Paul Vigna

From the authors of the fascinating The Age of Cryptocurrency, comes the definitive work on the Internetâ??s next big thing: the blockchain.

The complete story of how we came to worship money, and how we can stop greed from destroying everything.The pursuit of wealth is considered an essential function of human nature, and greed is an unspoken civic virtue. Many of us revere billionaires and Wall Street rain-makers, then complain about "the system" being rigged, and wonder why the country doesn't seem to work for the little guy anymore. Some blame the Deep State for income inequality and corruption, and others blame capitalism, but the truth is that these issues have much deeper roots: our devotion to money is a manmade invention that has transformed over thousands of years to replace religion as the foundation of our society, and it is tearing civilization apart. In The Almightier, journalist Paul Vigna uncovers the forgotten history of money, tracing the uneasy and often accidental alliance between wealth and religion as it developed from ancient city-states to today's secular world, where religious devotion has receded and greed has stepped in to fill the void. Through engaging anecdotes, original research, and fresh perspectives on the causes of the many challenges we face today, Vigna makes a compelling argument that money has no power apart from the power we give it. We can build a better future, where we don't need to choose between helping others and getting ahead. But we can't repair the damage that greed has done until we understand how it took over our world in the first place.

"Views differ on bitcoin, but few doubt the transformative potential of Blockchain technology. The Truth Machine is the best book so far on what has happened and what may come along. It demands the attention of anyone concerned with our economic future." --Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard, Former Treasury SecretaryFrom Michael J. Casey and Paul Vigna, the authors of The Age of Cryptocurrency, comes the definitive work on the Internet's Next Big Thing: The Blockchain. Big banks have grown bigger and more entrenched. Privacy exists only until the next hack. Credit card fraud is a fact of life. Many of the "legacy systems" once designed to make our lives easier and our economy more efficient are no longer up to the task. Yet there is a way past all this--a new kind of operating system with the potential to revolutionize vast swaths of our economy: the blockchain. In The Truth Machine, Michael J. Casey and Paul Vigna demystify the blockchain and explain why it can restore personal control over our data, assets, and identities; grant billions of excluded people access to the global economy; and shift the balance of power to revive society's faith in itself. They reveal the disruption it promises for industries including finance, tech, legal, and shipping. Casey and Vigna expose the challenge of replacing trusted (and not-so-trusted) institutions on which we've relied for centuries with a radical model that bypasses them. The Truth Machine reveals the empowerment possible when self-interested middlemen give way to the transparency of the blockchain, while highlighting the job losses, assertion of special interests, and threat to social cohesion that will accompany this shift. With the same balanced perspective they brought to The Age of Cryptocurrency, Casey and Vigna show why we all must care about the path that blockchain technology takes--moving humanity forward, not backward.

In this first and only guide to AMC’s exceptional hit series The Walking Dead, the Wall Street Journal’s Walking Dead columnist celebrates the show, its storylines, characters, and development, and examines its popularity and cultural resonance.From its first episode, The Walking Dead took fans in the United States and across the world by storm, becoming the highest-rated series in the history of cable television. After each episode airs, Paul Vigna writes a widely read column in which he breaks down the stories and considers what works and what doesn’t, and tries to discern the small details that will become larger plot points. So how did a basic cable television show based on Robert Kirkman's graphic comic series, set in an apocalyptic dog-eat-dog world filled with flesh-eating zombies and even scarier human beings, become a ratings juggernaut and cultural phenomenon? Why is the show such a massive hit? In this playful yet comprehensive guide, Vigna dissect every aspect of The Walking Dead to assess its extraordinary success.In the vein of Seinfeldia,Vigna digs into the show’s guts, exploring its roots, storyline, relevance for fans and the wider popular culture, and more. He explores how the changing nature of television and media have contributed to the show’s success, and goes deep into the zombie genre, delineating why it’s different from vampires, werewolves, and other monsters. He considers why people have found in zombies a mirror for their own fears, and explains how this connection is important to the show’s popularity. He interviews the cast and crew, who share behind-the-scenes tales, and introduces a cross-section of its diverse and rabid viewership, from fantasy nerds to NFL stars. Guts is a must have for every Walking Dead fan.

The first ultimate fans’ guide to the hit TV show The Walking Dead—celebrating its popularity, depth as a genre, and cultural resonance—from resident Wall Street Journal Walking Dead columnist Paul Vigna In the seven years that it’s been on the air, The Walking Dead averages about 13 million viewers a week, and regularly hits 16 and 17 million—numbers unheard of for a cable show. It is AMC’s biggest money-maker by a country mile. The series finales of Mad Men and Breaking Bad, those Emmy-soaked shows that were such hits with the intellectual set, were the highest rated of their respective runs, but their numbers were only what The Walking Dead averages every single Sunday that it airs. It’s not just in the U.S., either; it’s a major hit in dozens of international markets, among them the U.K., Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, the Balkans, Korea, and Taiwan. For Fox, which carries the show overseas, The Walking Dead has given it some of its highest ratings ever. Why is this show such a massive and unlikely success? Guts will dissect every aspect of The Walking Dead and come up with answers (and will have some fun while doing so; this is, after all, a zombie show). The book will explore the show’s roots, its genre, its story, its backstory, and its cultural importance. It will delve into the changing nature of TV and media to see how that’s affected the phenomenon. It will take readers into the zombie genre itself, to discover why it’s different from vampires, werewolves, and Frankenstein; why people have found in zombies a mirror for their own fears, and how this is important to the show’s success. Lastly, the book will look at the fans themselves, from average twitter followers to NFL stars; we’ll meet with them at conventions and zombie races, even at Universal Studios where there’s a Walking Dead ride. Ultimately, these are the fans that make the show a ratings leviathan. While it’s no news that The Walking Dead is one of the most popular shows of all time, it is surprising that there has never been a comprehensive companion to the show...until now. Featuring in-depth interviews with the cast and crew as well as scintillating pop culture analysis, Guts is sure to be a fan favorite and a perfect gift for the ravenous fanbase that, simply, cannot get enough.

From Silicon Valley to the streets of Beijing, this is a book about a revolution in the making, a story of human invention, and a guide to the future.

An in-depth explanation of how bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies work, their potential for good and bad, and how this is likely to affect you as a citizen, government, business, and global geopolitics.Bitcoin became a buzzword overnight. A cyber-enigma with an enthusiastic following, it pops up in headlines and fuels endless media debate. You can apparently use it to buy anything from coffee to cars, yet few people seem to truly understand what it is. This raises the question: Why should anyone care about bitcoin? In The Age of Cryptocurrency, Wall Street journalists Paul Vigna and Michael J. Casey deliver the definitive answer to this question. Cybermoney is poised to launch a revolution, one that could reinvent traditional financial and social structures while bringing the world's billions of "unbanked" individuals into a new global economy. Cryptocurrency holds the promise of a financial system without a middleman, one owned by the people who use it and one safeguarded from the devastation of a 2008-type crash. But bitcoin, the most famous of the cybermonies, carries a reputation for instability, wild fluctuation, and illicit business; some fear it has the power to eliminate jobs and to upend the concept of a nation-state. It implies, above all, monumental and wide-reaching change--for better and for worse. But it is here to stay, and you ignore it at your peril. Vigna and Casey demystify cryptocurrency--its origins, its function, and what you need to know to navigate a cyber-economy. The digital currency world will look very different from the paper currency world; The Age of Cryptocurrency will teach you how to be ready.

Not so long ago the internet was a new and alien concept. Today, the world would collapse without it. Today, cryptocurrency is a new and little-used concept. Tomorrow, will the world collapse without it? We sit at the cusp of a revolution in global commerce, a shift that promises nothing less than to reshape the international economic and political order. At the heart of this revolution lies the groundbreaking technology of cryptocurrencies. With the advent of bitcoin in 2008 the term 'cryptocurrency' crept into our lives. But whether bitcoin triumphs or fails, the technology it unleashed is here to stay and will only get stronger. It's cheaper, faster, easier, more democratic and safer than paper money and credit cards, and people - and governments - are catching on fast. Age of Cryptocurrency is a vision of a radically different future. In examining the new and unstoppable revolution that is cryptocurrency it forces us to rethink our assumptions that underlie the world in its present form, to question what money is and how it functions in society, and to envisage how it could change our lives beyond recognition.