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alisarae's Reviews (1.65k)
This book is mindblowing. The absolute best book I have read about story analysis and craft--clear, tons of examples, thought provoking, ready to use tools, brusque and objective. I'd also say it's more than just for writers; anyone who would like to be better at analyzing and critiquing media (fiction or not) can definitely apply these lessons and concepts. I need to buy a hard copy ASAP and get cracking on those revision exercises!
I really enjoyed learning about non-western narrative structured and non-conflict based stories. I read a lot of Japanese fiction, so I'm excited to go into it with a better understanding of what to look for.
I really enjoyed learning about non-western narrative structured and non-conflict based stories. I read a lot of Japanese fiction, so I'm excited to go into it with a better understanding of what to look for.
I love Nimona!!! Her chaotic spunk is perfect in every way. Blackheart is the best super villain, too.
Required reading. I was shocked.
This covers the last 20 years of cyber warfare and one of the best things about this book is setting a record of a lay of the land: major hacks, players, and gov’t operations that got buried too quickly under the flood of jargon, inferior reporting, and more visible news.
My favorite hack was Stuxnet, an offensive operation that strung together several zero-day exploits that targeted Iranian nuclear centrifuges, spinning them just enough to knock them out of commission while leaving nuclear engineers none the wiser. This program was started during the Bush era as an attempt to pacify Israel and keep air force jets on the ground. It was successful.
Of course human error is always the weakest link in security, and it makes for hilarious stories. Like the time Iranian hackers thought they were opening the floodgates at the Arthur R. Bowman Dam in Oregon, but they got a bit lost and hit the twenty-foot Bowman Avenue Dam in New York, which keeps a babbling brook from flooding neighborhood basements. “Not exactly Hoover.” Another story that had me cackling was the time Russia scattered infected USB drives around the parking lot of a US military base, hoping someone would pick one up and plug it in. Someone did, and when the Pentagon found out, their solution to prevent future “attacks” was to squirt superglue into USB ports.
On a more sobering note, I think all Americans need to know what their government is and isn’t capable of (namely: protecting nuclear weapons and controlling the outcomes of their own cyber attacks). Every major piece of critical infrastructure in the US has already been hacked by hostile governments, including hundreds of hospitals, universities, power plants and the grid, dams, and nuclear arsenals. Not to mention intellectual property theft and corporate espionage resulting in the losses of billions of dollars of research outputs every year, voting registrations, and the generalized societal chaos that most of us experience on a daily basis on social media.
Tech lingo is very hard to understand, but I’m so thankful for diligent reporters like Nicole Perlroth, who didn’t actually come from a tech background btw—she learned how things work by asking questions after she was assigned the tech beat. Her work deserves to be respected and even more important, protected; imagine being personally disliked by governments and black market dealers around the world. At the end of the book are some guidelines for cyber security policy that should be adopted by organizations, governments, and individuals. It is easy to understand and sound advice, with case studies from other countries that prove its effectiveness. I hope decision makers will listen and act.
This covers the last 20 years of cyber warfare and one of the best things about this book is setting a record of a lay of the land: major hacks, players, and gov’t operations that got buried too quickly under the flood of jargon, inferior reporting, and more visible news.
My favorite hack was Stuxnet, an offensive operation that strung together several zero-day exploits that targeted Iranian nuclear centrifuges, spinning them just enough to knock them out of commission while leaving nuclear engineers none the wiser. This program was started during the Bush era as an attempt to pacify Israel and keep air force jets on the ground. It was successful.
Of course human error is always the weakest link in security, and it makes for hilarious stories. Like the time Iranian hackers thought they were opening the floodgates at the Arthur R. Bowman Dam in Oregon, but they got a bit lost and hit the twenty-foot Bowman Avenue Dam in New York, which keeps a babbling brook from flooding neighborhood basements. “Not exactly Hoover.” Another story that had me cackling was the time Russia scattered infected USB drives around the parking lot of a US military base, hoping someone would pick one up and plug it in. Someone did, and when the Pentagon found out, their solution to prevent future “attacks” was to squirt superglue into USB ports.
On a more sobering note, I think all Americans need to know what their government is and isn’t capable of (namely: protecting nuclear weapons and controlling the outcomes of their own cyber attacks). Every major piece of critical infrastructure in the US has already been hacked by hostile governments, including hundreds of hospitals, universities, power plants and the grid, dams, and nuclear arsenals. Not to mention intellectual property theft and corporate espionage resulting in the losses of billions of dollars of research outputs every year, voting registrations, and the generalized societal chaos that most of us experience on a daily basis on social media.
Tech lingo is very hard to understand, but I’m so thankful for diligent reporters like Nicole Perlroth, who didn’t actually come from a tech background btw—she learned how things work by asking questions after she was assigned the tech beat. Her work deserves to be respected and even more important, protected; imagine being personally disliked by governments and black market dealers around the world. At the end of the book are some guidelines for cyber security policy that should be adopted by organizations, governments, and individuals. It is easy to understand and sound advice, with case studies from other countries that prove its effectiveness. I hope decision makers will listen and act.
More than true crime, I am fascinated by true mysteries. A murder, we know what happened and are just trying to imagine *who*. A disappearance could be anything.
Justin Alexander Shetler was an experienced survivalist who thrived on the razor's edge. He often intentionally made life harder for himself, just for the challenge of it all. Like so many thousands of others seeking a spiritual epiphany, he headed to the Himalayas on a vision quest of sorts. He, like dozens of others in the Parvati Valley, disappeared. There are a myriad of possible causes, perhaps more than any other disappearance I've heard of, and the author does a fantastic job of introducing new dangers and weaving them into the mystery. The twinkle at the end, the smallist glimmer of suspicion that Justin may still be alive, is tantalizing.
Justin Alexander Shetler was an experienced survivalist who thrived on the razor's edge. He often intentionally made life harder for himself, just for the challenge of it all. Like so many thousands of others seeking a spiritual epiphany, he headed to the Himalayas on a vision quest of sorts. He, like dozens of others in the Parvati Valley, disappeared. There are a myriad of possible causes, perhaps more than any other disappearance I've heard of, and the author does a fantastic job of introducing new dangers and weaving them into the mystery. The twinkle at the end, the smallist glimmer of suspicion that Justin may still be alive, is tantalizing.
Since I didn't know anything about Russian history before I listened to this course, I'd consider this a good 101-level introduction. I left with an overview of the major events and cultural movements in the past three centuries. Now I would like to learn about the formation of Russia in earlier times, and a deeper dive into the politics of the 20th century.
I didn't give this five stars because of two problems.
1) use of the word "backward" to describe everything from education, agriculture and gender relations, to literacy, religion and politics. Not only is it a rude word, it's also uninformative and vague. There are so many other adjectives; in fact, I made a list:
Patriarchal
Sexist
Superstitious
Rudimentary
Unindustrialized
Autocratic
Old-fashioned
Traditional
Conservative
Close-minded
Narrow-minded
Inflexible
Hierarchical
Classist
Distrustful
Suspicious
Uneducated
Illiterate
Insular
Isolated
2) Lots of different definitions of "communism" were clearly at play in the 20th century in Russia and the prof did not elaborate on defining what the word meant when used by different people. For example, Stalin defamed Trotsky by calling him a capitalist, and Stalin also installed a class system that rewarded upper-ranking individuals with greater access to material goods--of course that doesn't mean that the economic policies of the country weren't communist, but it's a word that carries implications beyond the economy when you are weaponising it against political adversaries, and that's what I would like to learn about.
I didn't give this five stars because of two problems.
1) use of the word "backward" to describe everything from education, agriculture and gender relations, to literacy, religion and politics. Not only is it a rude word, it's also uninformative and vague. There are so many other adjectives; in fact, I made a list:
Patriarchal
Sexist
Superstitious
Rudimentary
Unindustrialized
Autocratic
Old-fashioned
Traditional
Conservative
Close-minded
Narrow-minded
Inflexible
Hierarchical
Classist
Distrustful
Suspicious
Uneducated
Illiterate
Insular
Isolated
2) Lots of different definitions of "communism" were clearly at play in the 20th century in Russia and the prof did not elaborate on defining what the word meant when used by different people. For example, Stalin defamed Trotsky by calling him a capitalist, and Stalin also installed a class system that rewarded upper-ranking individuals with greater access to material goods--of course that doesn't mean that the economic policies of the country weren't communist, but it's a word that carries implications beyond the economy when you are weaponising it against political adversaries, and that's what I would like to learn about.
This story is written as a book within a book, a two-for-one mystery packed full double-entendres, red herrings, and wordplay that would make Agatha Christie proud.
Even though the majority of detective stories are meant to fool the reader with an impossible reveal at the end, I prefer reading stories where the mystery is revealed for the reader along the way, so there can be a sense of dread and O-M-G as you discover sinister things about the characters. So I guess that means I prefer thrillers. Still though, this is great writing and I had so much fun guessing who done it.
Even though the majority of detective stories are meant to fool the reader with an impossible reveal at the end, I prefer reading stories where the mystery is revealed for the reader along the way, so there can be a sense of dread and O-M-G as you discover sinister things about the characters. So I guess that means I prefer thrillers. Still though, this is great writing and I had so much fun guessing who done it.
That was really cute! I liked the humor and ongoing inside jokes. Oliver is precious and deserves the best; Luc needs to act his age.
I enjoyed these lectures and Levine is an engaging and interesting speaker. This course is an overview of the major stories in the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible. It takes a literary approach and does not really cover the religious or theological aspects of the text. At points the professor gives an etymological or comparative literary analysis, but that is often glossed over in favor of summarizing what the text is about and the historical reasons/context for its existence. I guess I'm a bit disappointed because I wanted a more in-depth course with a specific focus, but this is firmly in the general overview camp.