Hacker Cracker: A Journey from the Mean Streets of Brooklyn to the Frontiers of Cyberspace

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat inspirational but leaves you with questions
Review: Overall this was a satisfactory and easy book to read. It is definitely not a manuel on how to hack but his life story up to this point. It was inspirational in the sense that his talents at hacking are not normally found coming from the type of environment he was raised in. Although he could have gone in many different directions, it is apparent he took the lesson of his mother's drug use, and finally death from AIDS, very serious. Serious enough to keep him on somewhat of a staight path (other than his hacking into sites). What this does lack though are more complete descriptions of the hacks he accomplished as well as more descriptive characteristics of some of the hackers he has come in contact with (along with their exploits). He writes about these good hackers he knows of but nothing about why they are so renowned. His chapters with the blacked out words was frustrating in that they break the readers train of thought, and forces us to assume things with never knowing the answers. He could have easily substituted the actual company and exploits with similar but unrelated examples. The book also abruptly ends with his experiences of September 11th, but in the book jacket, it talks of him working in Japan and New York for a big company. We hear nothing of this in the book, thus leaving us wondering where he actually ended up, what is he doing, and what's up with his martial arts career? Don't go into the book with many expectations or you might be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Two-pronged story
Review: This book tells two stories--one of a young black man who was raised in the tough Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn and who became an accomplished computer hacker and then computer security expert for a New York company, and the other is the technical details of how he carried out his computer hacking. I was very interested in this young man's personal story, but the technical parts were beyond my comprehension and I found myself skipping several chapters and parts of chapters. If you are computer savvy, this book may be something you will really enjoy, but if not you may only enjoy the personal side of it, as I did.

Rating:
Summary: Not Very Interesting
Review: This is a memoir by someone too young to have made sense of his own life yet. The author is still at an age where he believes that experiences which are common to many people are unique to himself.
He should publish a second edition in 20 years or so when he has more perspective on himself and the world.

Rating:
Summary: Friend of Author
Review: This is an autobiography, not a book about hacking. Taken in that light, the book provides a rare glimpse into the life of someone who was able to literally fight his way out of the slums of Brooklyn. What is interesting is that hacking was one of the vehicles that helped him rise above his surroundings. Hacking is just one of the challenges that Ejovi takes on in order to escape his otherwise desperate life.
My review is not completely fair, because I know Ejovi. Before I read the book I knew very little about his past experiences. I was amazed by his courage in telling this story. Although blacking out the name of one of the victims of his exploits is not a technique I would have chosen, I can understand that some institutions would be too sensitive to even hint at.
I grew up in Queens, where I was mugged a few times for being a skinny, white kid. I ended up in computer security for its intellectual challenge. I think Ejovi was given many opportunities to become like the thugs that beat me up, but he arrived at computer security for similar reasons to mine. He just started from a much tougher beginning.
If you are looking for a book about international cybercrime or as an encyclopedia of exploits, then this isn't the book. If you want a book that describes the life of a person who ends up in the hacking community and several other places along the way, then this book is a good choice.

Rating:
Summary: Worst Book
Review: This was absolutely the worst book I have ever read. I was expecting to read about how the author hacked computers (there was a small amount about that), but rather it was an autobiography about a person who I could care leass and wish I wouldnt have read about. What has the author done significant in business, government, etc? Nothing
Trust me, do not waste your time on this book.