The story of the idealists, technologists, and opportunists fighting to bring cryptocurrency to the masses. In their short history, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have gone through booms, busts, and internecine wars, recently reaching a market valuation of more than $2 trillion. The central promise of crypto endures—vast fortunes made from decentralized networks not controlled by any single entity and not yet regulated by many governments. The recent growth of crypto would have been all but impossible if not for a brilliant young man named Vitalik Buterin and his creation: Ethereum. In this book, Laura Shin takes readers inside the founding of this novel cryptocurrency network, which enabled users to launch their own new coins, thus creating a new crypto fever. She introduces readers to larger-than-life characters like Buterin, the Web3 wunderkind; his short-lived CEO, Charles Hoskinson; and Joe Lubin, a former Goldman Sachs VP who became one of crypto’s most well-known billionaires. Sparks fly as these outsized personalities fight for their piece of a seemingly limitless new business opportunity. This fascinating book shows the crypto market for what it really is: a deeply personal struggle to influence the coming revolution in money, culture, and power.
An eccentric classic of Zen poetry When Zen master Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481) was appointed headmaster of the great temple at Kyoto, he lasted nine days before denouncing the rampant hypocrisy he saw among the monks there. He in turn invited them to look for him in the sake parlors of the Pleasure Quarters. A Zen monk-poet-calligrapher-musician, he dared to write about the joys of erotic love, along with more traditional Zen themes. He was an eccentric and genius who dared to defy authority and despised corruption. Although he lived during times plagued by war, famine, rioting, and religious upheaval, his writing and music prevailed, influencing Japanese culture to this day. "Ikkyu scandalized the Zen community of his day and is likely to scandalize some readers even nowhis short poems are simultaneously bawdy, abrupt, vulgar, and reverential... It is impossible not to love the velocity and variety of his verse."The Philadelphia Inquirer "Stephen Berg is exactly the right poet to have translated these poems."Hayden Carruth, The Hudson Review "A deeply sensual man, Ikkyu had little patience for the fussiness of monastic life and ritual... What is especially appealing about Ikkyu's poetry is the way his sensuality infuses his Zen sensibility."American Book Review Stephen Berg (1934-2014) was the founder and editor of American Poetry Review. Also available by Stephen Berg Steel Cricket PB $16.00, 1-55659-075-X CUSA New & Selected Poems PB $12.00, 1-55659-043-1 CUSA
COMPTON CROOK AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL. NEBULA AWARD FINALIST. New Science Fiction Adventure Series! National Bestseller in trade paperback. An agent for a spy organization uncovers an alien alliance in nearby interstellar space—an alliance that will soon involve humanity in politics and war on a galactic scale. 2105, September: Intelligence Analyst Caine Riordan uncovers a conspiracy on Earth’s Moon—a history-changing clandestine project—and ends up involuntarily cryocelled for his troubles. Twelve years later, Riordan awakens to a changed world. Humanity has achieved faster-than-light travel and is pioneering nearby star systems. And now, Riordan is compelled to become an inadvertent agent of conspiracy himself. Riordan’s mission: travel to a newly settled world and investigate whether a primitive local species was once sentient—enough so to have built a lost civilization. However, arriving on site in the Delta Pavonis system, Caine discovers that the job he’s been given is anything but secret or safe. With assassins and saboteurs dogging his every step, it's clear that someone doesn't want his mission to succeed. In the end, it takes the broad-based insights of an intelligence analyst and a matching instinct for intrigue to ferret out the truth: that humanity is neither alone in the cosmos nor safe. Earth is revealed to be the lynchpin planet in an impending struggle for interstellar dominance, a struggle into which it is being irresistibly dragged. Discovering new dangers at every turn, Riordan must now convince the powers-that-be that the only way for humanity to survive as a free species is to face the perils directly—and to fight fire with fire. WINNER OF THE COMPTON CROOK AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL About Fire with Fire: “Chuck Gannon is one of those marvelous finds—someone as comfortable with characters as he is with technology, and equally adept at providing those characters with problems to solve. Imaginative, fun, and not afraid to step on the occasional toe or gore the occasional sacred cow, his stories do not disappoint.” —David Weber "If we meet strong aliens out there, will we suffer the fate of the Aztecs and Incas, or find the agility to survive? Gannon fizzes with ideas about the dangerous politics of first contact.” —David Brin "The plot is intriguing and then some. Well-developed and self-consistent; intelligent readers are going to like it." —Jerry Pournelle "[T]he intersecting plot threads, action and well-conceived science kept those pages turning." —SF Crowsnest About Starfire series hit, Extremis, coauthored by Charles E. Gannon: “Vivid. . . Battle sequences mingle with thought-provoking exegesis . . .” —Publishers Weekly "It’s a grand, fun series of battles and campaigns, worthy of anything Dale Brown or Larry Bond ever wrote." —Analog About Charles E. Gannon: "[A] strong [writer of]. . .military SF. . .[much] action going on in his work, with a lot of physics behind it. There is a real sense of the urgency of war and the sacrifices it demands." —Locus
Not every “Complete Ethiopian Bible in English” is what it claims to be. As new editions flood the market—some presenting unverified or AI-generated translations as authentic Ethiopian Scripture—the Ultimate Ethiopian Bible offers something different: a carefully researched, modern-English collection rooted in the genuine scriptural tradition of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Because the Ethiopian Bible was never formally fixed by a single, universally binding canon decree, claims of one definitive “complete” canon can be misleading. This massive edition brings together 88 complete, unabridged books in print, including the Holy Bible, authentic Ethiopian Meqabyan, Enoch, and other apocrypha, while clearly expanding beyond the Ethiopian tradition with Acts 29 and 2 and 3 Enoch. Plus, access thousands of additional books of apocrypha, hundreds of videos, and hundreds of hours of audiobooks in the included digital library. The Ultimate Ethiopian Bible includes: * 88 books in print, including the complete Old and New Testaments, whereas most other collections include only 22 apocryphal books in print * Literally thousands of apocryphal books via digital access, vastly exceeding all other collections * Superior 10-pt print, comparable to most study Bibles, that is professionally typeset, whereas other collections use tiny, hard-to-read font with unprofessional typesetting * In easy-to-read English with accurate and consistent formal equivalent translation throughout, whereas other collections use archaic public domain material that is mismatched, incomplete, and unprofessionally sourced * Hundreds of professionally-collated videos that you can access with your mobile device while you read * Hundreds of hours of audio via the Ultimate Ethiopian Bible audiobook included with the digital library * Includes the only fully revised and updated modern English versions of 1, 2, and 3 Meqabyan, Enoch, and others (books unique to the Ethiopian canon), that are either excluded from other collections or included in non-standard English; also includes digital versions of Jubilees, Josippon, and the Paralipomena of Jeremiah * Tons of exciting extras including charts, maps, apologetics, book intros, a glossary, and much more There are now dozens of Ethiopian Bible options available, but how can you choose the right one? Look no further. With the Ultimate Ethiopian Bible in English, you get the complete Old Testament, New Testament, and 22 additional books in print, including all three of the genuine books of Meqabyan and all three books of Enoch, whereas many other options give you only 22 apocryphal books in print and everything else via digital download. Other options also give you mismatched, incomplete, or AI-generated material that is hard to read and unprofessionally collated. Don't settle for less. With this comprehensive collection, you get 88 books in print with a copious, easy-to-read font. Via digital download, you also have access to thousands of additional apocryphal books, greatly surpassing every other option available, both in number and in formatting, readability, and ease of use. Also gain access to hundreds of hours of audio and hundreds of videos that you can watch while you read, professionally selected and collated. Professionally designed and typeset: * Elegant, easy-to-read, 10-point typeface * High-quality, crème paper for an antique feel and minimum bleed-through * Handsome hardcover with matte finish and gold filigree design * Easy-to-read modern English translation * Literal and word-for-word * Fully versified with easy navigation * Professional, triple-column, line-matched layout
What if the world's economic problems are not the result of bad policies—but of a fundamentally broken monetary system? In Bitcoin Is Venice, Allen Farrington and Sacha Meyers challenge the assumptions underpinning modern economics, finance, and fiat currency. Drawing on history, political economy, philosophy, and Bitcoin, they present a provocative vision of how sound money could transform capital formation, human cooperation, and the future of civilization itself. Far more than a book about cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Is Venice explores how societies create wealth, how institutions evolve, and why monetary systems shape everything from innovation and entrepreneurship to culture and individual freedom. Through a series of deeply researched and thought-provoking essays, Farrington and Meyers examine: • The failures and contradictions of modern economic theory • The hidden costs of fiat currency systems • The relationship between money, capital, and human progress • How Bitcoin changes incentives throughout society • The future of entrepreneurship, investment, and wealth creation • Whether a Bitcoin standard could usher in a new era of prosperity and innovation Building on ideas from economics, history, technology, and political philosophy, the authors offer a framework for understanding Bitcoin not merely as a digital asset, but as a transformative monetary technology with far-reaching implications for the modern world. Featuring a foreword by human rights advocate Alex Gladstein and praised by leading thinkers including Jeff Booth and Harris Irfan, Bitcoin Is Venice presents a compelling exploration of money, freedom, and the foundations of a flourishing society. All profits from the sale of this book are donated to the Human Rights Foundation. Whether you're an investor, entrepreneur, economist, policymaker, or simply curious about the future of money, Bitcoin Is Venice offers a challenging and insightful perspective on one of the most important innovations of the twenty-first century. Discover why Bitcoin may be about far more than finance—and what that could mean for the future of civilization.
With half a million copies in print, How to Read a Book is the best and most successful guide to reading comprehension for the general reader, completely rewritten and updated with new material. A CNN Book of the Week: “Explains not just why we should read books, but how we should read them. It's masterfully done.” –Farheed Zakaria Originally published in 1940, this book is a rare phenomenon, a living classic that introduces and elucidates the various levels of reading and how to achieve them—from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading. Readers will learn when and how to “judge a book by its cover,” and also how to X-ray it, read critically, and extract the author’s message from the text. Also included is instruction in the different techniques that work best for reading particular genres, such as practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy and social science works. Finally, the authors offer a recommended reading list and supply reading tests you can use measure your own progress in reading skills, comprehension, and speed.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Reminders of Him comes a riveting sequel to the “glorious and touching” (USA TODAY) that picks up where It Ends with Us concluded and shares what happens next for Lily and Atlas. Lily and her ex-husband, Ryle, have just settled into a civil coparenting rhythm when she suddenly bumps into her first love, Atlas, again. After nearly two years separated, she is elated that for once, time is on their side, and she immediately says yes when Atlas asks her on a date. But her excitement is quickly hampered by the knowledge that, though they are no longer married, Ryle is still very much a part of her life—and Atlas Corrigan is the one man he will hate being in his ex-wife and daughter’s life. Switching between the perspectives of Lily and Atlas, It Starts with Us picks up right where the epilogue for the “gripping, pulse-pounding” (Sarah Pekkanen, New York Times bestselling author) bestselling phenomenon It Ends with Us left off. Revealing more about Atlas’s past and following Lily as she embraces a second chance at true love while navigating a jealous ex-husband, it proves that “no one delivers an emotional read like Colleen Hoover” (Anna Todd, New York Times bestselling author).
An unimpeachable classic work in political philosophy, intellectual and cultural history, and economics, The Road to Serfdom has inspired and infuriated politicians, scholars, and general readers for half a century. Originally published in 1944—when Eleanor Roosevelt supported the efforts of Stalin, and Albert Einstein subscribed lock, stock, and barrel to the socialist program—The Road to Serfdom was seen as heretical for its passionate warning against the dangers of state control over the means of production. For F. A. Hayek, the collectivist idea of empowering government with increasing economic control would lead not to a utopia but to the horrors of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. First published by the University of Chicago Press on September 18, 1944, The Road to Serfdom garnered immediate, widespread attention. The first printing of 2,000 copies was exhausted instantly, and within six months more than 30,000 books were sold. In April 1945, Reader’s Digest published a condensed version of the book, and soon thereafter the Book-of-the-Month Club distributed this edition to more than 600,000 readers. A perennial best seller, the book has sold 400,000 copies in the United States alone and has been translated into more than twenty languages, along the way becoming one of the most important and influential books of the century. With this new edition, The Road to Serfdom takes its place in the series The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek. The volume includes a foreword by series editor and leading Hayek scholar Bruce Caldwell explaining the book's origins and publishing history and assessing common misinterpretations of Hayek's thought. Caldwell has also standardized and corrected Hayek's references and added helpful new explanatory notes. Supplemented with an appendix of related materials ranging from prepublication reports on the initial manuscript to forewords to earlier editions by John Chamberlain, Milton Friedman, and Hayek himself, this new edition of The Road to Serfdom will be the definitive version of Hayek's enduring masterwork.
“BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE 20TH CENTURY.” —Time Volume 1 of the gripping epic masterpiece, this foundational work of Soviet history is Solzhenitsyn’s chilling report of his arrest and interrogation, which exposed to the world the vast bureaucracy of secret police and political repression that haunted Soviet society. Features a new foreword by Anne Applebaum. “The greatest and most powerful single indictment of a political regime ever leveled in modern times.” —George F. Kennan “It is impossible to name a book that had a greater effect on the political and moral consciousness of the late twentieth century.” —David Remnick, The New Yorker “Solzhenitsyn’s masterpiece. . . . The Gulag Archipelago helped create the world we live in today.” —Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gulag: A History, from the foreword Solzhenitsyn’s “experiment in literary investigation” stands as a towering monument in 20th-century history, offering: * A First-Hand Gulag Memoir: Follow Solzhenitsyn’s own story, from his shocking arrest as a decorated Red Army captain to his brutal interrogation at the hands of the Soviet secret police. * Definitive Soviet History: Based on the testimony of 227 witnesses, this work uncovers the true origins of the concentration camp system, arguing it was essential to the state not just under Stalin, but from the first days of Lenin. * The Bureaucracy of Terror: Journey into the “almost invisible country” of the Gulag, a continent of prisons and camps woven into the fabric of Soviet society and administered by an ever-present secret police. * An Enduring Literary Masterpiece: Discover the book hailed as the “greatest and most powerful single indictment of a political regime ever leveled in modern times,” a work that forever altered the world’s moral consciousness.
WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 'A gripping and masterful portrait of the brutal court of Mao, based on new research but also written with great narrative verve' Simon Sebag Montefiore 'Harrowing and brilliant' Ben Macintyre 'A critical contribution to Chinese history' Wall Street Journal Between 1958 and 1962, 45 million Chinese people were worked, starved or beaten to death. Mao Zedong threw his country into a frenzy with the Great Leap Forward, an attempt to catch up with and overtake the West in less than fifteen years. It led to one of the greatest catastrophes the world has ever known. Dikotter's extraordinary research within Chinese archives brings together for the first time what happened in the corridors of power with the everyday experiences of ordinary people, giving voice to the dead and disenfranchised. This groundbreaking account definitively recasts the history of the People's Republic of China.
Swarmwise (2013) is a tactical guide to changing the world using cost-efficient swarm methodology. It is a leadership handbook that outlines how the Swedish Pirate Party was able to beat the political competition on less than one percent of their budget, and shows how any cash- and time-strapped executive or manager can use swarm methodologies, whether the goal is business, social, or political. That organization, founded by one man without resources, has now spread to over 70 countries using the same cost-efficient swarm methods. Swarmwise will tell you what it takes to found a swarm of volunteers, to organize and energize it, and to lead it to success. The book doesn’t go into theoretical detail, psychology, or deep research papers. Rather, it is very hands-on leadership advice from pure experience – it covers everything from how you give instructions to new marketing assistants or activists about handing out flyers in the street, up to and including how you communicate with TV stations and organize hundreds of thousands of people in a coherent swarm. Above all, it focuses on the cost-efficiency of the swarm structure, and is a tactical instruction manual for anybody who wants to dropkick their competition completely – no matter whether their game is business, social, or political. A chapter overview of Swarmwise: Chapter 1 - Understanding the Swarm deals with the basic concepts of a swarm organization, and explains why the swarm is open and transparent. It introduces the concept of a cost-efficiency advantage of two orders of magnitude. In Chapter 2 - Launching Your Swarm, we learn that the published project plan must be tangible, credible, inclusive, and epic, and what that means in practice. Chapter 3 - Getting Your Swarm Organized gives tangible advice on how to organize a volunteer organization and why. We look at the dynamics of different group sizes and how to build a culture of trust. One of the more counterintuitive lessons is detailed in Chapter 4 - Control the Vision, but Never the Message. It explains how you need to use volunteers to translate your vision into messages that fit a specific social context, rather than using an one-size-fits-all slogan. A healthy dose of classic project management is found in Chapter 5 - Keep People's Eyes On Target, And Paint It Red Daily. We talk about metrics, choosing the right metrics, and causing self-organization to happen when you publish the right metrics to optimize. In Chapter 6 - Screw Democracy, We're on a Mission from God, we talk about conflict resolution mechanisms and how to optimize the swarm for speed, trust, and scalability. Chapter 7 - Surviving Growth Unlike Anything the MBAs Have Seen details how the swarm can grow by 200% in a week when some events play out, and how to handle such situations. One of the more advanced chapters, Chapter 8 - Using Social Dynamics To Their Potential goes into how we can tap into the long tail of people and effectively cross-use online and offline friendships to grow organically. Seeing how most organizations need to deal with TV, newspapers, and radio, there is also Chapter 9 - Managing Oldmedia that details everything from press release processes to TV crews. Finally, Chapter 10 - Beyond Success shares a bit of experience of what happens when you feel at the top of the world, and what to do then. "Your most valuable asset isn't your employees," I told the executive. "Your most valuable asset is the thousands of people who want to work for you for free, and you don't let them." The book can also be downloaded as a PDF from the author's website at http://falkvinge.net/books/.
Over a million copies sold! A fundamental influence on modern libertarianism, this classic guide to the basics of economic theory defends capitalism and the free market from economic myths that persist to this day. “A magnificent job of theoretical exposition.”—Ayn Rand Considered among the leading economic thinkers of the “Austrian School,” which includes Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich (F.A.) Hayek, and others, Henry Hazlitt wrote Economics in One Lesson in 1946. Concise and instructive, it is also deceptively prescient and far-reaching in its efforts to dissemble economic fallacies that are so prevalent they have almost become a new orthodoxy. Economic commentators across the political spectrum have credited Hazlitt with foreseeing the collapse of the global economy which occurred more than fifty years after the initial publication of Economics in One Lesson. Hazlitt’s focus on non-governmental solutions, strong—and strongly reasoned—anti-deficit position, and general emphasis on free markets, economic liberty of individuals, and the dangers of government intervention make Economics in One Lesson every bit as relevant and valuable today as it has been since publication.