Princeton Bitcoin textbook is now freely available (opens in new tab)

(freedom-to-tinker.com)

247 pointst3hSpork10y ago19 comments

19 comments

16 comments · 9 top-level

sandworm10110y ago· 4 in thread

>> Princeton University Press is publishing the official, polished, and professionally done version of this book. It will be out in summer 2016.

Is this really freely available? I'd much rather see Princeton release this book to the public domain.

rwallace10y ago

While I think the notion of intellectual property is a mistake, when someone offers us a half-full glass of lemonade, to respond with a complaint that the glass is half empty is extremely poor form.

pmorici10y ago

You can download the draft as PDF right from their site.

sandworm10110y ago

Yes, but that isn't free imho. Can I host a copy on my own website? Can I include the book as part of a course taught at my school? Can I integrate chapters of the book into another book that I may be writing? Making a copy available for reading isn't the same as making it free.

2 more replies

violentvinyl10y ago

Free as in beer, which is a step in the right direction at an institution where other textbooks could cost hundreds of dollars.

kang10y ago· 2 in thread

I found the book(& course notes) to be interesting but non-technical & little verbose. For those wanting to read technical subject matter I'd recommend the bitcoin developer reference & bitcoin developer guide at bitcoin.org

bjornsing10y ago

Why not Satoshi's original paper [1]?

1. https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

olalonde10y ago

That's a good place to start but it's also light on technical details and Bitcoin has evolved a bit since then.

asafira10y ago· 1 in thread

Michael Nielsen has a nice intro the protocol, for those looking for another source:

http://www.michaelnielsen.org/ddi/how-the-bitcoin-protocol-a...

(he has other articles I would recommend taking a look at, too --- check them out if you're interested! )

roymurdock10y ago

This is the resource I recommend to all of my friends as well. Great walkthrough.

roymurdock10y ago

Here's the link to the actual PDF: https://d28rh4a8wq0iu5.cloudfront.net/bitcointech/readings/p...

mgraczyk10y ago

I read this book when I took CS251 last fall. It is an accessible, mostly nontechnical overview of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. For those interested in reading the book and learning more about cryptocurrencies, I recommend going through the CS251 reading list which includes this book.

https://crypto.stanford.edu/cs251/syllabus.html

iamcreasy10y ago

One of the author of this book already had a MOOC about Bitcoin on Coursera.

Link : https://www.coursera.org/course/bitcointech

jbpetersen10y ago

Despite being a little outdated and justifiably overly focused on the computer-science aspects, this is a huge improvement in bringing academia up to speed on cryptoeconomics.

nissimk10y ago

Since nobody has mentioned it yet, Andreas Antonopoulos' book, "Mastering Bitcoin," is quite good.

You can build the ePub from source:

https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook

Or get it from oreilly:

http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920032281.do

esseti10y ago

epub or any ebook ready format?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

19 comments

16 comments · 9 top-level

sandworm10110y ago· 4 in thread

>> Princeton University Press is publishing the official, polished, and professionally done version of this book. It will be out in summer 2016.

Is this really freely available? I'd much rather see Princeton release this book to the public domain.

rwallace10y ago

While I think the notion of intellectual property is a mistake, when someone offers us a half-full glass of lemonade, to respond with a complaint that the glass is half empty is extremely poor form.

pmorici10y ago

You can download the draft as PDF right from their site.

sandworm10110y ago

2 more replies

violentvinyl10y ago

Free as in beer, which is a step in the right direction at an institution where other textbooks could cost hundreds of dollars.

kang10y ago· 2 in thread

bjornsing10y ago

Why not Satoshi's original paper [1]?

1. https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

olalonde10y ago

That's a good place to start but it's also light on technical details and Bitcoin has evolved a bit since then.

asafira10y ago· 1 in thread

Michael Nielsen has a nice intro the protocol, for those looking for another source:

http://www.michaelnielsen.org/ddi/how-the-bitcoin-protocol-a...

(he has other articles I would recommend taking a look at, too --- check them out if you're interested! )

roymurdock10y ago

This is the resource I recommend to all of my friends as well. Great walkthrough.

roymurdock10y ago

Here's the link to the actual PDF: https://d28rh4a8wq0iu5.cloudfront.net/bitcointech/readings/p...

mgraczyk10y ago

https://crypto.stanford.edu/cs251/syllabus.html

iamcreasy10y ago

One of the author of this book already had a MOOC about Bitcoin on Coursera.

Link : https://www.coursera.org/course/bitcointech

jbpetersen10y ago

Despite being a little outdated and justifiably overly focused on the computer-science aspects, this is a huge improvement in bringing academia up to speed on cryptoeconomics.

nissimk10y ago

Since nobody has mentioned it yet, Andreas Antonopoulos' book, "Mastering Bitcoin," is quite good.

You can build the ePub from source:

https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook

Or get it from oreilly:

http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920032281.do

esseti10y ago

epub or any ebook ready format?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse