American Kingpin is about the guy behind the Silk Road website. SR is the one where you could buy drugs, guns, whatever and have them shipped worldwide, kind of eBay or Amazon for illegal stuff.
The book is well researched and sourced, but the writing style is a bit odd to me. It reads more like a young adult novel or magazine story than a work of non-fiction. It took me a bit to get into because it cuts from one person to another, often in short segments. The story of SR's rise and fall has a lot of players, but presenting those players was a bit rough. Eventually it came together, but it made for some rough going at the beginning.
When the author bothered to explain tech details, he did okay, but often he would gloss over them. He reduced Bitcoin into 2-3 sentences and his description of website creation was weak. The ending of the book felt thrown together and there were some major players that he barely mentioned. Maybe he had a reason for this, maybe he didn't, but it made for a rushed ending.
Overall, it is a good book and a very good story, but the presentation is not my cup of tea.
The book is well researched and sourced, but the writing style is a bit odd to me. It reads more like a young adult novel or magazine story than a work of non-fiction. It took me a bit to get into because it cuts from one person to another, often in short segments. The story of SR's rise and fall has a lot of players, but presenting those players was a bit rough. Eventually it came together, but it made for some rough going at the beginning.
When the author bothered to explain tech details, he did okay, but often he would gloss over them. He reduced Bitcoin into 2-3 sentences and his description of website creation was weak. The ending of the book felt thrown together and there were some major players that he barely mentioned. Maybe he had a reason for this, maybe he didn't, but it made for a rushed ending.
Overall, it is a good book and a very good story, but the presentation is not my cup of tea.