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A Hacker's Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society's Rules, and How to Bend them Back by Bruce Schneier
wittenberg's review
2.0
Too long for what it says; should have been an essay.
The first half basically tells the Golden Rule: "He who has the gold makes the rules".
The second half is better, and the last section on AI is interesting.
Skip the first half, read the second.
The first half basically tells the Golden Rule: "He who has the gold makes the rules".
The second half is better, and the last section on AI is interesting.
Skip the first half, read the second.
savoirplus's review
2.0
Only Parts 2 & 7 are really worth reading, “Basic Hacks & Defenses” and “Hacking AI Systems”, respectively.
fionak's review
2.0
Intermittently interesting but mostly repetitive. I skim read most of the book and I’m pretty sure all the interesting bits amount to less than 20 pages.
brewdy_reader's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
𝘕𝘰𝘯-𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 • 𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 • 𝘌𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘴 • 𝘗𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 • 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴
I’ll start by saying this is not what I thought it would be about. This is not a Robin Hood story about how the computer geeks stick it to the man; rather, this is a much broader discussion of how corporations and wealthy individuals systemically manipulate and circumvent rules/laws/contracts for personal gain.
Many of these loopholes become normalized & accepted, which ultimately further stratifies wealth and power dynamics. What’s the diff between cheating the system and taking advantage of a flaw.
Although dry, the chapters are very short, making the book more accessible to those amongst us who are challenged by non-fiction attention deficit challenges.
I found some chapters fascinating and others dry & textbook-like, but the subjects are diverse: hedge fund tactics (high frequency trading), cognitive hacks used by ads and social media to trick our brains, casino and ATM hacks, adversarial AI, and even airline and travel hacking. I geeked out 🤓. I'd recommend it if you appreciate academic style non-fiction with each chapter formatted as a brief case-study into a specific subtopic.
I’ll start by saying this is not what I thought it would be about. This is not a Robin Hood story about how the computer geeks stick it to the man; rather, this is a much broader discussion of how corporations and wealthy individuals systemically manipulate and circumvent rules/laws/contracts for personal gain.
Many of these loopholes become normalized & accepted, which ultimately further stratifies wealth and power dynamics. What’s the diff between cheating the system and taking advantage of a flaw.
Although dry, the chapters are very short, making the book more accessible to those amongst us who are challenged by non-fiction attention deficit challenges.
I found some chapters fascinating and others dry & textbook-like, but the subjects are diverse: hedge fund tactics (high frequency trading), cognitive hacks used by ads and social media to trick our brains, casino and ATM hacks, adversarial AI, and even airline and travel hacking. I geeked out 🤓. I'd recommend it if you appreciate academic style non-fiction with each chapter formatted as a brief case-study into a specific subtopic.
journeytothenewworlds07's review
4.0
Want to wash your dirty money? Just buy a hundred-million-dollar property in London, and borrow against it. Want to understand how AI learned to beat the classic game Pong, or how it beat a human in a game of 1-on-1 soccer? This book explores how the most intelligent, crafty, and corrupt among us look at things not as barriers, but as opportunities for "hacks".
Cheating is not hacking, and neither is breaking the law. This book explains the difference.
Cheating is not hacking, and neither is breaking the law. This book explains the difference.
randomly's review
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
For anyone who follows current events, most of this book will not be news. The section on hacking AI (and how AI is hacking us) was the most interesting part, well worth a skim or library borrow.
For a more in-depth look at hacking, I'd recommend the author's thoughtful and substantive blog, Schneier on Security.
For a more in-depth look at hacking, I'd recommend the author's thoughtful and substantive blog, Schneier on Security.