Help Syngress with 'Stealing The Network' Finale - WIN a prerelease copy!!

[the_mu]

1. How many books in the series have you read?

I have read all the books (How to own a box, How to own a continent,
How to own an Identity)

2. Which book is your favourite and why?

My favourite up to now is How to Own an Identity. This is because of the hype that the previous books have built in Knuth's elaborate scheme. This book also makes Knuth seem more human as I found out
about his son, and the loss of his wife. It helped me to tie down the events and understand the reasoning behind his behaviour. I found the stories in this book to also be creative, from the strategical and thorough approach that Knuth took to design his home to the puzzle that he left behind for his son to solve, It made money sound so much llike a tool then a destination. I just found all the chapters in this book to be juicy and full of interesting connections.

3. Are there books in the series you do not like (please explain)?

I found How to Own the Box not to be that interesting. It was a bunch of stories not linked, and I find that not to be very interesting because they are short and seem to have nothing seriously in common.

4. Do you prefer completely unrelated stories (How to Own the Box) or stories that are connected to the same plot (Hot to Own a Continent and How to Own an Identity)? Please explain why.

I enjoy stories that connect to the same plot, because as they unfold things only become more interesting, and with a plot like this it grabbed my interest immediately. I find short unrelated stories good but they would be better if they somehow got tied together in an unexpected twist. I mean I keep reading because I enjoy this plot unravelling and I cannot wait to read that last book.

5. Do you think the level of technical detail is too low, too high, or just right for:

How to Own the Box?
The technical level for this book seemed a bit high, and even though I was interested in the uncovering of the vulnerabilities, some of them I didn't care too much about.

How to Own a Continent?
This book's technical details seemed just right, it had a general plot with both low and high level of technical detail where it was needed. This one really grabbed my attention, especially where they were describing Knuth's setup.

How to Own an Identity?
This one seemed almost just right, but maybe just a little bit more technical detail would be better, like I would prefer more detail on the description of Knuth's "hive".

6. After reading any book in the series, did you find yourself looking forward to another book? Why or why not?

How to own a box, was an interesting collection of short stories that got me intrigued into looking forward to the next book, but after reading how to own a continent I was in the hype and wanted to know
what would happen, luckily I finished reading right before how to own an identity came out and I was able to prolong the leasure without too much downtime. All the books were interesting, because they well
portrayed near real examples of what could happen to anyone and why.

7. Which chapter of all the books was your favourite and why?

The chapter that was my favourite from all the books is the in How to Own a Continent, where Knuth describes how his house is secured, and how his setup is laid out.

8. Which chapter of all the books was your least favourite and why?

I cannot really say that any specific chapter stroke me as very bad, but sometimes the writing was below average and some very basic thing like typing errors were a bit annoying. I'd say most of all some chapters just lack polishing on the writing side, though content is great.

9. Are you more drawn to the characters, the plot, or are you just along for the tech?

I am more drawn towards the plot, tech, and Knuth's character.

10. What tech would you like to see covered?

I'd like to read about possibility of intercepting cell phone calls and data sent/received by cell phones online via GPRS/EDGE/1X/EVDO. I recently started using my phone's data capabilities more often, but at the same time I do not really do anything to enhance the security of these communications beyond what is already done by the provider. That starts to bother me somewhat.

11. Would you be interested in other tech fiction books or short stories?

Yes, it would be good if you released more books like these with interesting plots.

12. Feel free to provide any other comment, suggestions, criticisms, etc.

Hope to see the book soon, as its release has been moved like 3 times! No more delays!

[ogenstad]

Hi,

I found this page after doing a Google search for How to Own a Shadow which lead to a page on Digg which pointed me here. Amazon had 1 August as release date and O'Reilly in November. Syngress doesn't even mention the book. Do you have a somewhat reliable date?

1. How many books in the series have you read?

I've read all three books.

2. Which book is your favorite and why?

I would have to say Stealing the Continent. I loved How to Own a Box, but when I read Continent I really liked the interconnection between the stories. I found myself wondering about Knuth during the entire book. It was great that the plot continued in the Identity book. However it was still similar to Continent whereas the jump between How to own a box and Continent was a big improvement.

3. Are there books in the series you do not like (please explain)?

No I enjoyed them all.

4. Do you prefer completely unrelated stories (How to Own the Box) or stories that are connected to the same plot (Hot to Own a Continent and How to Own an Identity)? Please explain why.

As I stated I like the connected ones better. Since the connected story is much longer than just a single short story there is much more room for things to happen. My favorite story in How to Own a box was h3X's adventures in Networkland. It was also the longest story, it had different character point of views.

If I'm reading a great book I don't want to put it down, I want to know what happens with my characters. If it's just short stories my interest is in the current story when that is read I'm not compelled to read the next one. (Though I stayed up late reading the Box one anyway).

There is however one advantage I see about having unrelated stories. If you don't have much time it's great to be able to read one chapter and be able to put the book down knowing you don't have to worry about forgetting the plot. It you picked up the book a few weeks later you can just read the next story (or which ever one you like).

Still I prefer the interconnected ones.

5. Do you think the level of technical detail is too low, too high, or just right for:

How to Own the Box?
How to Own a Continent?
How to Own an Identity?

I won't comment on each book, but I don't think it's that important. I think the books should be very technical, but they shouldn't be a tutorial / howto guide. The main points (as I see it) of the books are to be entertaining and educational. If someone doesn't understand a subject there are other ways to learn. You could set up a website where you recommend further reading for each chapter. As Jeff Moss says in the foreword to the first book; "it provides a glimpse into the creative minds of some of today's best hackers". This is the interesting part, the creative way people think and how they use that knowledge. If I want to learn about IDAPro I will buy another book. If the author of a chapter feels he / she is getting to technical you could include a little box with a note about what's being done. This doesn't slow down the pace of the story.

6. After reading any book in the series, did you find yourself looking forward to another book? Why or why not?

Yes, I loved the combination of fiction and technology. In fact it inspired me to start writing short security stories on my blog.

7. Which chapter of all the books was your favorite and why?

Perhaps not a single one but the ones I liked the most:
h3X's adventures in Networkland, book 1
Control Yourself, book 2

The beginning, book 3

8. Which chapter of all the books was your least favorite and why?

I don't really want to name one since I enjoyed the books so much. But if I have to it would be Flying the Friendly Skies. The reason is that I want more action, the character is bored in an airport and connects to a wireless network and then flies away. Not much of a plot in that one…

9. Are you more drawn to the characters, the plot, or are you just along for the tech?

It has to be a combination of all three. I'm more drawn to the reoccurring characters than the ones just appearing in one chapter. Knuth is the most interesting one. I probably wouldn't read the books if it wasn't for the tech, but for the future all three are important.

10. What tech would you like to see covered?

Can't think of anything specific, but as I said (or meant to say) I don't read these books to learn about technology. I would however prefer new technology things compared to older stuff, still The beginning was one of my favorite chapters.


11. Would you be interested in other tech fiction books or short stories?

Yes, as I said I started writing my own stories too. I don't know how big the market is but I really enjoy the genre and I tend to get angry at what Hollywood throws out where there are so many errors when they use technology. Are there more books planned?

12. Feel free to provide any other comment, suggestions, criticisms, etc.

Not related to the contents of the books. First of all when I go to Syngress.com it would be nice to find something when I search for How to Own a Shadow.

Secondly I love the format (size) of the books. With many computer books I think they are to heavy, I want to be able to bring books in my laptop bag and there are just so many books that doesn't fit. I'd rather have to small ones than one big brick. Besides if I fall asleep reading the book I don't want it to fall on my head and kill me.

I think the price of the book is a bit expensive, compared to other fictional books. However I will still keep buying them with the current price tag.

What would be nice to see is more interconnection of characters and plots. In How to Own a Continent, there is some connecting dots, the Don meeting Sendai, Saul and Mathew. However mostly the stories 2-9 are connected with chapter 1 and 10 not with each other.

I can imagine having a group of hackers working together, each chapter with a different point of view. If the other characters also appear in a chapter which isn't "their's" we get to know them better.

I laughed out loud at the end of the second book when I read "And sir, can you tell me your name"

[don]

Thanks for the reply to the questionnaire. Hope the search results that led you here, keep you here. BTW - I posted your site in the Mass Media Board.

As for your question, my last contact with Syngress gave no specific dates as to the release of the book. But they did say that they were running behind. They also told me that they were still willing to stand by their offer on this site.

Thanks again and we look forward to your continued participation,
Don

[ogenstad]

Thanks, I'll try take a look around, I've added the feed to my bloglines account. So I guess you'll be posting some news about the book when you have something to share? 

[Negrita]

Any updates?

[p0et]

So.....?  What happened?  Did someone win or is it still open?

Thanks!

[don]

Well, I guess I may have to accept the fact that this will not get resolved by Syngress. The book was much later than expected, but according to Amazon has been released. I've called and emailed my contacts at Syngress numerous times with no response.

Sorry to those who participated. I will still try my best to make this happen, but it doesn't look promising.

Don

[ceh_eskatoi]

Hello Don,

Is there any chance that, instead of a prerelease copy, the top five could receive a post-release, author-signed copy of the book?

Thanks!

[don]

I would have thought that would be the course of action after they missed sending the books before it was released. But since they are choosing not ot return my calls, I think all bets are off.

Again, I apologize. One would think that a forum post that has just under 12,000 page views would warrant a little attention.

I'll keep trying,
Don

[LSOChris]

they are so fired

[slimjim100]

Do I hear a boycot coming on...

Brian

[ogenstad]

Well I finally bought the book and read it, as the other books I enjoyed it but I think I liked Continent and Identity better. Has anyone else read it or do you all hate Syngress now?

[Kev]

 I am not a fan of Syngress and it doesn't have to do with this thread. I question the value of a lot of their books. Often they are slapped together without any structure and don't provide much of a guide. Whats really bad is when they take chapters from their other books just to add volume to their publication and of course add to the price.  Their books on snort and nessus are good examples of how poor some of their publications can be in my opinion.  I have seen numerous posts on forums making the same criticisms so I know I am not alone. 

[What90]

I have to say that the Syngress books I've read have all been from good to excellent. I have a reasonable pile of them at home.

I think I know of the book Kev's refering to (I'm guess they are the tools/open source compilation ones) but haven't read them. I'm a bit curious now if they are a poor production. Do you have one the stands out in your mind?

As an aside, I tend to use Richard Bejtlich's reviews on Amazon as a good starting point if the book worth reading or listen out for a postive review for a couple of trusted sources.