Wow!
User Profile
Father, Husband, Teacher, Geek, Beer Sampler
Was both @MrWsTweets and @DigitalRob on the bird site, but now I'm just one on Mastodon: defcon.social/@digitalrob
EdTech #LEGO #Reader #bookstodon #GeekGoodreads: www.goodreads.com/user/show/1856040-rob Also, DigitalRob on TheStoryGraph: www.thestorygraph.com/
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.
This link opens in a pop-up window
DigitalRob's books
Read (View all 438)
2024 Reading Goal
32% complete! DigitalRob has read 8 of 25 books.
User Activity
RSS feed Back
DigitalRob finished reading The Listener by Robert McCammon
DigitalRob reviewed Tales from the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch
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.
DigitalRob finished reading Tales from the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch
Tales from the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch
Each tale features a new introduction from the author, filled with insight and anecdote offering the reader a deeper exploration …
DigitalRob reviewed Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Compelling Concept - even on the second reading.
5 stars
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.
DigitalRob finished reading Scythe by Neal Shusterman
DigitalRob reviewed Fancy Bear Goes Phishing by Scott J. Shapiro
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.
DigitalRob started reading Scythe by Neal Shusterman
DigitalRob started reading The Listener by Robert McCammon
The Listener by Robert McCammon
It's 1934. Businesses went under by the hundreds, debt and foreclosures boomed, and breadlines grew in many American cities. In …
DigitalRob started reading Tales from the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch
Tales from the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch
Each tale features a new introduction from the author, filled with insight and anecdote offering the reader a deeper exploration …
DigitalRob finished reading Fancy Bear Goes Phishing by Scott J. Shapiro
Fancy Bear Goes Phishing by Scott J. Shapiro
Fancy Bear Goes Phishing is an entertaining account of the philosophy and technology of hacking—and why we all need to …
DigitalRob rated The Twilight Zone Volume 1: 5 stars
DigitalRob finished reading The Twilight Zone Volume 1 by J. Michael Straczynski
DigitalRob started reading Fancy Bear Goes Phishing by Scott J. Shapiro
Fancy Bear Goes Phishing by Scott J. Shapiro
Fancy Bear Goes Phishing is an entertaining account of the philosophy and technology of hacking—and why we all need to …
DigitalRob reviewed Seven Shades of Evil by Robert McCammon
An Amazing Collection that Builds the Supporting Characters
5 stars
Like all of the Corbett novels, I loved this. My reading of the novels is spread out over time, so I struggle at times to place specific incidents into specific novels, so I wish it was easier to figure out when each story takes place in relation to the novels. Even with the month and year given for each story, I’ve struggled with this.
For the most part each story focuses on one or two characters, giving some much appreciated insight into some of the support characters. My favorites are “The Scorpion’s Eye,” “Skeleton Crew,” “The Pale Pipe Smoker,” and “The Incident on the Lady Barbara” because they focus on the women, who are frequently background characters that wouldn’t pass the Bechdel Test if the novels were movies.
“Wandering Mary” is a solo Matthew story. It takes him to a town just outside of Boston to act as an outside …
Like all of the Corbett novels, I loved this. My reading of the novels is spread out over time, so I struggle at times to place specific incidents into specific novels, so I wish it was easier to figure out when each story takes place in relation to the novels. Even with the month and year given for each story, I’ve struggled with this.
For the most part each story focuses on one or two characters, giving some much appreciated insight into some of the support characters. My favorites are “The Scorpion’s Eye,” “Skeleton Crew,” “The Pale Pipe Smoker,” and “The Incident on the Lady Barbara” because they focus on the women, who are frequently background characters that wouldn’t pass the Bechdel Test if the novels were movies.
“Wandering Mary” is a solo Matthew story. It takes him to a town just outside of Boston to act as an outside observer in the determination of the sanity for a patriarch who is seeing his dead wife. This one felt like a real mystery, and it is the longest of all of the stories, more of a novella than a short story, IMHO.
I also loved the supernatural elements of “Night Ride.” I wonder if I reread “Wolf’s Hour” and the other connected novels if I’d find a connection.
These details are taken from the website MatthewCorbettsWorld.com: “The Four Lamplighters”: Matthew and Hudson sign on as bodyguards to a band of traveling musicians and wind up with mud on their faces. “Night Ride”: Matthew finds himself in the middle of an age-old war. “‘The House At The Edge Of The World”: Hudson learns that a cyclops is not only a creature of mythology. “The Scorpion’s Eye”: Minx is on the hunt for a stolen jewel with a fantastic and deadly power. “The Pale Pipesmoker”: Katherine and Minx come to the aid of a man who’s been challenged to a duel by a cunning killer. “Skeleton Crew”: Katherine helps an ex-slave being tormented by a band of marauding skeletons on horseback. “Wandering Mary”: A ghost trying to lure a wealthy man to his death takes Matthew to a haunted castle. “Incident On The Lady Barbara”: A disappearance at sea puts Berry in the position of being a problem-solver.”