Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

CYBERPUNK

Posted on June 9, 2017 by smellincoffee

CYBERPUNK: Hackers and Outlaws on the Computer Frontier© 1991 Katie Hafner400 pages Cyberpunk takes readers back to the early days of hacking, when it was so old-school that computers weren’t involved. Using three case  in the United States and western … Continue reading →

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Neither East nor West

Posted on June 8, 2017 by smellincoffee

Neither East Nor West: One Woman’s Journey Through the Islamic Republic of Iran© 2001 Christiane Bird396 pages Christiane Bird didn’t have an ordinary childhood. Her father was a doctor attached to a Presbyterian mission a world away, in Iran.  They … Continue reading →

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Beautiful Genius

Posted on June 8, 2017 by smellincoffee

After leaving the Castillo, I began exploring the streets of a city which had come alive.  Already, the wide sea-front avenue and the narrow alleys of the ‘old town’ proper were filled with the smell of food, from grilled fish … Continue reading →

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Citadel of the Spainards: Castillo de San Marcos

Posted on June 4, 2017 by smellincoffee

Last weekend I traveled down to St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States, to engage with Spanish history, see the Atlantic ocean, and enjoy a town so architecturally rich and dense that it’s almost like visiting Europe. The … Continue reading →

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Zero Day

Posted on June 4, 2017 by smellincoffee

Zero Day © 2011 Mark Russonovich328 pages Two cybersecurity experts, both with government backgrounds, realize their current cases have a connection. The more they dig the more widespread the danger grows, and  to their horror they realize what seems like … Continue reading →

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Kingpin

Posted on June 4, 2017 by smellincoffee

Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground© 2011 Kevin Pulsen288 pages If Meyer Lanksy had gone straight, a contemporary of his noted, he could have rivaled Nelson Rockefeller. Maybe the same could be said for Max Butler, … Continue reading →

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Mars

Posted on June 2, 2017 by smellincoffee

 Mars© 1992 Ben Bova560 pages Mankind has finally arrived on Mars, via a joint venture between the United States, Russia, Europe, and Japan. An expedition slated to last several months on the planet itself plans to explore part of the … Continue reading →

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Mind’s Eye

Posted on May 31, 2017 by smellincoffee

© 2014 Douglas E Richards362 pages A man wakes in a dumpster, covered in blood. He has no idea who he is, but there are men trying to kill him.  This dumped stranger isn’t completely defenseless, however. he wakes to … Continue reading →

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La Regresa

Posted on May 29, 2017 by smellincoffee

Well, dear readers, I have returned from two twelve-hour days walking around St. Augustine, bracketed by two seven hour drives. I have stood in the waves and watched the sun set over the city,  climbed a lighthouse fourteen stories above … Continue reading →

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Countdown to Zero Day

Posted on May 27, 2017 by smellincoffee

Countdown to Zero Day:  Stuxnet and the Launch of the World’s First Digital Weapon© 2014 Kim Zetter448 pages A couple of years ago I created a new label, ‘digital world’, in recognition of the fact that the Internet is no … Continue reading →

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