bitcoiner.

This book is a prereq for anyone who wants to understand how Bitcoin works. Even though it was made for programmers, as a non-technical person I was able to grasp the main concepts perfectly. The code snippets are followed by clear explanations of the processes portrayed, but even if you don't understand 100% of the technical parts, don't get stuck and don't give up. Move on, keep reading. Andreas is an impeccable communicator and any person can learn a lot from reading this masterpiece in its entirety. This book is fundamental if you want to have bitcoin in your life.

This book is really a reference on bitcoin from a technical point of view.It is written with an underlying consistency which allow to have a proper view on the topic. If you have tech background this is the typical textbook that will not get quickly outdated and gives a good foundation which you cannot have just by reading blogs and attending meetup. Armed with the learnings form this text it is possible to follow all the last progress in the field.I am looking forward to read the ethereum book from the same author.A really complete overview about blockchain would need also good textbooks about finance and law. Not easy. For me this is still a missing piece in available literature.If the goal is understanding the technology I would say that you have what is needed buying this book: reading more than once and doing the labs is necessary (it doesn't come for free).

Mastering Bitcoin does not disappoint. Most of the knowledge in this book is available online (the book is actually open-source on Github), but having every aspect of Bitcoin explained in one location has been very useful and convenient for me. This book follows the usual O'Reilly format, which, combined with the clear, working examples and top-down explanation makes the concepts easy to grasp, even with little to no past exposure. Everything I've struggled with while developing a block explorer and mobile wallet has been covered in this book... Base 58, encryption algorithms, signing transactions, block formats, multisig, segwit, BIPs, scripting capabilities... you name it, this book explains it.