Books

 Scott Shapiro's 2023 book's aim is to answer three questions: (1) why is the Internet (still) so insecure? (2) how do hackers do what they do? and (3) what can be done about it? He recounts some historical events, the "five extraordinary hacks" of the subtitle, to tell the story, and introduces the terms "upcode" and "downcode" as the core concepts in his framework for understanding--where "downcode" means actual, implemented computer code and "upcode" means the social, political, and institutional forces providing incentives and governance.  This is essentially a simplified version of Lawrence Lessig's four forces of law, social norms, markets, and code spelled out in his 1999 book, Code: And Other Laws of Cyberspace, and also reminded me of the framework in Bruce Schneier's 2012 book, Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust That Society Needs to Thrive, where the four forces are moral pressures (internalized incentives), social pressures (social/cultural incentives from other people), institutional guidelines and rules (formal rules, regulations, and laws), and security systems (locks, police, firewalls, fraud detection, etc. -- actual operational controls which may be implemented physically, in code, or by policies and practices). For Shapiro, Lessig's first three forces are "upcode" and only code is "downcode," and Schneier's first three forces and parts of his fourth are "upcode." ...

   Not much blogging going on here still, but here's my annual list of books read for 2025. Adam Becker, More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of HumanityRutger Bregman, Humankind: A Hopeful History (2019)Samuel D. Brunson, Between the Temple and the Tax Collector: The Intersection of Mormonism and the StateKate Conger and Ryan Mac, Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter (2024)Mark Jonathan Davis, Grateful: 25 Years of Music, Movies, and Medical Emergencies with Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine, Part One: Stranger in a Strange LoungeRenée DiResta, Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality (2024)Cory Doctorow, Picks and Shovels: A Martin Hench NovelErle Stanley Gardner (Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh, eds), The Human Zero: The Science Fiction Stories of Erle Stanley Gardner (1981)Brooke Harrington, Offshore: Stealth Wealth and the New Colonialism (2024)Gabriel Kennedy, Chapel Perilous: The Life & Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson (2024)Thomas Levenson, So Very Small: How Humans Discovered the Microcosmos, Defeated Germs--and May Still Lose the War Against Infectious DiseaseMary Roach, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human AnatomyOliver Sacks, The Island of the Colorblind (1996)Oliver Sacks, The Mind's Eye (2010)Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam (1988, 2009 edition)Quinn Slobodian, Hayek's Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far RightDana Stevens, Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century (2023)Katherine Stewart, Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American DemocracySpencer Sunshine, Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason's Siege (2024)Sam Tanenhaus, Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed AmericaMark S. Weiner, The Rule of the Clan: What an Ancient Form of Social Organization Reveals About the Future of Individual Freedom (2013)Tim Weiner, The Mission: The CIA in the 21st CenturyLawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (2006)Sarah Wynn-Williams, Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost IdealismTop for 2025 published in 2025: Tanenhaus, Levenson, Roach, Weiner, Davis, Wynn-Williams, Becker, Doctorow; other top reads for the year: Sheehan, M. Weiner, Sacks A few planned or already (or still) in-progress reads for 2026: Robert Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York (1975)G.A. Cohen, Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality (1995)John Ferris, Behind the Enigma: The Authorised History of GCHQ, Britain's Secret Cyber-Intelligence Agency (2020)Peter H. Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire: A Thousand Years of Europe's History (2017)Arthur M. Melzer, Philosophy Between the Lines: The Lost History of Esoteric Writing (2014)(Previously: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005.)  ...

  Not much blogging going on here still, but here's my annual list of books read for 2024. James Bamford, Spy Fail: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of America's Counterintelligence (2023)Benjamin Breen, Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, The Cold War and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic ScienceJennifer Burns, Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative (2023)Bryan Burrough, Vendetta: American Express and the Smearing of Edmond Safra (1992)Ron Chernow, The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance (1990, 2010 foreword)Rich Cohen, The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King (2012)Daniel C. Dennett, I've Been Thinking (2023)Cory Doctorow, The Bezzle (fiction)Edward Dolnick, Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon (2002)Jon Friedman & John Meehan, House of Cards: Inside the Troubled Empire of American Express (1992)Beverly Gage, G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century (2022)John Ganz, When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990sMasha Gessen, The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia (2017)Martin Kihn, House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time (2005)Stephen Kinzer, Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control (2020)Stephen Kinzer, The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire (2017)Talia Lavin, Wild Faith: How the Christian Right is Taking Over AmericaMilton Mayer, They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-45 (1955)Michael Warren Lucas, git commit murder (2017, fiction)Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor, AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can't, and How to Tell the DifferenceCraig Nelson, Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations (2006)Ryan J. Reilly, Sedition Hunters: How January 6th Broke the Justice System (2023)Chris Rodda, Liars for Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternate Version of American History, Volume 2 (2016)Zoë Schiffer, Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk's TwitterMatt Zwolinski and John Tomasi, The Individualists: Radicals, Reactionaries, and the Struggle for the Soul of LibertarianismTop for 2024 published in 2024: Doctorow, Breen, Ganz; other top reads for the year: Gage, Dennett, Kinzer (2020), Cohen, Gessen, Rodda A few non-books of relevance for 2025: What the Southern Baptists used to believe, but no longer do: https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/resolutions/resolution-on-moral-character-of-public-officials/Umberto Eco, "Ur-Fascism," New York Review of Books, June 22, 1995Dorothy Thompson, "Who Goes Nazi," Harper's Magazine, August 1941 (but contrast with Mayer 1955 and Gessen 2017 above) A few planned or already (or still) in-progress reads for 2024: G.A. Cohen, Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality (1995)John Ferris, Behind the Enigma: The Authorised History of GCHQ, Britain's Secret Cyber-Intelligence Agency (2020)Peter H. Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire: A Thousand Years of Europe's History (2017)Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (2006)Arthur M. Melzer, Philosophy Between the Lines: The Lost History of Esoteric Writing (2014)Mark S. Weiner, The Rule of the Clan: What an Ancient form of Social Organization Reveals About the Future of Individual Freedom (2013)(Previously: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005.) 

 The Wikipedia entry for University of Kentucky psychologist and skeptic Robert A. Baker recently (December 2023) restored a section on plagiarism accusations against him, which originated in a 1994 letter to the editor of Skeptical Inquirer from Jody Hey and were compounded by further accusations by Terence Hines and by me the same year. Unfortunately, the Wikipedia entry currently leaves the debate the same way the Skeptical Inquirer did in 1995, giving Baker the final word with a transparently false explanation.  Here's how the Wikipedia entry currently presents the issue: ...

 Not much blogging going on here still, but here's my annual list of books read for 2023. Angel Au-Yeung and David Jeans, Wonder Boy: Tony Hsieh, Zappos, and the Myth of Happiness in Silicon ValleyIsaac Butler, The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act (2022)Cory Doctorow, Red Team Blues (fiction)David Edmonds, Parfit: A Philosopher and His Mission to Save MoralityZeke Faux, Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering FallKevin Fedarko, The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon (2013)Roger Friedland and Harold Zellman, The Fellowship: The Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright & The Taliesin Fellowship (2006)James Gleick, The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood (2011)Penn Jillette, Random (2022) (fiction)Mark Holloway, Utopian Communities in America, 1680-1880 (1966, 2nd edition, 1st edition was titled Heavens on Earth)Claire Hughes Johnson, Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building (2022)R.A. Lafferty, The Best of R.A. Lafferty (2019) (fiction)Kevin M. Levin, Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War's Most Persistent Myth (2019)Michael Lewis, Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New TycoonShane Murphy, John Hance: The Life, Lies, and Legend of Grand Canyon's Greatest Storyteller (2020)Erik Reece, Utopia Drive: A Road Trip Through America's Most Radical Idea (2016)Rudy Rucker and Bruce Sterling, Transreal Cyberpunk (2016) (fiction)Chris A. Rutkowski, Canada's UFOs Declassified (2022)Christa Sadler, editor, There's This River... Grand Canyon Boatman Stories (2nd ed., 2006)Bruce Schneier, A Hacker's Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society's Rules, and How to Bend them BackWill Sommer, Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged AmericaKatherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism (2019)Leonie Swann, Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story (2005) (fiction)Stephen Vladeck, The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the RepublicSimon Winchester, Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern MagicTom Zoellner, Rim to River: Looking into the Heart of ArizonaFinal Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States CapitolTop for 2023 published in 2023: Edmonds, Zoellner, Sommer, Vladeck, Faux; other top reads for the year: Swann, Stewart, Friedland & Zellman, Edmonds, Lafferty, Holloway A few planned reads for 2024 (already in progress): G.A. Cohen, Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality (1995)John Ferris, Behind the Enigma: The Authorised History of GCHQ, Britain's Secret Cyber-Intelligence Agency (2020)Chris Rodda, Liars for Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternate Version of American History, vol. 2 (2016)Peter H. Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire: A Thousand Years of Europe's History (2017) The Economist posted this chart of number of books read this year from a YouGov/Economist survey: (Previously: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005.)  ...

Not much blogging going on here still, but here's my annual list of books read for 2021.Elizabeth Anderson, Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don't Talk About It) (2017)Scott Anderson, The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War (2020)J. M. Berger, OptimalWilliam Dalrymple, The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire (2019)Philip L. Fradkin, Stagecoach: Wells Fargo and the American West (2002)Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion (2012)Daniel Immerwahr, How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States (2019)David Cay Johnston, The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His FamilyDaniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein, Noise: A Flaw in Human JudgmentWalter LaFeber, Inevitable Revolutions: The United States in Central America (2nd edition, 1993)Peter Lamont and Jim Steinmeyer, The Secret History of Magic: The True Story of the Deceptive Art (2018)Thomas Levenson, Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist (2009)Norm MacDonald, Based on a True Story: Not a Memoir (2016)Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley, Until Proven Safe: The History and Future of QuarantineCasey Michel, American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the World's Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in HistoryCheryl Misak, Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers (2020)Anne Nelson, Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical RightNicole Perlroth, This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapon Arms RaceEthan Persoff and Scott Marshall, Complete Series, John Wilcock, New York Years, 1954-1971 (limited edition via Kickstarter, #52/250)Kevin Poulsen, Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground (2011, re-read)Eric Rauchway, Why the New Deal MattersMary Roach, Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the LawScott J. Roberts and Rebekah Brown, Intelligence-Driven Incident Response: Outwitting the Adversary (2017)Mike Rothschild, The Storm is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of EverythingP.W. Singer and August Cole, Ghost Fleet (2016)David Skarbek, The Puzzle of Prison Order: Why Life Behind Bars Varies Around the World (2020)Jon Talton, A Brief History of Phoenix (2015)Top for 2021: Anderson; Dalrymple; Immerwahr; Kahneman, Sibony, and Sunstein; Levenson; Manaugh and Twilley; Michel; Misak; Perlroth. A few planned reads for 2022 (mostly already started): Heather Adkins, Betsy Beyer, Paul Blankinship, Piotr Lewandowski, Ana Oprea, and Adam Stubblefield, Building Secure and Reliable Systems: Best Practices for Designing, Implementing, and Maintaining Systems (2020)G.A. Cohen, Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality (1995)John Ferris, Behind the Enigma: The Authorised History of GCHQ, Britain's Secret Cyber-Intelligence Agency (2020)Paul Fisher, House of Wits: An Intimate Portrait of the James Family (2008)Terry Teachout, The Skeptic: A Life of H.L. Mencken (2002)Peter H. Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire: A Thousand Years of Europe's History (2017)(Previously: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005.)  ...

Not much blogging going on here still, but here's my annual list of books read for 2020.Nicholson Baker, Baseless: My Search for Secrets in the Ruins of the Freedom of Information ActJohn Bolton, The Room Where It Happened: A White House MemoirBen Buchanan, The Hacker and the State: Cyber Attacks and the New Normal of Geopolitics Susannah Cahalan, The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of MadnessMichael Cohen, Disloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. TrumpMyke Cole, Legion versus Phalanx: The Epic Struggle for Infantry Supremacy in the Ancient World Libby Copeland, The Lost Family: How DNA Testing Is Upending Who We Are Barton Gellman, Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the Surveillance StateFiona Hill and Clifford G. Gaddy, Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin (2012)James W. Johnson, Arizona Politicians: The Noble and the Notorious (2002) Gene Kim, The Unicorn Project: A Novel about Developers, Digital Disruption, and Thriving in the Age of Data Maria Konnikova, The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and WinTalia Lavin, Culture Warlords: My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy Carol D. Leonnig and Philip Rucker, A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America Ben Macintyre, The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War (2018) Nancy MacLean, Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America (2017)H. Keith Melton and Robert Wallace, with Henry R. Schlesinger, Spy Sites of New York City: A Guide to the Region's Secret History (2020)Jefferson Morley, Morley v. CIA: My Unfinished JFK InvestigationBastian Obermayer and Frederik Obermaier, The Panama Papers: Breaking the Story of How the Rich & Powerful Hide Their Money Thomas Rid, Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare Brad Smith and Carol Anne Browne, Tools and Weapons: The Promise and Peril of the Digital AgeMary Trump, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man Robert Wallace and H. Keith Melton with Henry R. Schesinger, Spy Sites of Washington, DC: A Guide to the Capital Region's Secret History (2017) Anna Wiener, Uncanny Valley: A MemoirIsabel Wilkerson, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents Top for 2020: Copeland, Macintyre, Cahalan, Smith and Browne, Buchanan, Obermayer and Obermaier, Gellman, Rid. I started the following books I expect to finish in 2021 (yes, I also said that about LeFeber and Wilson last year--I'm well in to LaFeber's book and thought I might finish before the end of the year, but had only read Wilson's intro so it's barely started): William Dalrymple, The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire Walter LaFeber, Inevitable Revolutions: The United States in Central America (2nd edition) Peter H. Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire: A Thousand Years of Europe's History I've also pre-ordered and am looking forward to reading: Nicole Perlroth, This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapon Arms Race (due to be published on February 9) (Previously: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005.)

Not much blogging going on here still, but here's my annual list of books read for 2019. Graham T. Allison, Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap? Ross Anderson, Security Engineering (3rd edition, draft chapters) Herbert Asbury, The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld Heidi Blake, From Russia with Blood: The Kremlin's Ruthless Assassination Program and Vladimir Putin's Secret War on the West Rutger Bregman, Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World Oliver Bullough, Moneyland: The Inside Story of the Crooks and Kleptocrats Who Rule the World Bryan Caplan and Zach Weinersmith, Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration C.J. Chivers, The Fighters: Americans in Combat Sefton Delmer, Black Boomerang Nina J. Easton, Gang of Five: Leaders at the Center of the Conservative Crusade (bio of Bill Kristol, Ralph Reed, Clint Bolick, Grover Norquist, and David McIntosh) Ronan Farrow, Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators Ronan Farrow, War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence Ian Frisch, Magic is Dead: My Journey into the World's Most Secretive Society of Magicians Anand Giridharadas, Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World Reba Wells Grandrud, Sunnyslope (Images of America series) Andy Greenberg, Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement Stephen Kinzer, Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change From Hawaii to Iraq Michael Lewis, Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt Jonathan Lusthaus, Industry of Anonymity: Inside the Business of Cybercrime Ben MacIntyre, A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal Joseph Menn, Cult of the Dead Cow: How the Original Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power Jefferson Morley, Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA Sarah T. Roberts, Behind the Screen: Content Moderation in the Shadows of Social Media Hans Rosling, with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund, Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think Russell Shorto, Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City Alexander Stille, The Sack of Rome: Media + Money + Celebrity = Power = Silvio Berlusconi Jamie Susskind, Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech Erik Van De Sandt, Deviant Security: The Technical Computer Security Practices of Cyber Criminals (Ph.D. thesis) Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads Top for 2019: Bullough, Farrow (Catch and Kill), Wu, Chivers, Rosling, Greenberg, Blake, Allison, Caplan and Weinersmith, Kinzer, Delmer. I started the following books I expect to finish in early 2020: Myke Cole, Legion versus Phalanx: The Epic Struggle for Infantry Supremacy in the Ancient World Walter LaFeber, Inevitable Revolutions: The United States in Central America (2nd edition) Brad Smith and Carol Anne Browne, Tools and Weapons: The Promise and Peril of the Digital Age Peter H. Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire: A Thousand Years of Europe's History Two books I preordered and look forward to reading in 2020: Anna Wiener, Uncanny Valley: A Memoir (due out January 14) Thomas Rid, Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare (due out April 21) (Previously: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005.)

Not much blogging going on here still, but here's my annual list of books read for 2018. Charles Arthur, Cyber Wars: Hacks that Shocked the Business World Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington, The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South Mary Beard, SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Yochai Benkler, Robert Faris, and Hal Roberts, Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics Ronen Bergman, Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations Rebecca Burns and David Dayen, Fat Cat: The Steve Mnuchin Story John Carreyrou, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup Graydon Carter, George Kalogerakis, and Kurt Andersen, Spy: The Funny Years Stephen Ellis, This Present Darkness: A History of Nigerian Organized Crime Jason Fagone, The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America's Enemies Paul French, City of Devils: The Two Men Who Ruled the Underworld of Old Shanghai Diego Gambetta, Codes of the Underworld: How Criminals Communicate Robert M. Gates, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War Atul Gawande, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End David Golumbia, The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism Richards J. Heuer Jr. and Randolph H. Pherson, Structured Analytic Techniques for Intelligence Analysis Michael Isikoff and David Corn, Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin's War on America and the Election of Donald Trump Sarah Jeong, The Internet of Garbage Steven Johnson, Farsighted: How We Make the Decisions That Matter the Most Louise M. Kaiser and Randolph H. Pherson, Analytic Writing Guide Chuck Klosterman, But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past Susan Landau, Listening In: Cybersecurity in an Insecure Age Peter T. Leeson, WTF?! An Economic Tour of the Weird Jeffrey Lewis, The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States Michael Lewis, The Fifth Risk Liliana Mason, Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity Nick Mason, Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd (new updated 2017 edition) Tim Maurer, Cyber Mercenaries: The State, Hackers, and Power Jefferson Morley, The Ghost: The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton Roger Naylor, The Amazing Kolb Brothers of Grand Canyon Helen Nissenbaum, Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life Ellen Pao, Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change Dana Richards, editor, Dear Martin/Dear Marcello: Gardner and Truzzi on Skepticism Louis Rossetto, Change Is Good: A Story of the Heroic Era of the Internet (1st edition, #1453, Kickstarter) David E. Sanger, The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age Eli Saslow, Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist Harold Schechter, The Pirate (Amazon Prime Reading "Bloodlands Collection") Harold Schechter, Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie (Amazon Prime Reading "Bloodlands Collection") Harold Schechter, The Brick Slayer (Amazon Prime Reading "Bloodlands Collection") Harold Schechter, Panic (Amazon Prime Reading "Bloodlands Collection") Harold Schechter, Rampage (Amazon Prime Reading "Bloodlands Collection") Harold Schechter, The Pied Piper (Amazon Prime Reading "Bloodlands Collection") Natasha Dow Schüll, Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson, The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life P.W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking, LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media Ali Soufan, Anatomy of Terror: From the Death of Bin Laden to the Rise of the Islamic State Robert Timberg, The Nightingale's Song (bio of John McCain, James Webb, Oliver North, Robert McFarlane, and John Poindexter) Mick West, Escaping the Rabbit Hole: How to Debunk Conspiracy Theories Using Facts, Logic, and Respect Rick Wilson, Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever Michael Wolff, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House Bob Woodward, Fear: Trump in the White House Tim Wu, The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age I made some progress on a few other books: Herbert Asbury, The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld (will probably finish today) Andrew Jaquith, Security Metrics: Replacing Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt Douglas Hofstadter and Emmanuel Sander, Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking Top for 2018:  Singer and Brooking, Bergman, Balko and Carrington, Gawande, Carreyrou, Sanger, Simler and Hanson, Soufan, Isikoff and Corn, Fagone, French, Schüll, Michael Lewis, Mason, Benkler et al., West, Wu, Saslow, Naylor. I didn't care for the Klosterman book at all--quick read, but a waste of time. (Previously: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005.) Hume's Ghost (2019-01-02): Wow. I only overlapped one book with you this year: SPQR, which I thought was very good. I was on a Rome kick. Read that, Rome's Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar and Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero back-to-back-to-back. ...

Not much blogging going on here still, but here's my annual list of books read for 2017. Items with hyperlinks are linked directly to the item online (usually PDF, some of these are reports rather than books, though I've made no attempt to collect all papers, blog posts, and reports I read here), with no paywall or fee. Lilian Ablon, Andy Bogart, Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits Ben Buchanan, The Cybersecurity Dilemma: Hacking, Trust and Fear Between Nations J.D. Chandler, Hidden History of Portland, Oregon Ted Conover, Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing Richard A. Clarke and R.P. Eddy, Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes Thomas H. Davenport and Julia Kirby, Only Humans Need Apply: Winners & Losers in the Age of Smart Machines Mike Edison, Dirty, Dirty, Dirty: Of Playboys, Pigs, and Penthouse Paupers--An American Tale of Sex and Wonder FINRA, Distributed Ledger Technology: Implications of Blockchain for the Securities Industry Al Franken, Al Franken, Giant of the Senate David Gerard, Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain: Bitcoin, Blockchain, Ethereum & Smart Contracts Joscelyn Godwin, Upstate Cauldron: Eccentric Spiritual Movements in Early New York State Jonathan Goldsmith, Stay Interesting: I Don't Always Tell Stories About My Life, But When I Do They're True and Amazing Heidi Grant Halvorson, No One Understands You: And What To Do About It Jon Lindsay, Tai Ming Cheung, and Derek S. Reveron, editors, China and Cybersecurity: Espionage, Strategy, and Politics in the Digital Domain William MacAskill, Doing Good Better: Effective Altruism and How You Can Make a Difference Jane Mayer, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right Nick Middleton, An Atlas of Countries That Don't Exist: A Compendium of Fifty Unrecognized and Largely Unnoticed States Kevin Mitnick, The Art of Invisibility: The World's Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data Andrew Monaghan, "The New Russian Foreign Policy Concept: Evolving Continuity," Chatham House, 2013 (PDF) Milton Mueller, Will the Internet Fragment? Sovereignty, Globalization and Cyberspace Tom Nichols, The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters David Ronfeldt, Beware the Hubris-Nemesis Complex: A Concept for Leadership Analysis Thomas Rid, Rise of the Machines: A Cybernetic History Gabriel Sherman, The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News--and Divided a Country Doug Stanhope, Digging Up Mother: A Love Story Doug Stanhope, This Is Not Fame: A "From What I Re-Memoir" Charles Stross, Halting State Charles Stross, Rule 34 Sarah Vowell, Unfamiliar Fishes Timothy Walton, Challenges in Intelligence Analysis: Lessons from 1300 BCE to the Present Kristan J. Wheaton and Melonie K. Richey, Strawman Ilya Zaslavskiy, How Non-State Actors Export Kleptocratic Norms to the West (PDF) I may or may not have made progress on a few other books (first four from 2017, next two from 2016, one from 2015,  next three from 2014, next three from 2013, last two still not finished from 2012--I have trouble with e-books, especially very long nonfiction e-books): Helen Nissenbaum, Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life Dana Richards, editor, Dear Martin/Dear Marcello: Gardner and Truzzi on Skepticism Richards J. Heuer, Jr., Structured Analytics Techniques for Intelligence Analysis Louis M. Kaiser, Analytic Writing Guide Andreas Antonopoulos, Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking Digital Cryptocurrencies (now 2nd ed) Robert M. Gates, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War John Searle, Making the Social World Andrew Jaquith, Security Metrics: Replacing Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt Massimo Pigliucci and Maarten Boudry, Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem Steven Pinker, The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century Richard Bejtlich, The Practice of Network Security Monitoring James Grimmelmann, Internet Law: Cases & Problems (v2; v3 is out now) Douglas Hofstadter and Emmanuel Sander, Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking Mark Dowd, John McDonald, and Justin Schuh, The Art of Software Security Assessment: Identifying and Avoiding Software Vulnerabilities Michal Zalewski, The Tangled Web: A Guide to Securing Modern Web Applications Top for 2017:  Rid, Buchanan, Sherman, Mayer, Clarke and Eddy, Conover, Middleton. I completed three Coursera courses in 2017, two of which I recommend: University of Michigan, Mindware: Critical Thinking for the Information Age (psychology, statistics, and philosophy; a companion to Richard E. Nisbett's book, Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking which I read last year; the course is taught by Nisbett) Universiteit Leiden, The Changing Global Order (international relations theory and history) (Previously: 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005.)