American Kingpin
In 2011, a twenty-six-year-old libertarian programmer named Ross Ulbricht launched the ultimate free market: the Silk Road, a clandestine Web site hosted on the Dark Web where anyone could trade anything—drugs, hacking software, forged passports, counterfeit cash, poisons—free of the government’s watchful eye. It wasn’t long before the media got wind of the new Web site where anyone—not just teenagers and weed dealers but terrorists and black hat hackers—could buy and sell contraband detection-free. Spurred by a public outcry, the federal government launched an epic two-year manhunt for the site’s elusive proprietor, with no leads, no witnesses, and no clear jurisdiction. All the investigators knew was that whoever was running the site called himself the Dread Pirate Roberts. The Silk Road quickly ballooned into $1.2 billion enterprise, and Ross embraced his new role as kingpin. He enlisted a loyal crew of allies in high and low places, all as addicted to the danger and thrill of running an illegal marketplace as their customers were to the heroin they sold. Through his network he got wind of the target on his back and took drastic steps to protect himself—including ordering a hit on a former employee. As Ross made plans to disappear forever, the Feds raced against the clock to catch a man they weren’t sure even existed, searching for a needle in the haystack of the global Internet.
Stats for nerds
24recommend
41mentions
33people
2017–2026years
73% recommend24% neutral2% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- FINISHED:
- Traction by Gabriel Weinberg (it's ok)
- A Skill Called Luck by Jakob Greenfeld (very good)
- Unf*ck Your Sales by Jakob Greenfeld (very good)
- Books by Alex West (very good)
- How to Live by Derek Sivers (very very good)
- Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown (really enjoyed it)
- The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing (it's okay)
- The Narrow Road by Felix Dennis (it's okay)
- Oh Crap! Potty Training by Jamie Glowacki (success)
- Вишнёвый Сад Чехов Антон Павлович (did not like it at all)
- Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift (liked it)
- Hunt, Gather, Parent Michaeleen Doucleff (this book is a game changer, strong recommend for every parent)
- MAKE by Pieter Levels
- Main Street Millionaire by Codie Sanchez
- Start Small, Stay Small by Rob Walling
- The Sweaty Startup by Nick Huber
- The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury (did not like it at all)
- Чем Люди Живы Лев Николаевич Толстой (nice)
- 80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall (pretty good)
- Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl (eye opening)
- Growth Levers and How to Find Them by Matt Lerner (meh)
- Alexander Pushking Stories (very nice. crazy how he makes rhymes yet the whole thing makes sense)
IN_PROGRESS:
- War and Piece (I'm shocked at how much I'm liking it)
- Scaling Fast by Swizec Teller (really good, about to finish)
- Unreasonable Hospitality (it alright)
- Mom Test (it's good, but for some reason I keep failing to finish it)
- Marcus Aurelius Meditations (reading it slowly as inspiration strikes)
- Seneca Dialogues
- Ultimate Guide to Link Building by Garrett French
STARTED, BUT DID NOT FINISH (That's a big add list):
- Michel de Montaigne "Essays"
- Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (feels to hard to tackle right now)
- Seeking Wisdom
- Product Led Growth
- Demand Side Sales
- Odyssey by Homer
- Full Stack Tao by Alex Kondov
- Logic for Programmers
- The Story of Philosophy
- The Story of Civilization Vol 1
- The Communist Manifesto Karl Marx
- Economic Facts and Fallacies Thomas Sowell
- The Beginning of Infinity David Deutsch
- Obviously Awesome by April Dunford
- SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Mary Beard
- American Kingpin by Nick Bilton (it's good, just felt irrelevant, will revisit)
- Indexing Beyond the Basics by Tobias Petry (only read it when necessary)
- The Mind Illuminated by John Yates (can't keep meditations to stick)
Note:
- I keep notes on books I finished on my site, but need to bring it up to date: https://www.rasulkireev.com/book-notes/
- This should be interpreted in the broadest sense to include books like both American Kingpin and Practical Vim as examples.
- Not going to try and sway you here but to learn more, read or listen to "American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road".
Truly fascinating story and good story telling.
- American Kingpin by Nick Bilton is an excellent book covering Silk Road and what makes this unique
- American Kingpin by Nick Bilton
A book about the rise and fall of Silk Road. I listened to this on a recent 12-hour road trip, and the hours melted away.
- The book American Kingpin is a fantastic read https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31920777
The audiobook is great too
