T. Seltz

Mixed Bag

Revisado: 06-11-24

The first half of this book is excellent. Ms. Alden describes the functioning of the Federal Reserve, "base" money and "broad" money, and provides easy-to-follow accounting examples to distinguish between inflationary monetary policies vs. policies that have a neutral affect on inflation. It is one of the better depictions of the monetary system I have encountered.

Unfortunately, the second half of the book is little more than a brochure for Bitcoin. I would not be so disappointed if the depiction was even-handed. It is not. Bitcoin's virtues are magnified (e.g., immutability). It's weaknesses are downplayed (e.g., susceptibility to a 51% attack; it's failure to function as a medium of exchange). And, the contrast with other solutions (proof-of-work vs. proof-of-stake) appears to be disingenuously distorted in service to Bitcoin. Portions of Satoshi's vision are discussed, but the areas in which Satoshi's vision has not been achieved are ignored.

This is a great book for someone who wants to get a better understanding of money and how the monetary system functions. It is a good book for someone who is crypto curious and wants to learn how proof-of-work blockchains work and what all the blockchain fuss is about. But, I do not regard it as an even-handed depiction of Bitcoin's strengths and weaknesses, particularly in relation to other blockchain solutions. In that aspect, it is disappointing.

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Thorough, Thought Provoking and Enjoyable

Revisado: 05-08-18

This well-researched book on the "sharing economy," "crowd-sourced capitalism," or whatever we're calling it these days, is very well-researched. It dates through around 2015 so it will probably need updating to retain value at some point. But, as of this point in time (2018), it's still quite relevant and timely. Anyone interested in decentralization or where our economy is going would be well-served by this account.

Two very subjective criticisms:

(a) the author engages in too much attribution. This is what footnotes are for. It is distracting and a waste of time to hear every theory's multiple progenitors and the title of the publication from which a theory emerged, or the conference at which it was presented. After awhile, it just sounds like obscure academic namedropping; and

(b) the narration is overly earnest, mispronounced some names (e.g., "Buterik" for "Buterin"), and detracted from what otherwise was an excellent listen.

Overall, however, this book is extremely insightful. Despite the narration, I'll likely listen a second time -- the underlying work itself is that good.

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