An easy read, but lack focus

Overall an easy book to read and actually quite enjoyable. However, the material lack focus. At times you think some of the authors must have missed a memo or two, and writing for a different book. This could be the fault of the publisher or editor. Take some of the pictures in Chapter 6 for example, I could barely tell that they were computers, let alone their brand or models. These blurry pictures are next to worthless in the book. The publisher could do better in the QA department.

Speaking of Chapter 6 - "Creating an Attach Lab". I had such high hope for this chapter. Unfortunately, all I got was a history lesson of hardware platforms, and all the different Sun SPARC chips and versions of operating systems. Its nice to have all these hardware to play with, some dating back 10-20 years ago - but it is unrealistic and I am not sure of the real value of it.

Ch.7 - Vulnerability Disclosure is probably the worst ch. of the book. It misses the target audience completely. The discussion of the different types of "model" is compeletly out of place. You can find better resources on the Net.

Links at the end of chapters are quite valuable though, hence the 2 stars.

Other Reviews

• Confused, directionless book
• An easy read, but lack focus
• A book that's been needed for a while
• More career advice than hacking advice
• Fascinating approach, could use more meat