Why did I write this book?
I wanted to experience the process of creation myself, Satoshi's experience and the thought process of Satoshi, all from the perspective of a creator.
In order to give the reader an overall position on the creation process, the book uses an evolutionary approach that starts from a minimalistic workable web transaction system and ends with the "perfect" Bitcoin.
This book intends to show the design essentials of Bitcoin, not necessarily the technical details of the implementation, so the technical part is simplified.
We all love stories. Our brains are wired in such way. So this book tells the story of Satoshi creating Bitcoin at a cafe in a small town.
Content summary
In the beginning, Satoshi builds a simple web transaction system in a cafe.
In order to get rid of the account model, the concepts of asymmetric encryption, public key and private key are introduced.
To fix a BUG, UTXO is introduced.
In order to let the system have the general computing power, transaction script is introduced.
The first ten chapters constitute the first part of the book, which focuses on the core business of the system: Transactions. Starting with chapter 11, the second part shows how to better support Transactions: Swarm Systems.
The second part begins with a macro view of what a swarm system is and the future of Bitcoin.
Then, I enter into the micro perspective and discuss the P2P network, the synchronization of transactions, and the synchronization mechanism of ledger.
In order to optimize the ledger, the concept of Block Chain is introduced.
In order to make the network more flexible, the network discovery mechanism is introduced.
In order to get rid of the last single point of the system, Proof of Work mechanism is introduced.
The last paper discusses the self-reinforcing mechanism of the system: The Reorganization and Division of Forking.
Eventually, Bitcoin becomes an autonomous system.
Review
"I'm extremely happy to see people finally trying to understand bitcoin and thinking for themselves. Bitcoin SV is my original bitcoin protocol with a lot of the code bugs fixed. I enjoyed reading the story and I was impressed to see people finally taking the time to understand."