Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Blockchain Bubble or Revolution: The Future of Bitcoin, Blockchains, and Cryptocurrencies

A quick introduction into crypto but factual wrong in technical fundamentals

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2020

The book gives a very quick overview of the most important blockchain projects as of the time the book was written.

Be warned: the book is very light on its coverage of technical details of blockchain technology and in some cases it is simply wrong!

In chapter 2 the authors claim that blockchain is similar to a gigantic publicly shared Excel spreadsheet. Unfortunately this claim is simply wrong! A shared Excel spreadsheet is a single file and therefore a single and central source of truth. If being corrupted or deleted, a shared Excel spreadsheet becomes a central point of failure. Blockchain is a distributed system without any central point of failure and therefore the complete opposite of a shared Excel spreadsheet. The very fact that Mehta, Agashe, and Detroja considered a shared Excel spreadsheet an appropriate metaphor for blockchain, show that they have severe deficits in their understanding of blockchain technology.

The explanations of asymmetric cryptography, digital sinaturs, cryptographic hash functions, consensus, blockchain data structure, immutability of blockchain data structure provided in the book barely scratch the surface and raise more questions than they provide answers. The authors' undifferentiated and sloppy use of the terms 'distributed', 'decentralised' and 'shared' confirms the impression that they have deficits in understanding basic concepts of blockchain. Hence, if your goal is to truly understand how and why blockchain works, this book is definitely not for you!

To sum up, if you are looking for a quick overview on crypto and blockchain applications without need or interest in understanding how and why blockchain works, you may consider reading 'Blockchain Bubble or Revolution'! But if you truly want to understand how and why blockchain works you should consider one of the following books whose authors did a much better job in explaining blockchain: 'Blockchain Science' by Roger Wattenhofer, 'Mastering Bitcoin' by Andreas Antonopoulos, 'Blockchain Basics' by Daniel Drescher or 'Mastering Blockchain' by Imran Bashir.

83 people found this helpful

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Ben

The BEST blockchain book out there - great explanations and thorough analysis!

Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2019

Verified Purchase

As an MBB consultant for the tech industry, I have spent a lot of time trying to get a good understanding of blockchain and its future. Bubble or Revolution is the only book I have read that does exactly this. It does a fantastic job of explaining how blockchain technology works (about one fourth of the book). I really like how the authors use creative metaphors to explain what is happening behind the scenes - I feel like I can now explain how tech works to a 5th grader.

The remaining three fourths of the book focuses on the use cases for blockchains and cryptocurrencies in the form of case studies and research (other books like Blockchain Basics spend 60% of the book explaining the tech in micro details that are irrelevant). There is a lot of thoughtful analysis when dissecting these case studies that helped me understand some of the shortcomings and weaknesses of blockchain technology.

I have read a lot of overly bullish books (like Blockchain Revolution), but Bubble or Revolution differs in that it offers frameworks for helping you understand in what use cases the pros of blockchain technology outweigh the cons. The authors do a fantastic job of making predictions on how major countries (e.g. China) and major companies (e.g. Facebook and Microsoft) will adopt blockchain and the reasons behind it.

If you are looking for an easy to understand overview of how blockchain works, why it matters, AND where the technology is headed from an unbiased perspective, I'd highly recommend checking out Bubble or Revolution!

145 people found this helpful

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Ty

Great on Blockchain, weak on Cryptocurrencies

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2020

Verified Purchase

The authors have done an excellent job on the more technical aspects of blockchain and cryptography. And from that perspective the book is a good read.
However, I was sort of disappointed with their knowledge on Cryptocurrencies.
Paul Krugman's quote (heading the chapter titled 'Bitcoin Blunders') shows this...
"Cryptocurrencies, by contrast, have no backstop, no tether to reality. Their value depends entirely on self-fulfilling expectations — which means that total collapse is a real possibility"
My response to that is... where in human history has a fiat (or supposedly gold-backed) currency survived?
All currencies in human history have collapsed over time, usually inflated away to worthlessness.

Finally, the distinction between Cryptocurrencies as a store of value versus transactional instruments was not properly spelled out. (Something a techie would ignore but the financial world cannot).

Summary: A decent book, written by techies (more of an aggregation of information with no groundbreaking technical perspectives) and some deficiencies re. the understanding of Cryptocurrencies

35 people found this helpful

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Julian Erbil

Guide to Blockchain, dApps, Mining, Crypto, and more, in very readable format.

Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2019

Verified Purchase

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This book provides quality information and analysis about a subject that is innately complex. The authors clearly describe, explain, and detail topics concerning what blockchain technology is, how mining works, how cryptocurrency is beneficial, and how companies are using and misusing what could be the best invention since the Internet, according to some. Plenty of current and past case studies are walked through in depth.

My favorite part about this book is that the authors progressively instruct you, taking you from the beginning of the history of crypto to the current philosophies and cases happening today. Another key piece is, especially with the Kindle version, being able to read the information in the sources of the book immediately via hyperlinked research. I found myself, within 40 pages of reading, clicking through to read a separate piece on the "Proof of Work" methods.

36 people found this helpful

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Abhay Gupta

Bubble or Revolution Fills a Gap in Knowledge regarding the Technologies of the Future

Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2019

Verified Purchase

Bitcoin became a buzzword overnight. Pitched as the currency of the future, the sensational hype around the cryptocurrency and its blockchain base revolutionized the fintech sector. However, a lot of the commotion around bitcoin was exactly that, commotion. People did not truly seem to understand bitcoin and blockchain, a gap of knowledge preventing progress and innovation.

In Bubble or Revolution, Neel Mehta, Adi Agashe, and Parth Detroja aim to bridge the gap between the everyday individual and cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies. Mehta, Agashe, and Detroja demystify cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies – their origins, their functions, and the necessary knowledge needed to successfully navigate a cyber-economy. They offer insightful case studies worded in the vernacular, which make it easy for the reader to understand complex technological concepts and envision what a future with these technologies would come to look like. With case studies ranging from global warming to online voting to Venezuela promoting its own cryptocurrency, Bubble or Revolution offers it all. Mehta, Agashe, and Detroja also delve into Bitcoin and its alternatives, providing a high-level look at the cryptocurrency market with even contemporary events factored in, such as Facebook’s recent plunge into cryptocurrency. They not only explain to the reader what these technologies are, but also how they apply to the economic, political, and legal spheres in our lives today. And they go above and beyond by incorporating insights from tech industry leaders regarding cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies to give the reader an unparalleled vault of knowledge regarding these contemporary technologies.

The future economy will look very different with the advent of cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies; Bubble or Revolution will prepare you for that new age.

27 people found this helpful

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Jacob Martin

Incredible Book w/ Some Negative Bias

Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2020

Verified Purchase

I would definitely recommend this book, especially to those who are extremely pro-Bitcoin/Crypto. While I have been listening to podcasts for years from BTC proponents like Preston Pysh, I realize that he may be wearing rose-colored glasses. Keep in mind, I was also a strong advocate for BTC and Other Cryptos before reading this book. While this book may skew negative, the authors bring up some incredibly strong points that shed a more realistic light on the potential BTC/Crypto has. While still being an incredible technology and concept, I believe this rightfully tempers expectations and is the perfect counterbalance to the often shallow, greed driven hype surrounding BTC/Crypto. At the end of the day, I still believe it could be a fine investment, but I realize that the risk and time necessary for Crypto to take a real hold lessen the short to mid-term potential for BTC/Crypto. I will be decreasing my exposure/position but would still like to have around 5% of my portfolio in this high-risk, high-reward investment.

18 people found this helpful

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Anna

A must read for all tech nerds!!

Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2019

Verified Purchase

After reading AI Superpowers, I discovered I really love learning about new technologies and how they will influence the world going forward. I think Bubble or Revolution does for blockchain what AI Superpowers does for artificial intelligence and machine learning - it breaks down how the technology works, how it will most likely be adopted and its role on a global stage, and both the positive and negative externalities that will result from it.

Bubble or Revolution does a wonderful job explaining the technical details of blockchain without jargon and then storytelling the history of the technology and its evolution to getting to where it is today. The book then looks forward and provides thoughtful takes on how different companies and governments will utilize blockchain in the next three to five years. All claims and predictions made are very well backed up with data and research. After reading Bubble or Revolution, I am thoroughly convinced that China will be the first major country to tokenize their currency!

25 people found this helpful

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Ricky

One of the best books out there to REALLY understand the newest tech

Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2019

Verified Purchase

I came into Cornell thinking I wanted to go into public service and, just like 80% of other incoming college students, I ended up changing my major several times until ultimately deciding on Information Science. Although I loved learning about tech and its societal application, I had difficulty understanding some of the big-picture topics such as the science behind cryptocurrency and how blockchain relates to it without any prior technical background. As I began to fall behind in several of my classes, I took matters into my own hands and sought out resources that simplified the technology into layman terms, but also kept the integrity of the strength and complexity of the emerging technology in mind.

That’s when I came across Bubble or Revolution which not only met my standards but furthermore included several conclusions on the broad future of technology and its societal applications. Bubble or Revolution breaks down blockchain into simple pro-con charts, private business use-cases, and relatable examples such that people who lack a heavy technical background can easily understand the concepts. Most importantly, I feel that I can hold an intelligent conversation about blockchain as well as its future in the broader scope of technology with professors and job recruiters. Having broad interests in finance, law, and tech, the newfound ability to speak intelligently about hotly emerging technologies such as blockchain has definitely given me a leg up against some of my classmates when it comes to job recruiting!

20 people found this helpful

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Michelle Wang

A great down the middle analysis on the potential of blockchain and cryptocurrency

Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2019

Verified Purchase

As someone who works in finance, I was getting sick of feeling out of the loop on crypto conversations. The attitudes of my friends range from "crypto is a scam" to "Bitcoin is going to hit $100,000." So the title of this book definitely got my attention. Digging a bit deeper, I also found none of the authors of this book have direct financial interest in blockchain or cryptocurrency nor work directly in the space. I hate books which are really just advertising and that definitely wasn't the case here so I decided to pull the trigger and buy Bubble or Revolution.

The book begins by thoroughly explaining how blockchain technology works with no assumed technical knowledge. The authors did an amazing job providing just the right amount of detail on this. They then go into the history of bitcoin and the social/economic context behind its creation. Then they describe the shortcoming of traditional payments infrastructure and how blockchain/cryptocurrency can add value. They also describe in detail the shortcoming of blockchain technology and the challenges it will face in garnering mainstream adoption.

My favorite part of the book was all the case studies which help thoroughly break down how and when blockchain can be a gamechanger and when its being used purely for unwarranted hype. The book also offers really insightful analysis on the blockchain plays of top companies like Microsoft and Facebook and makes bold predictions on how blockchain technology will be adopted.

I finished the entire book in a single two and half hour sitting. The authors did an amazing job making an educational read fun! Could not recommend this book enough and I believe everyone should check out this book!

81 people found this helpful

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Real Happy

I liked the way they shared both the benefits and the challenges within this book

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2020

Verified Purchase

The famous venture capitalist, Marc Andreessen, once said that blockchain was “the most important invention since the internet.”

Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies are being developed throughout the world, and you can expect them to play a much larger role in near future. This book shares some of the basics and the challenges that arise when talking about this new technology. I gave this book 4 stars, and I’ll share some of the highlights that caught my attention.

A humanitarian benefit: The UN or United Nations is using this new technology to help us with the refugee displacement, people who have lost personal documents they need just to survive. They will be able to store and track refugees’ identities, along with other critical paperwork that will help them find jobs, get loans, and if their passports or educational records were destroyed, they will use blockchain to store this information as well.

Walmart created a private Blockchain after not being able to identify their suppliers that sent them that contaminated Romain Lettuce a couple of years ago. Now with this new blockchain technology, which was built with IBM, Walmart is able to spot any disruption or contaminated food suppliers within 2 seconds anywhere in the world and that gives them much more control.

Facebook is building its own private centralized cryptocurrencies or tokens. Cryptocurrencies are supposed to be all about decentralization and going around powerful institutions, but Facebook’s cryptocurrency is the exact opposite. It will be controlled by Facebook and all payments and data will flow through Facebook.

Challenges:

One of the weaknesses of Blockchain technology is that if anyone miner controls 51% of the mining function, they could manipulate that blockchain and steal currencies. This has always been considered extremely difficult or almost impossible and has never occurred at Bitcoin’s blockchain, but considering that China has currently the majority of miners in the world, it is feasibly possible that multiple pools of miners could get together and manipulate this market. Again, while this has never happened to Bitcoin, the spinoff cryptocurrency Bitcoin Gold (which has a similar design to Bitcoin but uses its own blockchain) suffered a devastating 51% attack in 2018.

Tokenizing a currency: China is aggressively preparing for a major move to tokenize a currency and leads the way in this new technology. China is testing a prototype tokenized yuan and testing it in Africa. China is Africa’s largest economic partner and has been investing heavily in infrastructure throughout the continent.

Given how volatile African currencies are large parts of the continent may welcome the relative transparency and stability of a tokenized yuan. Once the kinks are worked out in Africa, China could then launch its tokenized yuan in China and then take it around the world. This would set the stage for China’s cryptocurrency to become the dominant currency for digital payments and thus, eventually, the world’s leading reserve currency.

Brazil and Singapore are also exploring tokenizing a currency. But a tokenized fiat currency is still, economically speaking, a fiat currency. The government controls the currency, and the money’s value is based only on the faith of that country’s ability to manage it correctly.

Scalability of blockchain:

Bitcoin can only process about 3 transactions per second and Ethereum can do about 15. Each transaction costs money — at most a dollar or two per transaction, but that gets incredibly expensive if you start making millions of transactions an hour. If you use a private blockchain, you can get around the mining costs, but the limited transaction volume would remain a bottleneck; however, there are ways or tools that will address this problem.

Volatility within the price of cryptocurrencies can be a challenge, but by using stable coins, or cryptocurrencies like Tether (USDT) that problem is solved. With Tether anyone can swap 1 USDT for $1 at any time. This forces the price of a USDT to $1. If the market price ever rose to $1.01, people would buy tons of USDT from Tether and sell it on the market for a profit until the market price fell back to $1, and if the market price ever fell to $0.99, people would buy tons of USDT from the market and sell it to Tether for a profit until the market price rose to $1

In summary, I thought this book did a good job of introducing us to aspects of blockchain and cryptocurrencies that are not readily available in other resources. Naturally, this technology is so new it’s hard to get a thorough picture of this market in any one book.

52 people found this helpful

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5 star		71%
4 star		20%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

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