The Age of Cryptocurrency:

How Bitcoin and Digital Money Are Challenging the Global Economic Order

Written by: Paul Vigna and Michael J. Casey
Narrated by: Sean Pratt (aka Lloyd James)
Rating: 2 – I’m going to look for a more modern work

Introduction to Bitcoin and Other Digital Currency…

…but it – as most technologies – was outdated with its first printing. Having listened to it six years after first publish, a stark difference emerges. But, it is a nice introduction and early history of digital currencies.

I had heard about Bitcoin prior to this book’s publish date, but like most have been skeptical about something so mysterious (for the non-tech layman). My natural cynicism has really hurt my ability to be an early adopter. However, several years ago, I downloaded an app that paid nearly-insignificant amounts of Bitcoin for simply playing games (and watching adverts). After a few months I quit because the minuscule amounts were frustratingly low compared to the time I put it. Had I continued simply playing this mind-numbing app for the subsequent years along with Bitcoin’s value growth, I’d have a fair chunk of free Bitcoins. As is, my few month effort is valued at $175.

I picked this book up on a sale, most likely because it is so outdated. I’ll have to find a more contemporary work, but enjoyed this supplement to my recent studies and investments in digital currency.

The narrator was great and I discovered something that’s been plaguing my conscience over the past few years. Lloyd James and Sean Pratt have oddly similar voices. I even wrote to Audible about a discrepancy in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s book, Skin in the Game, which lists Sean Pratt as narrator, but the narrator says in the intro to the book that it’s narrated by Lloyd James. This book finally put me over the top with curiosity and I researched to find out that they are in fact the same person.

Other works for consideration:
1. We Are Anonymous, by Parmy Olson
2. Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War, by Fred Kaplan
3. Masters of Doom, by David Kushner