norb

I've had this book recommended to me personally as well on several lists of “cybersecurity books everyone should read” so I finally got around to reading it.

The story, while slightly repetitive, unfolds in a first person, linear style. I found the book easy to read, and while the cybersecurity ideas presented seems commonplace today, I think they were probably groundbreaking when the book came out.

I found it fascinating that Cliff's use of a logbook, external monitoring systems, a pager, a very early form of a “canary token,” and a few other technical ideas are still in use today. (OK, maybe not the pager exactly but lots of IT people get text alerts on their phones!)

His inability to get any help from the 3 Letter Federal Agencies was not surprising. It took 9/11 to fix some of those communication problems (but not all from what I understand).

Anyways, this is a fascinating look at how one person laid the path for the future of cybersecurity incident response. While the technical details probably aren't relevant in this day and age (1200 baud modems, anyone?) this book should be required reading for anyone that has a personal or professional interest in cybersecurity.

I thought this one dragged a bit. The plot was just OK. A bit of plot armor here and there. The villain was overly villainous and pretty one dimensional. Still an enjoyable read, but not as good as the first three.

Another great entry in the Murderbot series. I always get through these stories quickly then immediately want more.

This is a really fun book. I guess this is like a whole genre? I had no idea.

Ok so this feels like it’s going to be a lot deeper than it appears on the surface (I am sorry for the heavy handed pun - maybe I’m channeling this book a bit in my review!). In other words I’m quite intrigued where the world building is going to go.

I appreciate a story that gives you bits and pieces of knowledge for paying close attention to some of the details. Learning about the world is almost more interesting than learning about Carl.

I’m excited to see where the next one goes!

A solid ending to an above average series. I think the authors really landed this the best they could.

I particularly enjoyed Holden’s arc. Him coming full circle to make the moral sacrifice felt right. Having Amos be the representative of Sol system at the end felt like a bit of fan service to me. Overall Amos was kind of a blank slate. The bits of his background that we got over the course of the series were interesting but he still wasn’t that deep of a character.

That said I really enjoyed this series. As far as “epics” go I don’t think you can ask for much more.