Rating: 
Summary: Forget Y2K! 9-11 was real, we need to to think about it!
Review: I read Yourdon's Y2K book a couple years ago, so I decided to read this one too. I don't see why people are making such a stink about all of this. He didn't predict the end of the world with Y2K - he just said there COULD be problems, and that people ought to check it out and make their own decisions.
Anyway, y2K was theoretical when everyone was writing those books, nobody knew for sure what might happen or might not happen. September 11 was real, the only question is whether something like it might happen again. The terrorists say that it will, and the government bigwigs say that its pretty likely. So the question is what should we do about it.
I thought maybe Yourdan was going to talk about anthrax and smallpox and nuclear bombs in his book but he doesn't. He only talks about the computer risks. I don't see why anyone wold attack my computer at home, so I was skeptical at first. But he made me think a lot about the idea of grass-roots networks and what he calls emergent systems, because things are happening too fast and too unpredictable for the government to tell us what to do. Like it took the government six months to come up with this color coded alert system, and all they can do is tell us we are at yellow alert right now but they don't tell us what we should do about it. We have to figure it out by ourselves, we're on our own.
I see some other people are saying Yourdan only wrote what you could find in other books. Well maybe so, but he has a bibliography with 54 books in it, and I'm sure glad I didn't have to buy all those books and read them to understand what's going on. And it looks like he tracked down hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles to get the detailed information, and I sure don't have time to do that by myself.
Anyway, Yourdan really made me think about some stuff that I didn't even know about. Some of it doesn't matter very much in my life, especially because I don't even work in a computer job. But if God forbid there is another terrorist attack, and if it's a computer attack instead of planes flying into buildings, some of his ideas could really be important to me and my family. It doesn't matter to me if I agree with everything he says. The main thing is he made me THINK about some things.
Rating:
Summary: Forget Y2K! 9-11 was real, we need to to think about it!
Review: I read Yourdon's Y2K book a couple years ago, so I decided to read this one too. I don't see why people are making such a stink about all of this. He didn't predict the end of the world with Y2K - he just said there COULD be problems, and that people ought to check it out and make their own decisions.
Anyway, y2K was theoretical when everyone was writing those books, nobody knew for sure what might happen or might not happen. September 11 was real, the only question is whether something like it might happen again. The terrorists say that it will, and the government bigwigs say that its pretty likely. So the question is what should we do about it.
I thought maybe Yourdan was going to talk about anthrax and smallpox and nuclear bombs in his book but he doesn't. He only talks about the computer risks. I don't see why anyone wold attack my computer at home, so I was skeptical at first. But he made me think a lot about the idea of grass-roots networks and what he calls emergent systems, because things are happening too fast and too unpredictable for the government to tell us what to do. Like it took the government six months to come up with this color coded alert system, and all they can do is tell us we are at yellow alert right now but they don't tell us what we should do about it. We have to figure it out by ourselves, we're on our own.
I see some other people are saying Yourdan only wrote what you could find in other books. Well maybe so, but he has a bibliography with 54 books in it, and I'm sure glad I didn't have to buy all those books and read them to understand what's going on. And it looks like he tracked down hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles to get the detailed information, and I sure don't have time to do that by myself.
Anyway, Yourdan really made me think about some stuff that I didn't even know about. Some of it doesn't matter very much in my life, especially because I don't even work in a computer job. But if God forbid there is another terrorist attack, and if it's a computer attack instead of planes flying into buildings, some of his ideas could really be important to me and my family. It doesn't matter to me if I agree with everything he says. The main thing is he made me THINK about some things.
Rating:
Summary: A sensible approach to information technology risks
Review: If you are a manager in a computer-dependent business, you need to read this book to find out how to minimize your computer-related risks. September 11th was just one event, albeit a very big one, but thousands of computer risks surface every day in much more mundane ways. If you aren't planning how to prevent and/or deal with such risks, you are putting your business at risk.Should others buy this book? It's easy enough to read that everyone could learn something from it. But if you didn't worry about Y2k, you probably won't worry about computer risks in general, and this book might not convince you otherwise.
Rating: 
Summary: Pointless
Review: In his last book, TimeBomb 2000, Ed Yourdon stated that the Y2K phenomenon would be more pervasive and serious than anything we've experienced in modern history. Having missed the boat on that one, he now offers us a hastily-written compilation of glossed over tips and information about IT security in general. Much of it has nothing at all to do with 9/11, which is understandable since it has happened so recently. The book is okay in and of itself, but the title is clearly misleading and there's really nothing new offered here that hasn't already been available in dozens of other books.
Rating:
Summary: The view from Ground Zero
Review: Many people, Ed Yourdon and I included thought that January 1, 2000 represented a unique "point of discontinuity" that might start a chain of events that could cause major tremors in our modern electronic world. We were wrong, but much of the work that was done to prevent a Y2k catastrophe turned out to have help us survive a real point of discontinuity- September 11, 2000. One financial company after another has explained the reason that the U.S. financial market was able to recover so quickly was the work they had done dealing with Y2k. On of the ironies thinking about the Y2k is that people like Ed were right for the wrong reasons-enormous man-made structures can topple, just like the World Trade Center Towers, but with the right planning and testing the underlying information/communication infrastructures can survive and/or recover quickly. Throughout his career, Ed has been thinking about the big issues involved in IT. From his earliest publications on structured design to offshore programming, Ed has been ahead of his time. Now, Ed Yourdon has written a book analyzing the impact of 9/11 on IT. Once again, Ed has taken the intellectual high ground to force us, once again, to think about the unthinkable. How do we develop systems or environments that can handle truly unexpected events? How do we make our systems failsafe and robust? How do we get management to give a damn? In Byte Wars, Ed is once again thinking about big issues. In the glow of ground zero he is suggesting that executives and policy makers start working to make our technology, and consequently our society itself, more "survivable". Like his other books, I found this book full of uncommon common sense. I particularly like what Ed had to say about emergent and resilient systems. Massive unexpected failures require the ability to adapt on the fly. That in turn requires environments that promote rapid, collaborative problem solving. This is fine book that executives and professionals inside and outside IT should be reading. Ken Orr
Topeka, Kansas
Rating: 
Summary: The view from Ground Zero
Review: Many people, Ed Yourdon and I included, thought that January 1, 2000 represented a unique "point of discontinuity" that might start a chain of events that could cause major tremors in our modern electronic world. We were wrong, but much of the work that was done to prevent a Y2k catastrophe turned out to have help us survive a real point of discontinuity- September 11, 2000. One financial company after another has explained the reason that the U.S. financial market was able to recover so quickly was the work they had done dealing with Y2k. On of the ironies thinking about the Y2k is that people like Ed were right for the wrong reasons-enormous man-made structures can topple, just like the World Trade Center Towers, but with the right planning and testing the underlying information/communication infrastructures can survive and/or recover quickly. Throughout his career, Ed has been thinking about the big issues involved in IT. From his earliest publications on structured design to offshore programming, Ed has been ahead of his time. Now, Ed Yourdon has written a book analyzing the impact of 9/11 on IT. Once again, Ed has taken the intellectual high ground to force us, once again, to think about the unthinkable. How do we develop systems or environments that can handle truly unexpected events? How do we make our systems failsafe and robust? How do we get management to give a damn? In Byte Wars, Ed is once again thinking about big issues. In the glow of ground zero he is suggesting that executives and policy makers start working to make our technology, and consequently our society itself, more "survivable". Like his other books, I found this book full of uncommon common sense. I particularly like what Ed had to say about emergent and resilient systems. Massive unexpected failures require the ability to adapt on the fly. That in turn requires environments that promote rapid, collaborative problem solving. This is fine book that executives and professionals inside and outside IT should be reading. Ken Orr
Topeka, Kansas
Rating:
Summary: An important new work
Review: Our front-line defense against terror is to seal the borders, to keep the rascals out (reasonably possible because THEY look different). But attacks on our information infrastructure -- the new heart and soul of our economy -- can be conducted by rascals from the security of their homes and caves or from any old internet cafe in downtown Rowalpindi. Ed Yourdon's thoughtful assessment of our new Achilles Heel is must reading.
Rating:
Summary: Broad Assessment of What 9/11 means to IT
Review: Provides the big picture as concerns IT post-September 11th. Implications and advice for policy makers, execs, IT workers, and interested citizens. There are certainly things in here you haven't thought about yet, as well as a provocative section on reassessing your own personal priorities and philosophies in light of the enormity of recent world events. Highly readable (not at all a techie tome). I heartily recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Prepare for the worse, hope for the best.
Review: The 9-11 disasters gave us several object lessons. Dr. Yourdon had an important role in minimizing the impact of the disasters. While major data centers were lost at the World Trade Center and (possibly, there are rumors) the Pentagon, the impact to IT was reduced because of precautions that the data centers took for Y2K, inspired in part by Dr. Yourdon's sound advice to prepare for the worse while hoping for the best.
Rating:
Summary: Great Info
Review: The previous person who posted a review of this book is a troll that has chosen to follow Ed around and slander him. I read this book and it has some good info that anyone in IT needs to know. This book will help my business in the future. Great book Ed. It is a real eye opener. I will be buying more books from you. thanks
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