An engaging, brisk read that demystifies an intimidating field.
A cybersecurity expert shows how the weakest link of a cybersecurity program—people—can also be its strongest.
One wouldn’t think of cybersecurity as a timeless concept. But in his latest book on the topic, Finney, who teaches cybersecurity at Southern Methodist University, begins by showing that the inventor of the printing press was effectively the victim of 15th-century hacking when an untrustworthy colleague destroyed his business papers. Finney also points out that Star Wars is, essentially, “the story of a group of hackers with a political agenda who successfully steal government secrets and use those secrets to topple said government.” With all of its firewalls and SQL injection attacks, cybersecurity can seem like an intimidating and arcane field best left to the experts. But the author argues that it’s about human beings at its core: the ones who implement attacks and the ones who are capable of stopping them. Rooted as much in psychology as in psy-ops, this book outlines nine concepts, including “Skepticism,” “Diligence,” and “Community,” to think about and illustrates their importance via anecdotes and scientific studies. By the end, information security leaders will have a better idea of how to make every employee in their company think of themselves as fellow security officers without scaring them or confusing them. Finney shows how this group can include those who might not consider themselves computer experts, from Girl Scouts (who know the importance of “community and connection”) to theology students (“doubt is a well-established part of the process when you study religion”). This book is light on coding lingo and discussions of the latest programs, and readers looking for technical, concrete ways to increase their personal cybersecurity won’t come away with much more than a few techniques and apps to check out. But for those who are in charge of cybersecurity for large organizations, this work will prove invaluable for getting employees thinking about how to protect their company. At the very least, readers won’t look at Johann Gutenberg and Darth Vader the same way ever again.
An engaging, brisk read that demystifies an intimidating field.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62634-735-9
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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