Tag Archives: book review

Getting Real book review

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When I first started doing the book reviews it was because a professor asked me what books I think should be on every Information Security (Information Assurance) student’s bookshelf. One of the books on that original list was Rework by the guys at 37 signals Basecamp. On my bi-annual reading of the book, I noticed they made comment to a previous book called Getting Real (Amazon affiliate link). So I ran out and grabbed a copy of it.

It really felt like a draft version of Rework. It was ok. There were some great quotes in the book from people who have used the same frame of thought to make a new company or run a business.

There were parts of the book that countered what I remembered from Rework (remember I read this book every other year), the biggest being how to deal with the competition, and seeing what they do. It felt that the two books were at odds on how to deal with the competition.

I would only recommend this book for the quotes, but think that Rework is the stronger and better of the two books to read.

* Update 2024-10-01: changed to Amazon Affiliate Link, which I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.

Two book reviews on Personal Security.

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Two books I read on personal safety recently were “Alone and Afraid” by J.J. Luna (also known for “How to Be Invisible“) and “Escaping the O Zone” by Doug Cummings.

I reviewed both of these books on Amazon. I have “Alone and Afraid” 5 stars, and “Escaping the O Zone” 4 stars.

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Practical Anonymity by Peter Loshin

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I got a copy of Practical Anonymity by Peter Loshin a while back via O’Reilly, had a sell on it. I finished it about two weeks ago. For what it sounded like it would be, I’m disappointed. I was expecting something more along the lines of “How to be Invisible”. For what it was, it was pretty good.

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Another Tony Mendez book

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So at some point, copy write / library of congress page says 2007, Tony and Jonna Mendez wrote a book for the “Scholastic Ultimate Spy Club”.  It’s a basic little book written for kids, on the basics of tradecraft. The book title is “Gather Info, Getting the Scoop by Using Your Wits”. When I first saw it on Amazon, I was expecting an adult book on tradecraft, not a kids book.

Since the book arrived last week, without the spy glasses (mirrors on the inside), I kept asking why I paid that much for an out of print kids book. I however went through it in one sitting tonight, since it was 32 pages, and actually was happy with the purchase. The majority of the stuff in it I knew how to do already. Not surprising since this is written for kids. I did have some flash backs to my own mis-spent youth in the 80s and 90s.

The Visual sweep technique, while only one page was really useful. I’m going to put that in to more practice. Short version, stand in the door, look over the room left to right, and observe. Granted I do something like this already, maybe not always left to right, usually as a whole, but still nice to read.

Is it worth the price you’re going to pay for it if you order from a re-seller on Amazon? No, but I bought it because I want to have all of Mendez’s books, for a proper and complete collection. Although, if it had the glasses it would have been even better. There was even a page on OSINT.

Book Review: Infiltration Presents: Access All Areas

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I’ve finally finished “Infiltration Presents: Access All Areas – A User’s Guide to the Art of Urban Exploration” by Ninjalicious (Amazon affiliate link). This is one of a handful of books I have on Physical Security, and it’s taken me a couple of years to read it, because it kept getting lost in moves, and forgotten about when I when class loads got heavy.

I like this book, because it’s about accessing the area’s that are normally off limit to the public. It talks about Social Engineering, the equipment you’ll need (hint leave the lock picks at home), but most importantly HOW to find the places to explorer, and how to by-pass the systems put in place. Nice alarm there, shame you disconnected it due to all the false rings.

If you have an interest in the physical side, or an interest in historical building and abandoned things, this is a decent read.

* Update 2024-10-05: changed to Amazon Affiliate Link, which I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.

Zero Day by Mark Russinovich and Howard Schmidt

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I recently finished reading Zero Day (Amazon affiliate link). Over all I liked the concept. The end was interesting but easy to see coming. The biggest issue I had with the book though was it came off under-researched when it came to the cultures.

The portrayal of foreign cultures in the book were very stereotypical of what we’ve seen from American propaganda, known as television and movies. It doesn’t fit with other books that I’ve read that have taken place in those cultures. Mostly they have been non-fiction and travel books.

Over all the story was pretty good, but the they were not as good as Daniel Saurez‘s books, I’m not sure if I’m going to get the book by Mark Russinovich yet.

I like the fact that we’re seeing more techno-thrillers coming on to the market, especially since they’re written by people that know the technology. They’re good reads, for general mass market reads. It also makes what we do accessible to people outside of our industry.

* Update 2024-10-05: changed to Amazon Affiliate Link, which I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.

Book Review: The Private Investigator’s Handbook

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I’ve just finished The Private Investigator Handbook: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Protect Yourself, Get Justice, or Get Even by Chuck Chambers, P.I.  (Amazon affiliate link).

The book’s subtitle is the key. The Do-It-Yourself Guide… I’ve been thinking of getting my P.I. License, it’s required to do Digital Forensics in the state I live in. I figured if I was going to do that, it would probably be a good idea to read up on the subject.

This book isn’t a how to be a private investigator, it is a book about doing a lot of the leg work that the P.I. is going to charge lots of money for, yourself before hiring a pro. Some of it, you may get lucky and working with your lawyer not need a Private Investigator for. For the most part I was disappointed with the book.

My disappointment stemmed in part about the book not being what I was expecting. The first several chapters on finding and hiding assets, creating case files, social engineering, and the like, I think the areas are covered better in other books (See Michael Bazzell).

However, the book really comes through in the last couple of chapters and the appendixes. Chapters Seven and Eight are Surveillance and Counter Surveillance. Again, while I think other books cover this better (see Antonio Mendez), this one breaks it down so anyone can learn it. Where as the other books you have to think about what they’re telling you.

Lastly the chapter on missing persons was pretty good as well. There were things he didn’t go in to deep details on, but there is enough information there to get a good jump on finding someone that is missing.

Over all I’d say this a a three out of five star book. As I said some of the topics covered are covered better in other books. There are several times in each chapter that Mr. Chambers is reminding you he’s not showing you everything, and you need to hire a professional. You can just save yourself some time and money first.

* Update 2024-10-05: changed to Amazon Affiliate Link, which I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.