Andreas Antonopoulos, a well-known and respected Bitcoin (BTC) maximalist, has authored a new book titled: “Mastering Ethereum.” Although the book will not be released until January 10th, 2019, Antonopoulos does explain in detail what readers can expect to learn from reading Mastering Ethereum.
What Is Ethereum?
Looking at the book’s Table of Contents (which is currently accessible) tells us that the first chapter will be dedicated to answering a simple question: “What is Ethereum?” While this may seem like a simple question, those who are familiar with the crypto space would know that Ethereum aims to be the world’s first decentralized supercomputer.
Because it is not trivial to develop a scalable decentralized computing system, especially with additional functionality such as smart contracts, it is also not easy to answer what exactly the Ethereum project represents. One of the main reasons for this is that Ethereum’s ongoing development is reasonably decentralized and open-source, which means there’s no central authority that is dictating what Ethereum will ultimately do and what it will become.
Ethereum’s community of developers have varied approaches and recommendations on how to make the Ethereum blockchain network more secure and scalable. Due to the collaborative nature of the Ethereum project, it may be worth reading about how Ethereum has evolved over the years from a renowned distributed systems expert like Antonopoulos.
Living & Working Through The Development Of The Internet
After earning his bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University College London in the early 1990s, Antonopoulos enrolled in a graduate study program focused on distributed systems and networks. Notably, this was the period when the TCP / IP protocol (which was initially developed in the late 1970s) really began to show its potential in terms of being used effectively to contribute to the widespread growth and development of the internet of today.
Having experienced how the internet matured, while also helping large financial organizations such as SWIFT by architecting a globally accessible and secure financial transaction network for the giant bank-to-bank messaging service, Antonopoulos’ explanation of what Ethereum is and how it works may be insightful.
Renowned Public Speaker, Author
In addition to having a strong technical background, Antonopoulos is considered by many in the crypto community to be good at explaining how things work in simple words through meaningful analogies. According to his Twitter and LinkedIn profile, he has delivered lectures on Bitcoin and blockchain technology in over 56 countries.
Before writing Mastering Ethereum, Antonopoulos wrote other popular books such as the “Internet of Money” and “Mastering Bitcoin.”
Fundamental Cryptography Concepts
Although Antonopoulos has mentioned that his book, Mastering Ethereum, has been written mainly to help developers build applications on Ethereum, he does recommend that everyone should read the first few chapters. According to Antonopoulos, the book’s introductory chapters aim to provide a comprehensive explanation of the basics of how, and why, Ethereum was developed (its four stages of development).
For those looking to learn the fundamental concepts behind cryptography, how cryptocurrency wallets are designed, and the technical aspects of transactions involving digital assets, it may be worth reading picking up a copy of Mastering Ethereum. There’s a 20-page chapter in the book which covers topics such as “public key cryptography and cryptocurrency.” An explanation of crypto wallets and the structure of digital currency transactions are also covered in Mastering Ethereum.
Antonopoulos’ book seems to have organized all the pertinent information into easy-to-follow and easy-to-understand chapters. This might prove a useful one-stop shop for crypto enthusiasts, and Antonopoulos’ Mastering Ethereum may also be more reliable as a reference (compared to blogs which may not have properly cited their sources).
