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1. it’s hard to explain the offensive security mindset but Schneier brings it off
   People who see the world orthogonally, like Bruce Schneier, are somewhat cursed. Schneier explains how, with that mindset, it’s difficult to *not* see insecurities, breaks in the system, opportunities for stressing any system using its own rules against it, and the gaps where there are assumptions instead of tested security measures.The analogies are clear and useful, the narrative is a quick read, and Schneier actually explains a method for learning how to think like a hacker. I’ll be recommending it to the people I know who want to understand how a particular mindset can both be a problem and a prerequisite for a well-paying job.Disclaimer: I read and gave comments on a prior version, but this is the beautiful finished product. Good work.

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2. Societal hacks are everywhere – what can we do about them?
   If your mind’s image of ‘hacking’ is someone in a hoodie bent over a keyboard, Schneier is here to show that hacking, which he describes as flouting the intent of rules but not the letter, has a long history of which he provides many examples over the centuries (turducken!). This is not a technical book, but a cautionary examination of how loopholes and novel interpretations have pervaded our society – sometimes for good, but more often for the benefit of a few.Schneier spends quite a bit of text on AI and the risks he sees coming when it becomes more widely used. It was interesting to see that he thought, when he finished the manuscript mid-2022, that we perhaps had a few more years before AI became a big issue. He writes a lot about GPT-3, but the earthquake that is ChatGPT came sooner than most anyone imagined.I found the discussion of legal and financial system hacks to be fascinating and worrisome, and I am doubtful that any of the mitigations he describes will ever come into use.I liked the book, though the use of short chapters distracted from its coherence. It’s a worthwhile read I’d recommend to anyone.

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3. Incredibly creative application of hacking principles to a wide variety of contexts
   Bruce’s reputation as a technologist speaks for itself. What’s most pleasant about this book – and much of Bruce’s writing – is the incredibly wide scope of discussion. The use of “hacking” as a lens for understanding how political and legal strategies are pursued is illuminating, and Bruce does a fantastic job of demonstrating why this mode of analysis produces valuable insights. This is a book that is hard to put down, and I read it from cover to cover as soon as I picked it up. Highly recommended.

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4. excellent
   Excellent book for anyone who wants to know what hacking is. Bruce is a well known and well educated person in security and has a knack to convey information for the lay and professional alike. I highly recommend this book.

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5. Biased book, especially about politics
   I am a citizen of Hungary and Poland (from Europe) and the author is stating total misinformation about the political systems of those 2 countries (page 174-175). In Poland the united opposition managed to win the elections in 2023 against the previously ruling conservative party. If there would be a dictatorship obviously it could not happen.Also throughout the book the author seems to repetitively provide negative examples about conservative values and subconciously promoting liberal values.Otherwise the book is interesting and contains great stories.

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6. Broken Feedback Loop
   I believe this to be the Bruce’s most encompassing book. To me, it was also the most depressing. While the author firmly believes that regulation should be the dominant way of enforcing security (we can’t trust market forces to do that at all), on the other hand he provides countless examples of governing systems being hackable themselves. It does not matter if we are talking about computer code or human laws – both are sets of rules with loopholes to exploit. And when it comes to the law – hackers tend to be the powerful. It is the billionaires and corporations who can legally pay almost no taxes, who can finance the lobbyists to keep the law sprawling and vague. Most probably they will also be the first to employ AI to find new exploits at the speed beyond the capacity of any lawmaker.

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7. Easy read, non technical
   This is not a book written only for computer nerds, this is a book that computer nerds will give as gifts to the boring people they love in hopes of germinating a mindset of creativity and self protection.

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8. A Fresh Look at Modern Society from a Hacker’s Perspective
   In this book, Schneier provides an exceptionally creative look at an incredibly varied subset of human institutions, applying a hacking framework to identify systemic vulnerabilities that elites and the well-connected can use to undermine them for their own benefit. It’s an intriguing approach, and one that’s needed now more than ever to understand how we can preempt and close these hacks/loopholes.The chapters are short, which makes them easily digestible, but sometimes left me wanting more. Still, it was a really interesting, accessible, and sometimes even humorous read, and it’s not hard to see why Schneier’s books are so popular.

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9. Good read well writtenI highly recommend

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10. Just what I wanted.

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11. A wonderful work by one of the most prominent security writers of our time. Delves into a wide spectrum of disciplines and explains how powerful actors are exploiting these to their benefit, and how we can fight back for a more just and impartial society.

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12. Sure, hackers influence all quarters of society. Point taken… and accepted.I quit reading after 172/252 pages because the author is clearly trying to hack the political system of the United States, a country in which I have no influence. By focusing so heavily on the activities of one party against the other (I usually agree with the later), the author has revealed his bias. He turned what could have been a useful examination of the type of person that hacks systems into just another dead tree.It may be worth the money if you live in, or are concerned about, the United States of America… but don’t count on it.

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13. I eagerly anticipated reading A Hackers Mind, being a long-time follower of Bruce Schneier’s blog. A Hackers Mind caters to the well-informed individual. Schneier commences by defining what constitutes a hacker, delving into the essence of hacking and its widespread prevalence.Subsequently, Schneier takes us on a journey into a hackers mind, guiding us through fundamental hacks targeting:ATMs (automatic teller machines or cash machines)CasinosAirline frequent flier milesSports systemsFinancial networksThe legal realmPoliticsThrough these examples, Schneier aims to illustrate the parasitic nature of hacks on the systems they target, offering various techniques to impede or render them unfeasible. In doing so, he makes a broader socio-political statement about how the very foundation of the economy and society is continuously ‘hacked’.The implication is that power lies in a hacker’s mind being applied to the systems that govern our lives. And that with the right mindset and ‘hack’ the ordinary person can turn the tables on those in power.When this happens it makes great film or television. (A classic example of this would be ITV’s People vs. Post Office which told the story of postmasters combating wrongful prosecutions due to software defects. The reality was that in that particular case, it actually took the media coverage around the TV drama being shown to actually start moving the needle.)Schneier in his book recognises that over time societies have evolved to become more equitable over time. He also attributes late stage capitalism to the hackers mindset, mixed with resources and technical capability in law or finance. The book is designed to wake the public up with a view to them also developing a A Hackers Mind and hacking the system back to equilibrium.It’s an interesting light read, but I think VR pioneer and author Jaron Lanier writes better books focusing on the inequities inherent in the intersection of technology, culture and society. A great example of this is his book Who Owns The Future?I don’t think Schneier gets close to inspiring his desired outcome with A Hacker’s Mind, but if you want something above the usual airport reading then it gets a thumps up from me, but it won’t be staying on my book shelf for me to re-read it at a later date. For more book reviews and recommendations go here. For recommendations of non-fiction books in particular go here.

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