Computation and Complexity Theory
While Bitcoin is in the business of verification and not computation, knowing the limits of what computers can do and what future computers might be able to do can be beneficial to better understand some parts of Bitcoin. I highly recommend Gödel, Escher, Bach because it is a deeply fascinating and beautiful book.
Quantum Computing Since Democritus is quite dense, but it is also quite entertaining at times. The lecture notes which this book is based upon are freely available online. Note that the first couple of chapters stay in the non-quantum world of computing and might help to understand why breaking Bitcoin’s security is so hard. A New Kind of Science is certainly not for everyone, but it beautifully shows how simple rules can lead to complex systems.
