I wrote a beginner's guide to Bitcoin. It goes right for the bit that really matters -- the real meat-and-potatoes that all the other nonsense happens around. If you can't get things quite straight in your head, this intro will help.

It starts like this:

Forget everything you've heard. Bitcoin is complicated like magic is complicated. It's not. But things are told to you in an obscure way, amidst a lot of distracting nonsense, which leaves you bewildered.

[...]

...and continues here: http://medium.com/@majc/the-real-magic-of-bitcoin-82476c2fb40b