“Blockchain… I told you so!” is a solid description of the general ideas behind blockchain software, and it nicely identifies several areas where it could lead to paradigm shifts. It does explain some of the technical detail, but it has a strange and somewhat annoying method – it starts by repeatedly explaining part of the process and leaving the rest as unexplained technological wizardry, but each time it gives a little more information on the technical details. I would have preferred having it explained from a bird’s-eye view from the get-go, followed by more in-depth examinations of each aspect of how blockchains work. Also, occasionally some of the most technical aspects are mentioned with no explanation whatsoever (e.g. Turing machines) and just end up as jargon.
The book certainly does well emphasizing the central idea of decentralization, though perhaps to the point of redundancy. While it lists numerous current and future implications, it gives very few specific examples of current events and doesn’t bother to back up its claims of what the future will bring. Near the end, the book has detailed instructions on where to go to get started with cryptocurrencies along with some advice, which is definitely nice. It’s so specific as to describe the layout of buttons on a few webpages, which on one hand can be very convenient but on the other could become meaningless before long as websites change their interfaces.
The reader spoke clearly and sounded like he enjoyed the reading the book, which always makes for a nicer listen. He did, however, in my opinion have a substantial surplus of unnecessarily long pauses, which at times were also awkwardly placed.