Was tied up with an IG audit this week so I missed the Sunday update, but in the down time I read Red Team Blues by Cory Doctrow. I wasn't that impressed.
In a lot of ways it was a typical Doctrow book, the protagonist gets himself into some unlikely bit of trouble, but because he is supremely skilled at (insert obsession of the moment here) he manages to improvise, adapt and overcome. Not that this is any different from a billion other mystery/thriller novels, but at the same time he manages to be supremely annoying by constantly talking about eating at Michelin star restaurants, drink high-end bourbon and driving a Nissan Leaf while living in his Tour Bus RV. It's like he is constantly reminding us how much better than us he is.
Even more annoying than the above though (besides his constant repetition of The blue team has to be right every time the read team only has to be right once) is the way he trivializes tracking criminals through bitcoin. I swear 3 days and he tracks down the entire Zeta cartel and turns them against an Azerbaijani crime family. I read Tracers in the Dark and too me it seems a little more complicated than looking at some bitcoin wallets and linked in, but I am not an expert so maybe I am wrong. It just seems like Doctrow kind of magics away some of the complications.
Speaking of Tracers in the Dark by Andy Greenberg. I read it a few months ago. Excellent book. First off it starts out by establishing that Bitcoin (once thought to be untraceable) was far easier to trace than people thought (no that isn't a contradiction to my complaint above, I said simpler not easy) It then follows investigators thru a series of cases: Silk Road, Mt. Gox, and Welcome to Video among others. As it does so Greenberg show the investigative and legal difficulties involved. Really shed a lot of light on the subject. Like I said good book.
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