![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
february book report
Feb. 26th, 2023 05:46 pmGhost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin Mitnick (free to read on archive.org)
this was another one of those books i got for christmas right before all the cataracts stuff went down and only got around to reading it during some car trips. it's going to be a short review too, between broken keyboard, and in full honesty ...
... I didn't think it was that good lol? can't tell if i'm just getting soft in old age but the guy kinda honestly sounded a little like an asshole, because i just kept thinking this whole thing sounds like a dude addicted to a slightly more uncommon vice, and man, his poor mom and grandma and ex wife (dude had a chauvinist streak ngl. not usually sensitive to that but egh.) for putting up with him going in and out of jail. seriously - if you swapped 'breaking into shit and social engineering' with alcohol, it's the same, and bonus - one of the dudes that finally caught him (and later became a co-founder of the EFF) mentioned basically that whole spiel with addiction but more in teasing humor. I'd much rather read that guy's book. at least he created something instead of breaking shit. i wonder if this guy ever got somebody fired by accident. i hope they're all right.
which is weird! cuz i love knuckling deep into how Stuff Works even when it's uhhh on the grey side of the law lol (data wants to be free etc). and i loved that book on interrogating saddam hussein and assange who was not nice to women either but at least built meaningful shit. so i don't think i'm getting that soft, but I'm. hm. clearly we have different priorities in being nosy about technology. maybe it's the braggadocio part that's a turn off.
edit: oh yeah i forgot to describe what the Book Actually Was About lol. it was a lot of him retelling his social enginering and phone phreaking hacks. he must not be very good at describing them because normally i'd be all over that shit and taking a few notes but. zzzz. there's def better books.
this was another one of those books i got for christmas right before all the cataracts stuff went down and only got around to reading it during some car trips. it's going to be a short review too, between broken keyboard, and in full honesty ...
... I didn't think it was that good lol? can't tell if i'm just getting soft in old age but the guy kinda honestly sounded a little like an asshole, because i just kept thinking this whole thing sounds like a dude addicted to a slightly more uncommon vice, and man, his poor mom and grandma and ex wife (dude had a chauvinist streak ngl. not usually sensitive to that but egh.) for putting up with him going in and out of jail. seriously - if you swapped 'breaking into shit and social engineering' with alcohol, it's the same, and bonus - one of the dudes that finally caught him (and later became a co-founder of the EFF) mentioned basically that whole spiel with addiction but more in teasing humor. I'd much rather read that guy's book. at least he created something instead of breaking shit. i wonder if this guy ever got somebody fired by accident. i hope they're all right.
which is weird! cuz i love knuckling deep into how Stuff Works even when it's uhhh on the grey side of the law lol (data wants to be free etc). and i loved that book on interrogating saddam hussein and assange who was not nice to women either but at least built meaningful shit. so i don't think i'm getting that soft, but I'm. hm. clearly we have different priorities in being nosy about technology. maybe it's the braggadocio part that's a turn off.
edit: oh yeah i forgot to describe what the Book Actually Was About lol. it was a lot of him retelling his social enginering and phone phreaking hacks. he must not be very good at describing them because normally i'd be all over that shit and taking a few notes but. zzzz. there's def better books.
