Over Christmas I read Daemon by Daniel Suarez. I saw an advertisement in the latest Wired for its sequel, Freedom, coming on January 7th, so I thought I would give the first book a try. The plot revolves around a dead video game programmer releasing the mother-of-all botnets that recruits a gang of conspirators to take over the world. I found the book to be a fun, quick read. Aside from the botnet with world domination goals, I was struck by how technically accurate the hacking portions of the story are written. The author describes different attacks ranging from buffer overflows to SQL injection with pretty dead on accuracy. One of the characters exploits an injection with a '1=1 string! Ideas like DDoS and kernel rootkits are integral plot points but never get bogged down in semantic details. Augmented reality even makes an appearance near the end. I really enjoyed the book. I would suggest it to anybody who likes detailed fiction in the vein of Tom Clancy or Michael Crichton.
I have already pre-ordered the sequel which is released on January 7th (and downloaded to my Kindle at 12:01am that morning).
Showing posts with label kindle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kindle. Show all posts
Monday, December 28, 2009
Friday, July 03, 2009
The Economist on the Kindle
You can now get a subscription to the Economist on the Kindle (or Kindle readers on devices like the iPhone).
Economics is the red pill. It explains how the world really works. Whereas a normal newspaper will report an event as inexplicable, The Economist might explain how it's the expected result of an economics concept, like decreasing marginal returns, incentives, opportunity cost, etc.
For example, last year a hurricane took out oil refinery production in the south. The result was long gas lines, with people waiting hours to get gasoline. Typical news stories talked about how the government should act to reduce prices, shorten lines, and crack down on "gougers". Economics explains that the gas lines are the direct consequence of the government's anti-gouging law, and that if the government allowed "gouging", prices would rise a little bit and the lines would disappear.
If you know basic economics, The Economist is a great explanation of the news. If you don't, then it's a great use of the news to explain basic economics. Or, a combination of both: I studied economics in college, but it wasn't until I started ready The Economist that I really started to grok the subject.
If you want to learn economics, I recommend Principles of Economics by Greg Mankiw.
PS: The Economist has a left-wing bias like much of the rest of the media, but at least it's a saner left-wing bias. For example, it believes in global warming, but correctly points out that the "cap-and-trade" mechanism used in Europe (and soon to be used in the United States if the Senate bill passes) is expensive and corrupt, compared to a more efficient and transparent carbon tax.
PPS: The Kindle isn't the future of publishing, but it certainly fits my lifestyle of heavy reading and traveling.
PPPS: This CNN story on the upcoming federal minimum wage increase is another good example. Economists believe that increasing minimum wage increases unemployment. The Economist magazine mentions this when reporting on minimum wage, other news sources (like CNN) don't.
Economics is the red pill. It explains how the world really works. Whereas a normal newspaper will report an event as inexplicable, The Economist might explain how it's the expected result of an economics concept, like decreasing marginal returns, incentives, opportunity cost, etc.
For example, last year a hurricane took out oil refinery production in the south. The result was long gas lines, with people waiting hours to get gasoline. Typical news stories talked about how the government should act to reduce prices, shorten lines, and crack down on "gougers". Economics explains that the gas lines are the direct consequence of the government's anti-gouging law, and that if the government allowed "gouging", prices would rise a little bit and the lines would disappear.
If you know basic economics, The Economist is a great explanation of the news. If you don't, then it's a great use of the news to explain basic economics. Or, a combination of both: I studied economics in college, but it wasn't until I started ready The Economist that I really started to grok the subject.
If you want to learn economics, I recommend Principles of Economics by Greg Mankiw.
PS: The Economist has a left-wing bias like much of the rest of the media, but at least it's a saner left-wing bias. For example, it believes in global warming, but correctly points out that the "cap-and-trade" mechanism used in Europe (and soon to be used in the United States if the Senate bill passes) is expensive and corrupt, compared to a more efficient and transparent carbon tax.
PPS: The Kindle isn't the future of publishing, but it certainly fits my lifestyle of heavy reading and traveling.
PPPS: This CNN story on the upcoming federal minimum wage increase is another good example. Economists believe that increasing minimum wage increases unemployment. The Economist magazine mentions this when reporting on minimum wage, other news sources (like CNN) don't.
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