I wanted to read non-fiction books that read like page-turner fictions . A summer beach read with the exception that it should be a real story. I got to know about American Kingpin by Sam Parr on Twitter. He had shared about this book and everyone in comments had very good things to say about it. Plus, it is from my world - that is tech, not drugs.
For Ghenghis Khan, I was not looking for him. Browsing through museums in Germany, I wanted to know more about these artifacts. I had no idea about Napolean, Ottoman empire or the new German-Prussia wars. A lot of these artifacts were part of conquests, culture exchange after winning wars and some trade. Bavarian Kings made me wanted to read more about war of the roses. So, I was searching for such historic non-fiction but it should be narrative and fun. That's how I landed on the Chenghis Khan's book. I had once read that many men today are descendents of Genghis and this has always fascinated me. How did this happen? So, this incorrect tidbit sealed the deal.
Both books were read during the Germany trip - one on the onward flight and second one during return. Especially waiting at the airport to get the results of the test, was made much easier by this book.
Book I
American Kingpin : The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road
By Nick Bilton
American Kingpin is a story of Ross Ulbright, a libertarian, who believed of an ideal world where people should be able to do whatever they want to do. To realize his ideas, he thought the best way to apply them is on the item that is most restricted - drugs. Ross Ulbright built a website, named it Silk Route, which is an Amazon-like marketplace to sell all kinds of drugs. Completely illegal, yet Ross built an empire and at its top, the website had GMV in billions of dollars, Rolls Ulbright as the sole founder made millions.
Ross went by his online persona of Dead Pirates Robber. Hosted in the dark web, behind Tor, payments were handled by bitcoins to keep everything anonymous. It is amazing that Ross made everything on his own, given that he did not even have a formal CS background or degree. Even at its peak, there were very few engineers, very few support people and only one manager - Ross himself
The book is a story of how different law enforcement agencies were involved in tracking this website. Traditional Narco bureaus were adept at handling street level drugs. Online drug marketplace, that too on dark web, anonymous payments via bitcoins, it was too much for them. There was a customs angle since drugs were often couriered from outside US. Customs would open packets based on some hunch and realize that it contains small capsules. There was a finance angle to trace the anonymous bitcoin transactions, which at some point will be converted to real cash. And FBI was involved who eventually were able to crack the case with the help of other agencies. But it was not easy.
As Silk Route became successful, there were attacks on the website. Employees tried to steal from Dead Pirates robber. Dirty cops came in to give tips to DPR in exchange of cash. Drug mafia was involved as they were the top sellers. Silk Route expanded its inventory to include weapons and all other illegal things. But where DPR crossed the line was that it used the mafia and underworld to order killings of human beings who posed a risk to his business. Yes, there were killings too.
It all feels surreal, given the way it all started. Ross Ulbright wanted to prove a point - that libertarian philosophy is indeed the way to live. He was a failure in his life until he made the Silk Route. His idea behind Silk route was to prove that a safer drug trade platform will lead to lower street crime, regulate the bad/fraud drugs that are coming in and eventually will lead to reforms in the entire ecosystem.
One of my favorite part of the book is a classic startup question - In any marketplace, how do you solve the day-zero problem. There will not be sellers until there are customers and there will not be customers until there are products from sellers. Dead Pirates Robber also realized this problem. DPR's way to solve this was the same as how a typical startup will solve it. DPR grew his own weed and sold it on SilkRoute to get early set of customers. Yes, he made drugs to get customers and quickly recovered his investment and made a lot of profit. Thus proving his MVP and there is a genuine demand. Supply came after that this was a loop more viral than Uber or Airbnb. SilkRoute had a monopoly here. There were copycat websites but by focussing on customers and execution, DPR was able to shake them off.
The book focusses a lot on DPR's personal life, how he ran this empire unknown to his parents, friends and everyone around him. Book also covers his mentors who became his partners in crime. It is a fascinating story. It reads like a thriller even which you know the murderer but the fun is to see how the killer will be caught. The struggle of different law enforcement agencies, ego clashes between departments, desire to get the eventual credit, bad actors and general bureaucratic processes makes it seem like a miracle that DPR was caught.
Recommended more than a fiction. 3.5/5
Book II
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
By Jack Weatherford
Genghis Khan is reviled in today's times. He was a barbarian. Murderer of entire cities. Brutal. Merciless.
But we know very little of Genghis Khan. Where was he born, where is he buried. How did he managed to conquer so many cities, entire Asia, Russia and parts of Europe? A conquest that has no parallel. His legacy is still with us. For example - Mughals are descendants of him. There exists no painting of him, except one which is not confirmed. Written records, scant that they are, were also made by his descendants who fought wars in his name, often with each other.
Jack Weatherford's book, a controvertial one, brings clarity to this significant chapter of history. In order to get to balance, he tilts the book in favor of Genghis and argues that modern world, especially trade and exchange of culture is owed to Genghis Khan. While it may be controversial, the book is indeed needed. It is important to know how one man can influence so much of history.
Genghis Khan was born in a forest-dwelling tribe where wars between factions of tribe were very common. Not a warrior by choice, he was forced to become one to keep himself and family secure. The first part of Weatherford's book traces the roots of Genghis and how he rose to become a ruler who unified all tribes of Mongolia by ruling over them. Mongolia had nothing to boast of in terms of weaponry or science. But, its men were brave, strong and knew how to ride horses. Genghis Khan was truly special - he also had a lot of military strategem coming naturally to him. But it was honed by his need for survival and that too in harsh conditions.
Once Mongolia is unified under Genghis, he wanted peace and to maintain trade relationships with his neighbors. But they rebuked him. Just like upper caste and lower caste can not have good relations, his neighbors looked down upon him. Sometimes, they also attacked him. Genghis replied and conquered them all.
He came up with strategies to destroy walled castles by cutting off them from food supply. He built dams and redirected river on to flood castles. He rode over iced rivers and attacked from routes which were not considered possible. His army only had horses no foot soldiers making him move fast. They did not carry food, they would hunt animals and make food. Such strategies were unheard of.
Genghis did all this because he broke a lot of stereotypes. He valued people with abilities and made them generals and in his inner coterie, preferring them over his blood relatives which was the custom. He was a great listener. He adapted well to science. When he conquered cities, he asked the doctors, pharmacists, scientists to move with him. This allowed great inter-mingling of scientific ideas which led more military prowess in later years.
After covering Genghis Khan's era, book moves forward to his sons and grandsons who expanded the empire. Here, with so much ground to cover, the book lacks depth and moves fast. The empire was brought down by the bubonic plague. The downfall was as swift as the rise. Plague affected both the kings and the citizens.
Given that Genghis Khan did not want to glorify himself, there were no statues by him, no monuments, no castles. Genghis did not build any castle, he himself lived like a commoner. There are records but of the science, of the trade, of culture but not for the man himself. Hence, the history has been lost. In modern history, to keep Mongolia away from being unified with nationalist feelings, using Genghis' name, little effort has gone in when compared to other such conquerors such as Napolean.
The author talks at length on the positive qualities of Genghis - he allowed all religions to co-exist, there was no torture - death was often swift, his organization building skills and political acumen. Genghis used to murder the elite and then picked good administrators to rule in his stead. But he significantly downplays the destruction or terror brought down by this. In one para, an entire village of thousands was killed because Genghis' son-in-law was killed. The author's point is that Genghis was far more gentle in victories as compared to his peers. It may be true but difficult to confirm.
But it is clear that the accomplishments of Genghis were massive. His contribution in making the modern world is significant. It should be studied more. This book is a good start for folks like me.
3.5/5
