Ghost in the Wires - A book by Kevin Mitnick

Disclaimer: Above image links to Amazon with my affiliate code.
If you buy the book from the above link, I'll get a buck or two.

Just finished reading a wonderful book by Kevin Mitnick, hacker extraordinaire! As some of you may know, Kevin Mitnick was a fugitive hacker who ran for years and taught us all about social engineering, how to effectively use zero-day exploits, but most of all, how hackers need to target people first, computers second. In this book, Kevin is finally able to write about his firsthand experiences running from the law, compromising administrators and systems, and going into some great technical detail at the same time.
The very first thing you'll notice about this book is that it reads like a spy novel. Twists and turns! Backstabbing! RHosts files! Its all in here.
The book contains technical bits for those who 'get them' (I do! I do!), but the story is completely comprehensible to anyone without any technical experience whatsoever, thanks to Mitnick's brilliant writing style. If you've read any other books concerning this tale, you'll get the other perspective, straight from the source. It isn't a very deep book and should be looked upon as a spy-novel dealing with computer hackers. Its fun, its a ride, its about 400 pages, but it is a popcorn-style book. Have fun and run through this, I enjoyed it.

Daily Lit

Haven't posted in a while, but I've been reading about a ton of new tech. While I could go on about the amazing Public Beta of Windows 7 (which I've been using for about three weeks already), or Palm's return to form with the new Pre. I'm going to delve into a website I've been using for years that I think you should give a shot.

First off: We don't have time to read. We have jobs, classes, friends, family matters, and reruns of I Love Lucy to attend to on a daily basis. Reading just doesn't top our priority lists, and even if it does, we have to deliberately carve out sections of our day to make it fit. The solution is DailyLit. An amazingly simple idea that allows you to read a book slowly over time through email or RSS. DailyLit sends you small, easily digestible chunks of books to your inbox, your cell phone, or your favorite RSS program. They even include a link to grab the next chunk instantly if you get really involved in the story.

Most of the books on DailyLit are public domain or Creative Commons licensed (this means FREE), but there are a few premium books scattered here and there. You won't find the newest books or best sellers here, but if you feel like reading a classic, you're in luck. Next time you're at work, checking emails, browsing digg.com, and genuinely wasting your time, try something new, feel like you're making a slow but steady accomplishment by reading a book on DailyLit. Check it out, I'm sure you'll like it!

DailyLit.com

By the way: Right now I'm reading Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, and I'd suggest starting out with Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig. Its quite the amazing book that takes a detailed look at Copyright and how its essentially broken and useless in this day and age of technology. But that's another post for another day.

Enlightening isn't the right word...

But its the first word that came to mind.

    Most of you have already witnessed a work by Chuck Palahniuk, most likely it was a movie, to most of you, it presented an interesting concept, a counter-culture of sorts. That movie was Fight Club. But you liked it because of the brilliant film making, the impressive cinematography, and the starring roles of two big-name actors. Most of you didn't know this was also a book. First a book. I'm not gonna lie. I saw the movie first, then I read the book. I'm not going to judge you, I'm not hypocritical, I did the same thing. But I'm not here to discuss that movie, nor that book. I'm here to tell you about some of Palahniuk's tales that you might have missed.

    Recently I've finished Invisible Monsters by Chuch Palahniuk. No spoilers here. I just wanted to say that it is quite an amazing book. Its the type of book that you'll read two or three times just to fully grasp the concepts it throws at you. While Invisible Monsters shared some similar themes with Fight Club, both books stand alone in their own right. Both take a hard look at society, consumerism, and the daily grind, but each has its own story to tell and its own way of telling it. 

    This isn't your grandfather's paperback. This isn't your grandfather's world anymore, and Palahniuk's books perfectly represent that. Fight Club hooked me from the start, same with Choke, same with Survivor, but Invisible Monsters hooked me somewhere in the middle. Not to say that the book was bad, boring, or dry, it wasn't. I guess it just didn't have the same "Kick in the door" beginning that the other books had. Invisible Monsters is one of those books that you figure out all the twists half-way through, then it kicks you in the groin, tells you you're wrong, daddy never loved you, and then reveals what's really going on. Its an amazing book that looks at modeling, beauty, deformation, and individualism on an entirely different level. 

    Palahniuk's books are never about a happy person. Its always the person in the back row you'd never expect (This is an exception in Invisible Monsters, in the beginning, she is all but invisible). The person who you think is quiet and content, only to be thinking the entire time. You can't shut their mind up. They have a bleak view of society and humanity. And that's what kicks off each story. A person who isn't content. Or is it a person who is all too content? You'll just have to read and find out.

    Regardless, all of these books are absolutely engaging, enthralling, and ultimately entertaining. I'm two chapters into Survivor (or is it two chapters out of Survivor?) and I'm already hooked. You know a book is good when you consider that it could be your favorite book of all time two chapters in.

Go buy these now.