June was a month of travel, as I spent much of it in Sweden, so my reading has been rather sparse. Of the three books I listened to, one was interesting but manipulative (“The Last Days of August”), one was fascinating, but a little too heavy on story (“Deep”), and one was informative, insightful, and downright frightening (“The Blockchain Revolution”).
“The Blockchain Revolution” by Don Tapscott & Alex Tapscott is my favorite of the three. It goes into great detail to describe the blockchain, and how it can be used for many different purposes beyond cryptocurrencies. The first two-thirds of the book is written like a love poem, singing praises for the blockchain, in it’s ability to transform the world as we know it. I found their ideas to be quite eye opening, but I also was taking it all with a grain of salt. It sounded too good to be true… and then the final part of the book revealed quite a few caveats. Things could go horribly wrong, and certain people/groups will be hell bent on making sure that happens. Authoritarian leaders could use the blockchain to gain even tighter control over their subjects, or a surveillance state could arise and individual freedom could fly out the window… So, while I find this book and its ideas fascinating, it also scared the crap out of me.
Here is my June reading list, in the order that I listened to them:
The Last Day of August – Jon Ronson ***
Deep – James Nestor ***.5
The Blockchain Revolution – Don Tapscott & Alex Tapscott ****
(if you are not yet an Audible member, you can get one of these books for free, by signing up for a 30 day trial – use this link, and you’ll help support my work as well – Audible Trial Membership)