Book: Beautiful Security: Leading Security Experts Explain How They Think

 Beautiful Security: Leading Security Experts Explain How They Think By Andy Oram, John Viega.

I like computer security: it is always entertaining and insightful. This book is no exception. It offers a large panorama on Security, as seen from many point of view since this is a collective work. 

Advantages: 

• You see the subject from different angles
• One or two author maybe boring, the overall content still has value
• It is more like reading many little books on security.

On the other hand:

• You get many introduction and conclusions, that doesn't add much.
• There is no real continuity nor overall aim or message. It is more a collection of essays arranged and formated to look like a "one story".

Some essays are really insightful:

• Psychological security trap: Is certainly something that you want to be aware of! How developers may think that security isn't a real requirement. It is somehow also the point in "security by design" and "Forcing firms to focus", but with an emphasis on project management and process.
• Security Metrics is also interesting. It resurfaces in many others essays, mostly to warn about the wrong usage of metrics or the usage of wrong metrics.
• The evolution of PGP is nice. It shows how far they have gone with PKI. Now it really looks like a good solution. But as with the Semantic Web, I would say that it is still waiting wide adoption to be useful.
• "Oh no, here comes the Lawyer" should have been even more developed. This is where I feel I lack the most insight.
• Incident detection: This is well known today. But always good to repeat. This is concrete stuff and where we expect improvement soon.
• "Doing real work without real data" exposes a nice idea. Worth to implement if it fits your use case. There are good references to balance pro and cons.
• Casting spells also exposes a vendor solution. It uses a combination of technics (virtualization, signature + AI) to secure the user's workstation. Again, it may fit some use case.
• Log handling is also certainly a crucial part of the puzzle.
• ... others essays exposes security breaches, Honeyclient, wireless problems ...

The essays target an average reader. It doesn't require any knowledge in programming, cryptography or Network protocols, but it will certainly help to have some culture in software development. It raises awarness in many differents aspect related to security. 

At first, I really liked the introduction in the book: The idea that too often security is seen from the point of view of the failures, like you look for a car race only waiting to see car crashes. The promise here was to focus on how a good design is as beautiful and enjoyable as a car crash. Well the content shows that it isn't that easy. I guess that it would have been a book on protocol design and application architecture. Subjects much harder to enjoy. Still the intent was good. 

To conclude, I would say that this book is what computer's security looks like after all: there is no coherent story. But if you have to write your own security story, you will be better of knowing 16 different essays on security than a single long one.

Book: Programming Collective Intelligence by Toby Segaran

Book: Programming Collective Intelligence by Toby Segaran (2007, 368 pages)
First I should said that I have always been interested in Machine Learning. I believe that a lot of information can emerge from this technology. So I am always eager to know about Statistic, Open Data and Machine Learning. I would like to have more time to dedicate to this field.
So about this book: Well, first, the example are in Python. Obviously, I am more of a "Java Guy" if that makes any sense. But I am glad that the subject forced me into reading Python code.  Now I understand better why Python is used in domains like Biology, Genetic and data manipulation. Python is really not only about indentation! It is great at manipulating data structure: multi-dimensional arrays, maps ... Short and powerful.  But even if Python is great, I felt that there could have been more schema and pictures, just to relax a bit from certain code intensive sections, specially when dealing with text parsing and word counting.
Last word about the code: the focus is not on optimizing code. But there are advices and considerations on which algorithm suits specific use case.  Still, I would be eager to read another volume on the subject. Especially about concurrency, Scala and GridGain. And even more algorithm ! There are a lot left to cover, specially time series, stream ...
The use case are well chosen, interesting and allow to introduce each algorithm and its limitation as he moves to another use case which require another algorithm. The algorithm are "classical", but he cover a wide range, from the Bayesian filter to SVM and even genetic programming. He avoids also the "Recipe collection", he outlines the constant principals about optimisation for example.
The title "Building Smart Web 2.0 App" is very limiting. But maybe having "web 2.0" in the title is required to sell a decent amount of books. The range of application and domain covered is way larger. Incidentally, the author work in a Biology company!
It is rare when I read a book, feels like it covers a lot, but still wants to know even more! Obviously he makes the subject interesting. There are a lot of data available that only wait to be minded. I followed the recent "Strata" thread from O'Reilly with great expectation for "Data Journalism".

I like O'Reilly newsletter

Always interesting to watch: O'Reilly !
The December newsletter brings some good stuff:

• Column oriented DB: Cassandra The Definitive Guide Eben Hewitt
• SQL (still):  SQL Pocket Guide Third Edition Jonathan Gennick
• Data mining:  Data Analysis with Open Source Tools Philipp K Janert
• Change management: Driving Technical Change Terrence Ryan
• Web:  Pragmatic Guide to JavaScript Christophe Porteneuve
• Web again!  Conversion Optimization Khalid Saleh, Ayat Shukairy. At first I though that it was about data conversion! But it is "The Art and Science of Converting Prospects to Customers". A subject that has recently emerged and a real concern for most web sites!

Also note the Strata "The Business of Data" conference, well in California, a bit too far for me but definitively a key subject.

A must read: Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

A must read : Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.
Don't let the 900 pages frighten you. There is nothing to throw away. I would even like to read a follow up.
This post is my little contribution to his success. Hope you will follow the links and read the book.

2 books about Scala

http://programmingscala.com/ by Dean Wampler & Alex Payne September, 2009.

http://www.pragprog.com/titles/vsscala/programming-scala  by Venkat Subramaniam, 250 pages, Jul 2009.

I had the chance to read two books about Scala. Both do a very good job at getting you up to speed with this new language.

  

I won't try to convince you to learn Scala, just do a quick research.  

• You will find that it has many interesting ideas worth learning. (Even if you don't end up using Scala). Functional Programing, closures, DSL, Strong and powerful type system, Actors ...
• There may not be a next Java, but whatever will come, it will certainly looks like Scala or part of it.
• You can start to use it right now. Either for Test (like JUnit or for Behavior tests) or to integrate with your existing Java code.

Now which book to choose ? If you can, read Venkat first and then Dean. The first is quicker and more didactic. The second is more in depth and detailed.

If you have to choose one, how could I help you ?

• Venkat examples are really well though and make the point cristal clear.
• Dean goes step by step detailing all part of the language. It can certainly be kept as a reference book. But it requires a certain dose of concentration.
• Venkat's strength is to make the reading very enjoyable. The examples "speaks" to you. He shows the power and the sweet spots. How it will help and benefits you. He sells you Scala on every pages.

With so many things popping up from the net, I almost stopped reading books for years. Now I feel like I loosed my time, coping with tons of news. A book is a much more enjoyable and relaxing experience while at the same time brings you lots of knowledge. 

Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your Wetware

"Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your Wetware" by Andy Hunt (288 pages, Sep 2008)

This is pure genius: a must read ! re-read and apply all the advices ! Just do it !

As Socrate used to say: "NOSCE TE IPSUM" (Know yourself). With this book, you will know more about your brain and how you can use this knowledge to improve.

It is really fun to read, as well as concrete and practical. He doesn't just expose the theory: he told the story of experimental studies demonstrating his point.