I taught H.S. English for 10 years, moved to teacher support, then to the principalship. Now, I work with a small amazing team to keep our district's technology safe, current, and working.
It's 1934. Businesses went under by the hundreds, debt and foreclosures boomed, and breadlines grew …
Worthy of the Gasps it Creates
5 stars
McCammon never fails to satisfy, and he definitely brings the emotion in this one.
Curtis is a Listener. He can hear and mentally speak with other listeners. He has a very specific telepathy; he can’t simply read minds. As a child, his mother took him to different types of doctors until one finally explained that he wasn't sick or crazy, just different, maybe blessed.
Nila, a young girl of 10, finds Curtis. She’s also a Listener and, like Curtis, she doesn’t know if the voices in her head are real.
From the shocking murders in the first chapter, the reader knows he’s in for a ride. Sadly, that murderer wasn’t even the worst character in the novel. Like Swan Song, the characters here embody different types of good and evil, and the unknown of their personalities makes it difficult to know where things will go until the end.
Once the …
McCammon never fails to satisfy, and he definitely brings the emotion in this one.
Curtis is a Listener. He can hear and mentally speak with other listeners. He has a very specific telepathy; he can’t simply read minds. As a child, his mother took him to different types of doctors until one finally explained that he wasn't sick or crazy, just different, maybe blessed.
Nila, a young girl of 10, finds Curtis. She’s also a Listener and, like Curtis, she doesn’t know if the voices in her head are real.
From the shocking murders in the first chapter, the reader knows he’s in for a ride. Sadly, that murderer wasn’t even the worst character in the novel. Like Swan Song, the characters here embody different types of good and evil, and the unknown of their personalities makes it difficult to know where things will go until the end.
Once the plot moves into the kidnapping, I found myself uplifted by Curtis’s need to help a stranger despite the many obstacles in doing so, race not being the smallest of those.
I listened to this book, and for the first time in a long time, I was worried for the characters and caught up in the moment. My walking pace was significantly faster the week I listened to this, and I frequently had to stop and unclench my fists. I even gasped aloud at a couple of events.
Readers should be aware that this book is set in the 1930s and has all the racist hallmarks of the period. They are important to the complications of the plot.
Each tale features a new introduction from the author, filled with insight and anecdote offering …
Good Collection, but Leaves the reader a bit unsatisfied
3 stars
I enjoyed this but many of the stories left me wanting more, which might be exactly Aaronovitch’s intention.
The explanations of the origins of some of the stories is a nice addition, and I really appreciate the dating of each story by the preface explaining between which novels they sit.
As a former bookseller, “The Cockpit” is among my favorites in the collection. I’d love to retire into the life of a small used bookstore owner who has to read to spirits each evening. That would be cool.
Some of the stories are really poignant, containing a few uncomfortable edges that we try to stay away from in our thinking about society. (“The Domestic” and “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Granny”)
I loved “Favorite Uncle,” the Abigail story, and now I have to go find “What Abigail Did that Summer.” She’s quite a detective. She could move to the U.S. …
I enjoyed this but many of the stories left me wanting more, which might be exactly Aaronovitch’s intention.
The explanations of the origins of some of the stories is a nice addition, and I really appreciate the dating of each story by the preface explaining between which novels they sit.
As a former bookseller, “The Cockpit” is among my favorites in the collection. I’d love to retire into the life of a small used bookstore owner who has to read to spirits each evening. That would be cool.
Some of the stories are really poignant, containing a few uncomfortable edges that we try to stay away from in our thinking about society. (“The Domestic” and “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Granny”)
I loved “Favorite Uncle,” the Abigail story, and now I have to go find “What Abigail Did that Summer.” She’s quite a detective. She could move to the U.S. and partner with Harry Dresden.
The three “moments,” didn’t move me much, but they might be something worth expanding. I would like to read more about Agent Reynolds.
I first read this novel in 2018 before the 3rd book had been released, “I really like this concept of a utopian future. The characters are easy to love and hate and to connect with. The conflict and political intrigue are realistic in this fantasy world. I can't wait for the 3rd book.”
I’ve thought about this story several times since then, and the concepts are still compelling. The idea that humanity overcomes natural death and has to create artificial administrators who work outside standard governing influences is the crux of the story and its political intrigue, but with this read I picked up more on those just living… endlessly.
It’s not the focus of the story, but Shusterman does touch on how life might be without the consideration of death. I think it would create a new paradigm for the living, new stages of life. The youthful stage being …
I first read this novel in 2018 before the 3rd book had been released, “I really like this concept of a utopian future. The characters are easy to love and hate and to connect with. The conflict and political intrigue are realistic in this fantasy world. I can't wait for the 3rd book.”
I’ve thought about this story several times since then, and the concepts are still compelling. The idea that humanity overcomes natural death and has to create artificial administrators who work outside standard governing influences is the crux of the story and its political intrigue, but with this read I picked up more on those just living… endlessly.
It’s not the focus of the story, but Shusterman does touch on how life might be without the consideration of death. I think it would create a new paradigm for the living, new stages of life. The youthful stage being filled with risk and partying, a life without consequence. Then a stage of education, where the living try “to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life,” and then a stage of resignation, those that Scythe Curie looks for. I guess these stages aren’t much different than our current situation, but without aging the last stage would look a lot different.
Fancy Bear Goes Phishing is an entertaining account of the philosophy and technology of hacking—and …
Great Education about Cybersecurity. A lot to digest.
3 stars
Don’t let the three stars fool you, this book is worth reading for anyone interested in computer/cybersecurity. And, it’s interesting. I’m not sure I would say I enjoyed reading this book though; it’s A LOT!
Shapiro does an excellent job taking us through the history of various hacks, the motivations as well as the methods. I found the analysis of upcode (personal morals, ethics, motivations and laws) more interesting than much of the technical analysis, but that could be the result of listening to the book instead of reading the page. (Narration of actual code is a bit silly.)
I think my favorite hack is the first one: “The Brilliant Project” by Robert Morris Jr, who in a frenzy to prove concepts accidentally broke the internet in 1988. Oops. It was definitely a wake up call but really didn’t move industry to improve security, which took a couple more decades. …
Don’t let the three stars fool you, this book is worth reading for anyone interested in computer/cybersecurity. And, it’s interesting. I’m not sure I would say I enjoyed reading this book though; it’s A LOT!
Shapiro does an excellent job taking us through the history of various hacks, the motivations as well as the methods. I found the analysis of upcode (personal morals, ethics, motivations and laws) more interesting than much of the technical analysis, but that could be the result of listening to the book instead of reading the page. (Narration of actual code is a bit silly.)
I think my favorite hack is the first one: “The Brilliant Project” by Robert Morris Jr, who in a frenzy to prove concepts accidentally broke the internet in 1988. Oops. It was definitely a wake up call but really didn’t move industry to improve security, which took a couple more decades. The history of how industry was forced to change its focus is touched on here but is really covered in Menn’s The Cult of the Dead Cow. Industry certainly didn’t make the shift by choice.
The story of how the movie War Games brought computer security into the White House discussion gave me a bit of a chuckle. Despite whoever is in office, I can’t see cybersecurity ever being a regular Cabinet level discussion until we have a few more cabinet members who grew up with the technology.
Shapiro does a nice job explaining what we know about criminal upcode and the maturity process for the majority of hackers. This alone makes the book worth the time and the read.
I learned a great deal regarding terminology: Viruses vs Worms vs Virms vs Trojans. Kill chain, mudge, heuristics… Plus understanding the duality of data and code gave me great insight into how many hacks start.