Is "Mastering Bitcoin" from Andreas Antonopoulos suited for normal people?

[Phu Juck]

Andreas Antonopoulos is a very educated source about Bitcoin. I’ve heard about his book “Mastering Bitcoin” and have a question if it’s also suited for average people like me (who aren’t coders / computer scientists)?
Has someone read it completely and can tell?

I like Andres Antonopoulos but I just want to ask because it would be sad if I might don’t understand most parts of his book because it might be directed at coders or computer scientists, mostly.

Is “Mastering Bitcoin” also a good read for people who don’t have any coder knowledge?
I’m happy to hear your reply and plz add if your are a coder or not + have read his book “Mastering Bitcoin” or not.


Greetings
Phu

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[HeRetiK]

The book is on Github, so why not skim it a little and see if getting a physical copy makes sense for you?

https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook

While it gets more in-depth as the book goes on, at least the first two chapters are aimed at a general audience. Even so I think at least parts of the other chapters can be worthwhile to an interested person, even with limited understanding of computer science.

[paid2]

Yeah absolutely, anyone can go to github and start reading this book, no problem in theory. Of course, if you have some basic knowledge of at least one programming language, some parts will seem more "straight forward" but if you are a complete beginner, the first chapters are accessible to absolutely everyone who has some knowledge of technology.

Here is a quote from the author which is self-explanatory:

Mastering Bitcoin is a book for developers, although the first two chapters cover bitcoin at a level that is also approachable to non-programmers. Anyone with a basic understanding of technology can read the first two chapters to get a great understanding of bitcoin.

Personally, I had a little difficulty with chapter 7. I only had a few basics in python and C++, at the time some things seemed a bit complex.

But the goal of this kind of reading is to give you as much knowledges as possible, so you have nothing to lose by trying to read it

[bitmover]

Andreas Antonopoulos is a very educated source about Bitcoin. I’ve heard about his book “Mastering Bitcoin” and have a question if it’s also suited for average people like me (who aren’t coders / computer scientists)?
Has someone read it completely and can tell?

I like Andres Antonopoulos but I just want to ask because it would be sad if I might don’t understand most parts of his book because it might be directed at coders or computer scientists, mostly.

The first 2 chapters are for any audience,  however the book's main audience are the developers.

I am not a computer scientist and I read it. Just skip parts you are not interested if it bores you.

In the preface:

Mastering Bitcoin

Mastering Bitcoin is a book for developers, although the first two chapters cover bitcoin at a level that is also approachable to non-programmers. Anyone with a basic understanding of technology can read the first two chapters to get a great understanding of bitcoin.
https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook

[serveria.com]

Andreas Antonopoulos is a very educated source about Bitcoin. I’ve heard about his book “Mastering Bitcoin” and have a question if it’s also suited for average people like me (who aren’t coders / computer scientists)?
Has someone read it completely and can tell?

I like Andres Antonopoulos but I just want to ask because it would be sad if I might don’t understand most parts of his book because it might be directed at coders or computer scientists, mostly.

Is “Mastering Bitcoin” also a good read for people who don’t have any coder knowledge?
I’m happy to hear your reply and plz add if your are a coder or not + have read his book “Mastering Bitcoin” or not.


Greetings
Phu

Yes, absolutely: anyone can read and understand it, but... perhaps you can elaborate more on why you want to read it? Perhaps if we'll know the purpose someone here will recommend a better/more suitable read? As it was mentioned here already - the first 2 chapters are more suited for the general public.

[Ferasko]

Andreas Antonopoulos is a very educated source about Bitcoin. I’ve heard about his book “Mastering Bitcoin” and have a question if it’s also suited for average people like me (who aren’t coders / computer scientists)?
Has someone read it completely and can tell?

I like Andres Antonopoulos but I just want to ask because it would be sad if I might don’t understand most parts of his book because it might be directed at coders or computer scientists, mostly.

Is “Mastering Bitcoin” also a good read for people who don’t have any coder knowledge?
I’m happy to hear your reply and plz add if your are a coder or not + have read his book “Mastering Bitcoin” or not.


Greetings
Phu

While the book is written in a clear and accessible style, it is still quite technical and may be challenging for those without a background in computer science or cryptography. It is best suited for readers who are already familiar with the basics of Bitcoin and blockchain technology and are looking to deepen their understanding of these topics.

[dzungmobile]

Is “Mastering Bitcoin” also a good read for people who don’t have any coder knowledge?
I’m happy to hear your reply and plz add if your are a coder or not + have read his book “Mastering Bitcoin” or not.

I am not a coder but I see that book is very helpful to enlighten me about basics of Bitcoin. It is more helpful if you know how to code then you can practice with code and understand about Bitcoin blockchain better.

You can read his another book like "The Internet of Money"
https://aantonop.com/books/iom/

You can learn from another source like "Learn me a Bitcoin"
https://learnmeabitcoin.com/beginners/

[aysg76]

The book is on Github, so why not skim it a little and see if getting a physical copy makes sense for you?

I was also advising people to read it on Github but then one member said sometimes it's better to have physical one also to help the author that way appreciating his efforts to provide us with that valuable resource about bitcoin.There are lot of videos also from Andreas which anyone can see here to have more knowledge.

The first 2 chapters are for any audience,  however the book's main audience are the developers.

The first two chapters also guides you in very interesting and detailed manner how actually transactions work and what is bitcoin in the background.But as you progress you can skip some technical parts which have code version but still if you can read it throughly you will have enough knowledge about seeds,keys,wallets,UTXO being non developer also.Or we can say atleast you would not be a newbie after reading that masterpiece.

[HeRetiK]

The book is on Github, so why not skim it a little and see if getting a physical copy makes sense for you?

I was also advising people to read it on Github but then one member said sometimes it's better to have physical one also to help the author that way appreciating his efforts to provide us with that valuable resource about bitcoin.There are lot of videos also from Andreas which anyone can see here to have more knowledge.

Hence why I recommend skimming it on Github to see whether getting a physical copy makes sense for OP

Personally I've also been moving more towards physical copies lately, both to support the authors I appreciate and to lessen my screentime. Also at least to me reading a physical copy usually provides me with a clearer mind because I get less easily distracted and am in a different context than while reading something on a laptop or phone.

That being said, I feel like it's almost underappreciated that Andreas Antonopoulos is providing his book online, for free. That alone makes him support-worthy in my book (heh).

[Jon_Hodl]

Yes, Mastering Bitcoin is absolutely one of the best bitcoin books available for bitcoiners of any age. I use it as a reference all the time whenever I want a more technical explanation of things.

For example, I was recently doing a bunch of research on how seed phrases work and Mastering Bitcoin proved to an excellent resource for truly understanding all of the steps that are involved in converting entropy like coin flips into seed words and then adding a BIP 39 passphrase as a "25th word" and then how to generate your xPub key from there. I could have learned all of the same things online but it's nice to be able to just open a book to learn what I need in a clear and concise format.

I have the physical book because I like to underline all of the parts that stand out to me and make notes in the margin etc. but I believe it's available for free online under a creative commons license.

I would strongly suggest it to anyone who want's a deeper understanding of bitcoin.

[mk4]

If you're just starting out with Bitcoin, you'll like the Internet of Money book series(3 books, though pretty much just a written version of Andreas' talks) far better than the Mastering Bitcoin book in my opinion.

Source: I can code a bit, but I wouldn't necessarily call myself a "coder" since I'm a novice.

[Cookdata]

If you read the book chapter by chapter, you will understand everything you need to know about Bitcoin, both for tech person who is exposed to programing and person that is starting today. In fact, don't be surprised when you see a Non-techy person understand that book than the person that has been a computer literate for long time but the problem I found with that book is that level of comprehension differs from people, so while learning the book, they should expand their learning to other materials like learnmeabitcoin, this forum and other popular Bitcoin materials out there, don't rely on one book and think you will capture everythin about bitcoin.

[alastantiger]

I've read a few chapters of the book "Mastering Bitcoin" by Andreas Antonopoulos, and based on what I've read, I can say that unless you have a background in computer science or are interested in technology, you might not completely understand some parts of the book. This does not imply that readers without technical backgrounds who have a genuine interest in learning cannot understand the book, nevertheless. They will eventually comprehend it, but it will take some time.

[Sarah Azhari]

I've read a few chapters of the book "Mastering Bitcoin" by Andreas Antonopoulos, and based on what I've read, I can say that unless you have a background in computer science or are interested in technology, you might not completely understand some parts of the book. This does not imply that readers without technical backgrounds who have a genuine interest in learning cannot understand the book, nevertheless. They will eventually comprehend it, but it will take some time.

Maybe the problem is language and Math. So if the local language is able to download, that possible for people unless the background technology will understand it for sure. I enough understand with computer knowledge, but I try hard to understand that book if already explained math calculations. So I think, people who are interested to read this book, beside have good English and computer, they must interesting also with Math.

[Phu Juck]

The book is on Github, so why not skim it a little and see if getting a physical copy makes sense for you?

https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook

Hello!

Wow, nice to have his book publicly available.
I was a little bit confused at first because I just saw his code pieces but his book is available below and even I can read his chapters.
I'll look into it, if it's understandable to me. 

Of course, if you have some basic knowledge of at least one programming language, some parts will seem more "straight forward"

I can't code, Sir.

but if you are a complete beginner, the first chapters are accessible to absolutely everyone who has some knowledge of technology.

Of course, I'll look into it, if it's understandable to me. 

perhaps you can elaborate more on why you want to read it? Perhaps if we'll know the purpose someone here will recommend a better/more suitable read? As it was mentioned here already - the first 2 chapters are more suited for the general public.

Because I want to read a really educated person explaining Bitcoin in detail.