https://www.dau.edu
Review: This book consists of a collection of 16 essays encompassing a highly diverse set of topics associated with blockchain, cryptocurrency, and the Internet of Things (IoT). The wide range of topical diversity makes it difficult to consider this publication as a standalone book, as opposed to a medium for publishing that diverse set of essays. Three of the essays (1, 2, 10) focus directly on blockchain, with an emphasis on debunking “myths” about that technology. These essays contain considerable redundant content and could have benefited from editorial reconciliation and streamlining. Three essays (3, 4, 16) focus primarily on IoT topics, with a collective emphasis on security aspects. As a body, these three essays provide a more comprehensive coverage of the IoT topic than the first group does of the blockchain topic. Three of the essays (6, 13, 15) center on cryptocurrency. The remaining seven essays (5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14) cover various applications of blockchain technology from digital forensics to land registration, banking, energy, music, oil and gas, and government services in India. The editors promote the book as “a platform to inform researchers about emerging concepts related to the disciplines of blockchain technology” and hope that “academics, researchers, and industry experts will find the book very useful as they … explore the fascinating world of advanced engineering, emerging technologies, and an inspiring new form of digital currency” (p. xi). To be fair, individual essays might possibly serve those purposes for certain individual readers. For example, a researcher interested in a “Regulatory Framework for the Adoption and Use of Cryptocurrencies in Zimbabwe” might find Chapter 6 to be helpful. However, the probability that such a researcher will find that essay via publicity for this book is very low. Few of the essays in this book would have much relevance to the defense community, and those that might generally provide only introductory coverage of basic blockchain, cryptocurrency, and IoT topics. Defense community members interested in the general topic of blockchain technology would be better served by reading National Institute of Standards and Technology Internal/Interagency Report (NISTIR) 8202, Blockchain Technology Overview (October 2018), and then NISTIR 8301, Blockchain Networks: Token Design and Management Overview (February 2021). Those and other NIST blockchain publications are freely available at https://csrc.nist.gov/topics/technologies/blockchain.
79
Defense ARJ , Spring 2025, Vol. 32 No. 1
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker