Fiction for Security geeks

[benbanks at disinfo.net (Ben Banks)]

In addition to all the other great suggestions so far I'd add..

Michaelmas by Algis Budrys is a book that deserves more popularity than it
has (it's a bit old but quite prophetic with its references to worldwide
network of computers and an interesting hero)
The Voice of the Whirlwind by Walter John Williams 

For non-fiction I'd recommend...

Zen Computer by Philip Toshio Sudo as I need enlightenment as well as a
screen tan

BB


-----Original Message-----
From: pauldotcom-bounces at mail.pauldotcom.com
[mailto:pauldotcom-bounces at mail.pauldotcom.com] On Behalf Of Grymoire
Sent: 18 January 2010 16:16
To: Pauldotcom at pdc-mail.pauldotcom.com
Subject: [Pauldotcom] Fiction for Security geeks


I echo other's comments. Shockwave Rider was one of the first books to 
talk about computer hacking. Cryptonomicron, Daemon, yes yes yes.


For a laugh,, look as Deception Point, by Dan Brown and some of Tom
Clancy's "Op Center" books are unintentionally hilarious.

I recall one part where a guy was racing his small nimble data packet
in order to get to a server before a big dangerous data packet
arrived. ROTF!


Some recent reads I enjoyed:.

* "This is not a game" - by Walter Jon Williams

                About someone using social networking
                resources to solve real issues using the fiction that it's a
                game.

* Hammerjack - Marc D. Giller 

                - Matrix-style hacking. I enjoyed it, but I can;t remember
the
          plot too well.

* Altered Carbon 

                Not a acking but, but a futureistic world where people's
minds
                are transmitted, and memory dumps are backed up and perhaps
                hacked. A great read. It's a hard-boild dectective story in
a
                futuristic world.

* Outrageous Fortune - Tim Scott 
                - Bizarre and insane. Freaking wierd! 
                But it all makes sense at the end. the real key is the DNA
Virus.

                And you will be talking about some of the scenes for years.

Kiln People 

                - Not security, but a wonderfiul SciFi book on what happens
if
                you can replicate memory and place it in a spare body.
                Awesome concepts. One of the keys to great SciFi is when one
                person takes and idea, and expands it and expands it to
create
                a whole new world where everythign is changed, including
                societies. This is one of those books.


Non-fiction

* Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick.
                                Light on details. And I'm sure Kevini's
story is very
                                different.

* Hacker Crackdown - Bruce Sterling - buch of short histories of hackers.


And in a completely different SciFi genre, that might appeal to some:

* Crossover &
* Breakaway & 
* KillSwitch - Joel Shepard

        She's a super Ninja/Combat specializt
        She's horny as hell
        She's a robot in human form

                (I just had to mention this one :-).






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