I work in IT within the financial services industry. That is to say, I am not completely illiterate when it comes to technology, markets, FinTech, etc. as compared to your average joe. That said, embarking on this "crypto journey" to get to the bottom of what the heck this bitcoin stuff really is all about wasn't easy.
Mainstream media is too dumb about it (cue the "is bitcoin the new tulip bubble?" discussion), and a lot of the existing resources are too technical and don't really help the "everyman" - I would like to recommend a few things I found helpful to become semi crypto-literate.
Keep in mind this is high-level stuff and if you already have a steemit account, chances are a lot of this stuff is beneath you - but if the simplicity of this post offends you, get over it.
I sought out to learn about Bitcoin but quickly realized there is Bitcoin, and there is blockchain. My favorite analogy is the internet one, where if the blockchain is the internet, bitcoin is email....although that may change in the future ;-)
First, a few quick videos I found helpful ie Understand the blockchain in 6 minutes:
The above are great for a 10,000 foot view. You wont walk away being a blockchain expert by any means, but you could find worse ways to spend 6 minutes of your life - they are each different stylistically and each entertaining in their own right.
The impact of blockchain as a disruptive technology:
This TED talk was pretty cool to me and hit home given its my industry. It's fascinating to consider the corporate component and how they adapt (or are consumed).
For a deeper dive on the above talk, this is the best book I have read on the subject (co-written by the speaker).
In terms of bitcoin and how impactful Satoshi Nakamoto's vision was using the value of large numbers, this one kind of blew my mind. It has somewhat of a "fermi paradoxian" feel talking about numbers so large it's hard to wrap your head around them.
Anyways, that should be more than enough to get the "average joe" started. I also would recommend creating a profile on bitcointalk.org and browsing around coinmarketcap.com (second nature to the now-obsessed).
Please comment any articles/videos/books you would include in your "Newbie Starter Kit"
Thanks for reading, and good luck out there!
If you found any of this useful, feel free to buy me a beer...I prefer IPAs to ICOs but an occasional coin or token can certainly wet the beak ;-)
BTC
1KWhKuhR4b1ZsiCpJHHL12t5iF3wLXt8t7
ETH
0x4552a4fda79aa69e06e76254218aa0920abafe03
LTC
LYPZ33SMDu37PcSEFaQfvoj6quC1jZQZqJ
DGE
DDgsgX3XL4Bsc3HJp2drCQfxqTdenEg9no