Mastering Bitcoin is a specific Books coordinate in the Bitcoin knowledge graph. In practical terms, it identifies the subject described here: Mastering Bitcoin — by Andreas M. Antonopoulos and David A. Harding: Bitcoin’s protocol, transactions, scripts, software and engineering trade-offs. This definition is narrower than promotional usage and should be read together with the implementation, date and evidence attached to the entry.
Written by Andreas M. Antonopoulos and David A. Harding and first published in 2014 by O’Reilly.
Use this book as a route into Bitcoin’s protocol, transactions, scripts, software and engineering trade-offs. Its Atlas links connect the reading to the people, mechanisms and events it discusses.
Primary or authoritative records make these details checkable: Andreas M. Antonopoulos's Mastering Bitcoin is an open technical reference covering keys, addresses, transactions, scripts, wallets, the peer network, mining and consensus with code and diagrams. They should be verified before using the coordinate in analysis.
The practical limit is: editions and code examples age, and a technical reference does not guarantee secure production implementation; version, errata, dependencies and operational threat model must be checked. A definition, office, chart pattern or published claim is not by itself a prediction or Bitcoin consensus rule.
For the clearest picture, read this entry together with Transaction, Bitcoin wallet, Full Node. The reverse links also lead from Andreas M. Antonopoulos, The Basics of Bitcoins and Blockchains, The Internet of Money — Volume 1.