need recommendations on how to start my research

[indiligente]

I am currently majoring in Computer Science and I am interested in studying blockchains from their economic, philosophical, political aspects, as well as the technical side. The issue is that this involves many different areas, such as cryptography, economics, distributed systems, how blocks work, etc... And I'm not really sure where to begin. If you were to start studying this today, what would you read? What would you do?

It's my first time joining a forum, and I hope to start participating actively

[Comeacross]

I hope you know this would require time. Assuming I was starting today, I will go deep on technical first before other aspects. You can use your technical knowledge to as your anchor to explore other areas. If you understand how, you would definitely understand why. Others may have a different opinion btw.

[satashi_nokamato]

Start by going here  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=39.0 

[nc50lc]

I am interested in studying blockchains from their economic, philosophical, political aspects, as well as the technical side.
-snip- And I'm not really sure where to begin. If you were to start studying this today, what would you read?

Technicals first, then the rest.
You can't study those in relation with Blockchain without knowing how Blockchain works first.

Start with Bitcoin's whitepaper: bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
Then, here's a resource to get you started: learnmeabitcoin.com

I also asked a mod to move this to "Beginners and Help" board.

[Livingleged]

I am currently majoring in Computer Science and I am interested in studying blockchains from their economic, philosophical, political aspects, as well as the technical side. The issue is that this involves many different areas, such as cryptography, economics, distributed systems, how blocks work, etc... And I'm not really sure where to begin. If you were to start studying this today, what would you read? What would you do?

It's my first time joining a forum, and I hope to start participating actively

When i join the forum new like you I was also confused  just in the aspect I wanted to perfect  my self I had to wait visit  all the board  for days and see what's going  on in the various  board, that what I employ  you to do. If any of the boards  interest you the learn then set your self up on how you can make good contribution on the board.The website learnmeabitcoin.com is a great one I learnt  most  things I know about the blockchain from it, self explanatory with diagram  and representation  where necessary. I don't know why I mostly  recommend  it to newbie  I think it's because  it was the first I used and it helped  me greatly.

[hugeblack]

If you're at the undergraduate level, it's only taught as a single course in some universities, so I don't think you need specialized knowledge; reading "Mastering Bitcoin" will suffice.

At the master's level, you can study it as a major, and then there are some free lectures available on the MIT youtube channel.

[uchegod-21]

If you were to start studying this today, what would you read? What would you do?

If i were you, i will make Bitcoin my central focus as a beginner looking forward to learning more about blockchains. I believe that if I know more about Bitcoin, I will get an insight about blockchain and know where to channel my energy and focus. @nc50lc already recommended that you start with reading the Bitcoin whitepaper, I also agree with him that, that will be a good start for you. You will know the next steps to take from there, especially as it concerns topics like mining, cryptography, network security and many more.

While at it, you should pay attention to crypto related news. These will expose you to crypto related debates and real world events.

[BlackBoss_]

If you're at the undergraduate level, it's only taught as a single course in some universities, so I don't think you need specialized knowledge; reading "Mastering Bitcoin" will suffice.

At the master's level, you can study it as a major, and then there are some free lectures available on the MIT youtube channel.

There are two books from Andreas Antonopoulos: Mastering Bitcoin, and Mastering the Lightning Network. These books are available on Github and open-access.
Books are technical but readers can learn about Bitcoin fundamentals with these books, and with time they can gradually understand more about Bitcoin and dive deeper with more technical learning.

https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook
https://github.com/lnbook/lnbook

This Satoshi Nakamoto Institute can help OP's research with many documents, resources, archives there.

[348Judah]

I am currently majoring in Computer Science and I am interested in studying blockchains from their economic, philosophical, political aspects, as well as the technical side. The issue is that this involves many different areas, such as cryptography, economics, distributed systems, how blocks work, etc... And I'm not really sure where to begin. If you were to start studying this today, what would you read? What would you do?

Try to be more frequent in the technical boards and be attentive to learning, because this is the period whereby you are supposed to be making research and findings about bitcoin technical aspects, if you can give it the necessary demands needed, you will definitely acquire some knowledge in it over time, take this forum serious and be, do much of research and findings that making posts, use the search engine to know more about relevant topics that has been discussed, you can further use external resources and platforms like github.

[Chinesebaby]

I am currently majoring in Computer Science and I am interested in studying blockchains from their economic, philosophical, political aspects, as well as the technical side. The issue is that this involves many different areas, such as cryptography, economics, distributed systems, how blocks work, etc... And I'm not really sure where to begin. If you were to start studying this today, what would you read? What would you do?

It's my first time joining a forum, and I hope to start participating actively

With respect to the question you just asked, I will say that the best book you truly need to read, which also covers the economic, philosophy of Bitcoin is a book called "Mastering Bitcoin" by Andreas M. Antonopoulos. And one thing I love about this book is the fact that it is actually very detailed and comprehensive book good for beginners who wishes to understand about Bitcoin from, as it focuses on the technical aspects, ranging from the complete breakdown of the Bitcoin consensus mechanisms, how the bitcoin wallet works, understanding public-private key and running a Bitcoin node. And likewise covers the economics and philosophy aspects of Bitcoin as a decentralized digital currency.

[EluguHcman]

I am currently majoring in Computer Science and I am interested in studying blockchains from their economic, philosophical, political aspects, as well as the technical side. The issue is that this involves many different areas, such as cryptography, economics, distributed systems, how blocks work, etc... And I'm not really sure where to begin. If you were to start studying this today, what would you read? What would you do?

It's my first time joining a forum, and I hope to start participating actively

It might be easy to walk into the classroom and to look up to choose a profession course to study but it is a different task that requires determinations to successfully achieve the dreams while many had devoted same interest but could not succeed due to the criterias required is not a walk down the street.

I will only encourage you literally because those who had made it a success in this same cryptography Blockchain and the technical journey which you have outlined to embark does not have two human heads before making it a successful.
Moreover there are beginners getting to the field on daily bases and with consistency they makes their dreams a successful. So don't be discouraged.

As a beginner who has just signed up to the forum, you may need to understand the basic terms and how to navigate the forum even with the use of extension tools. This link contains a thread with overloaded contents of datas to guide you through this quest. [Mega resources for newbies] Check here, find most of your need, before asking
So you can sort from the table of contents and find your private times to study.
Good luck.

[Kavelj22]

I am currently majoring in Computer Science and I am interested in studying blockchains from their economic, philosophical, political aspects, as well as the technical side. The issue is that this involves many different areas, such as cryptography, economics, distributed systems, how blocks work, etc... And I'm not really sure where to begin. If you were to start studying this today, what would you read? What would you do?

It's my first time joining a forum, and I hope to start participating actively

You have the best base to start which is technical aspects. Start by going deep with blockchain technology and if you have critical thinking, you can build your own perspective about bitcoin from philosophical aspect. Politics and economy will be concluded through the analysis.

I can suggest you take some academic courses, but take in consideration that academic means only the technical side. Human sciences still don't adopt bitcoin as human innovation from an academic philosophy perception. I see many members have suggested some good documentation to start with. Most important is to use bitcointalk forum to start new discussions. This will ameliorate your knowledge level.

[Dex_master25]

Welcome to the forum. I would first like you to answer some questions at first, so that you can actually know where you would like your learning curve to begin from.
Firstly, do you have a particular interest in mind that may be your intuition is pulling you to learn?
Secondly, are you much more interested in understanding how data structures interact in the Blockchain, since you are a computer person yourself?
Lastly, do you feel you are mostly drawn to the economic theories surrounding digital gold and digital scarcity?

When you know where to begin, you are already half way there to perfecting your knowledge  and from then you can know how to bridge concepts, mostly as regards the economic and cryptographic theories surrounding Bitcoin structure and its systemic design.

[Mitchell]

There are a few pinned topics, I recommend starting there and then coming back with follow up questions.

[MarryWithBTC]

I am currently majoring in Computer Science and I am interested in studying blockchains from their economic, philosophical, political aspects, as well as the technical side. The issue is that this involves many different areas, such as cryptography, economics, distributed systems, how blocks work, etc... And I'm not really sure where to begin. If you were to start studying this today, what would you read? What would you do?

It's my first time joining a forum, and I hope to start participating actively

Will it be interesting to you that the forum can give you all the areas involved?

The forum talks about cryptography and blockchain, although you will need a little more research about the cryptography;

The forum has the economic board;

The forum teaches how blocks work.

Permit me to ask how you joined us here. Was this forum recommended to you because of your research or you stumble on it while using the internet.

[bitmover]

I am currently majoring in Computer Science and I am interested in studying blockchains from their economic, philosophical, political aspects, as well as the technical side. The issue is that this involves many different areas, such as cryptography, economics, distributed systems, how blocks work, etc... And I'm not really sure where to begin. If you were to start studying this today, what would you read? What would you do?

It's my first time joining a forum, and I hope to start participating actively

Start with Andreas Antonopoulos



You can buy it on Amazon or just read in github for free
https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook

[Zanab247]

I know that it hard newbies to understand BTC or cryptocurrencies investment fast in this forum, because it will be hard for you to understand it other social media or text books, because there are some people that went through what you are going through now just to achieve BTC and cryptocurrencies knowledge.  I will recommend you to some past topics in this forum and you will begin to see some of posts and replies that will give you some of the answer's you have be looking for in other social media, because  it is the joy of those that understood BTC and cryptocurrencies very well to impact other newbies.

I don't know if you prefer reading BTC and cryptocurrencies text books physical or internet, I will advise you to be using internet and it will help you to visit different sections in this forum to learn a lot that will improve you to be satisfy.

[BlackBoss_]

Start with Andreas Antonopoulos



You can buy it on Amazon or just read in github for free
https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook

The image is for second edition while on Github, the book version is the 3rd one.

The 1st and 2nd editions can be downloaded
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VHv-KyP_Bbfnc_z81FZ4ncdwcMtDxjkR/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dIIO5DJ56wyqwwB_VqFgg5W_yrBbpIcE/view

More books
[RESOURCES] Free bitcoin/blockchain/finance eBook.

[ruykeri]

Since you are studying computer science, it will be very easy for you to learn blockchain and cryptography. However, if you want to learn economics, philosophy and political issues related to it, then you need to learn blockchain technology thoroughly first. Although I am not a technical expert, practically how blockchain works can be understood only by acquiring basic knowledge related to Bitcoin and I have given advice based on that knowledge. Since you have an academic background, it will be easy to understand the coding and architecture of this technology. You will be able to understand the subject from the very roots which are not possible for normal people like us to learn. If you spend time in the forum, there are many experts here, they are very helpful, if you want, you can discuss any topic in the beginner section or in the technical discussion.