INLS 187: Information Security

Short Assignment: Book Review

The purpose of the book review is to expand your reading and understanding on a topic related to the class. Through this reading, you should be able to get more depth of understanding than is available through short class discussions.

Choose a non-fiction book. Older books are OK as long as their pertinence to modern security issues is clear. If you have trouble finding a good book, ask for a recommendation. If you would prefer to read something other than books, you can choose professionally published literature (that is, NOT just Web pages -- all items must be published by a professional/commercial publisher).

Do not choose one of the class required or optional text books.

The specific requirements are:

1. Provide full bibliographic data for the book.
2. Provide a review of the book. What it is about, who is it for, at what level of detail, etc. 10 points.
3. Critique the book. What are shortcomings, suggestions and uses? 5 points.
4. Utilize an effective presentation style, good English, citations to particular pages, and quotes (where appropriate). 5 points.

The outcome of your work should be a Web page (linked to the Projects page for the class) with your written report on the above.

Your book review should be about 500-1500 words.

A few suggestions:

David Brin, Transparent Society
Suelette Dreyfus, Underground
Simson Garfinkle, Database Nation
Lawrence Lessig, Future of Ideas
Steven Levy, Crypto
Kevin Mitnick, The Art of Deception
Bruce Schneier, Applied Cryptography
Bruce Stirling, Hacker Crackdown
Cliff Stoll, The Cuckoo's Egg
Book list from Summer 1999 INLS 187