This book is a Braiins publication. You can buy it or download a free ebook pdf here:
https://braiins.com/books. While you’re on the site, you might be interested in their other books. I hope to read all of them. I discovered this resource through this post:
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The Bitcoin Mining Handbook is a collection of articles from the Braiins blog. Since I am a complete novice when it comes to bitcoin mining, I found this book very helpful. Those more experienced may find it too basic. If you have been around bitcoin for a while you may find yourself skipping the more basic general information about bitcoin.
Forward
Marty Bent wrote the forward. Marty has had a long relationship with Braiins, so it’s not surprising to see that he wrote the forward. Still, this really is simply an advertisement for Braiins. That’s not a knock on Marty or Braiins, but if you’re pressed for time you can skip it.
Introduction
It is a general introduction to bitcoin, proof of work, and mining basics. There are some good inspirational quotes. Here’s one:
In bitcoin, unlike in the fiat system and the vast majority of alternative cryptocurrency projects, there is no such thing as a free lunch. All that matters is doing the work.
I really liked the discussion and this quote from Henry Ford about gold, energy and war:
In 1921, the New York Tribune ran a piece titled, Ford Would Replace Gold With Energy Currency and Stop Wars, in which Henry Ford laid out the case that a currency backed by energy would reduce the power of bankers and put an end to much international conflict. As Ford stated, “With the international bankers, the fostering, starting and fighting of a war is nothing more nor less than creating an active market for money—a business transaction. …No matter who loses the war, there have been a great many loans—the gold system always wins.”
The book contains very clear explanations of bitcoin. These passages could stand alone as a good first bitcoin book. Here is a really simple, effective, non technical explanation of proof of work:
LUCK, GAMBLING, AND SHA256 Imagine that miners in the Bitcoin Network are all individuals gambling at a casino. In this example, each of these gamblers have a 1000 sided dice. They roll their die as quickly as possible, trying to get a number less than 10. Statistically, this may take a very long time, but as more gamblers join the game, the time it takes to hit a number less than 10 gets reduced. In short, more gamblers equals quicker rounds. Once somebody successfully rolls a number less than 10, all gamblers at the table can look down and verify the number. This lucky gambler takes the prize money and the next round begins.
Later on, while explaining mining pool shares, the same analogy is used:
Ultimately, the process of mining bitcoin is very similar[to finding a block]. All miners on the network are using Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), which are specialized computers designed to compute hashes as quickly as possible. To “compute a hash” simply means plugging any random input into a mathematical function and producing an output. More hashes per second (i.e. higher hashrate) is equivalent to more dice rolls per second, and thus a greater probability of success. Miners propose a potential Bitcoin block of transactions, and use this for an input. The block is plugged into the SHA256 hash function which yields a fixed-sized output, known as a hash. A single hash can be computed in less than a millisecond, as it involves no complex math (by computer standards, anyway). If the hash value is lower than the Bitcoin Network difficulty, then the miner who proposed the block wins. If not, then the miner continues trying by computing more hashes. The successful miner’s block is then added to the blockchain, the miner is rewarded with newly issued bitcoin for their work, and the “next round” begins.
The network difficulty target says how low the dice roll needs to be to produce a block. Similarly, in order to earn a reward from a bitcoin mining pool, you have to compute a hash which has an output below what’s known as the “share difficulty target”. This is a middle ground… much easier to meet than the network difficulty target, but still difficult enough that only a tiny portion of all the hashes you’re computing will qualify. Re-using the same dice analogy, this share difficulty could be incorporated by saying that all the dice rolls below “99” result in shares being submitted to the pool, while they still have to be below “4” to produce a new block.
There are many of these real world explanations which serve as learning tools. Keep in mind that some of these articles were written a while ago, so a few details may no longer be accurate.
The book contains chapters on alternative energy mining, Stratum V2, and heat reuse. Braiins has just published a book called Bitcoin Mining Heat Reuse which fully explores this topic. I have started reading passages, and it seems to be well worth a read. You can download it at the site as well.
Conclusion
If you’re new to bitcoin mining this book is an excellent introduction. It might be too basic for experienced miners. It is a collection of articles, but taken as a whole it is well organized, concise, and plainly written.