Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“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

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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

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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 […]

That Was Bananas

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

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Best for: People who enjoy investigative journalism told in narrative form. In a nutshell: A very Libertarian dude decides to make a statement and start a website that sells drugs. Things spiral. The federal government gets involved in multiple ways. Worth quoting: N/A Why I chose it: After listening to Bad Blood, I needed another audio book for my runs. Memoirs have been my go-to in this format, but I think they have been replaced, as it’s easy to stay invested when it’s essential real-life […]

Goodfellas meets The Social Network by way of Ayn Rand

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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 […]



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