American Kingpin – Cannonball Read 17

“Even though all these people were dealing in illicit activities, they each had a moral sense that their particular outlawed product was more just than another.” (CBR12 Bingo)

American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road by Nick Bilton

August 7, 2020 by faintingviolet 3 Comments

I had already decided to read American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road this year before I saw the Bingo board, and the minute I saw the Money! square I knew this book had to be the book I read for it. The instructions for the square are rather straightforward: A fiction or non-fiction book about money, acquiring money legally or illegally, or following the money. American Kingpin is a narrative non-fiction recounting of how one man started a […]

What a Bunch of A-holes

American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road by Nick Bilton

April 23, 2019 by Emmalita 2 Comments

This book tells the story of the kinds of people I despise: libertarians who idolize Ayn Rand and Walter White, and cops who think they are cowboys. American Kingpin: Catching the Billion-Dollar Baron of the Dark Web is a bananas story. It’s fascinating, disturbing and funny in the the way that you just have to laugh at the absurdity or rage at the horseshit. There are only a couple of people in this story I didn’t want to slap. I don’t think Nick Bilton is a […]

Goodfellas meets The Social Network by way of Ayn Rand

October 3, 2018 by Jake 1 Comment

Privilege is a helluva drug. Apparently, it was the only thing you couldn’t buy on the Silk Road. I listened to most of this book on audio. During one stretch of long driving, my wife was with me and only heard part of it. It was the part in which FBI agents who had just busted a Silk Road associate took his computer and transferred the associate’s bitcoins into private offshore accounts they could access. As my wife started laughing, I told her “Just about […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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