Ben Goldacre
Doctor, nerd cheerleader, Bad Science person, stats geek, procrastinator. Currently an academic at CEBM in Oxford https://t.co/0JWfxEVIE9 ben@badscience.net
Book Recommendations:
Recommended by Ben Goldacre
“I've read the first half, this book is an excellent thoughtful description of the culture / practice of open source software projects, interesting to me as relevant to other forms of mass technical collaboration (like health data science where *not* sharing code is somehow ok!) https://t.co/ZT3W3LgTUT” (from X)
An inside look at modern open source software development and its influence on our online social world. Open source software, in which developers publish code that anyone can use, has long served as a bellwether for other online behavior. In the late 1990s, it provided an optimistic model for public collaboration, but in the last 20 years it’s shifted to solo operators who write and publish code that's consumed by millions. In Working in Public, Nadia Eghbal takes an inside look at modern open source software development, its evolution over the last two decades, and its ramifications for an internet reorienting itself around individual creators. Eghbal, who interviewed hundreds of developers while working to improve their experience at GitHub, argues that modern open source offers us a model through which to understand the challenges faced by online creators. She examines the trajectory of open source projects, including: The GitHub platform for hosting and developmentThe structures, roles, incentives, and relationships involved in open source projectsThe often-overlooked maintenance required of its creatorsThe costs of production that endure through an application’s lifetime. Eghbal also scrutinizes the role of platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Twitch, YouTube, and Instagram, which reduce infrastructure and distribution costs for creators but which massively increase the scope of interactions with their audience. Open source communities are increasingly centered around the work of individual developers rather than teams. Similarly, if creators, rather than discrete communities, are going to become the epicenter of our online social systems, we need to better understand how they work—and we can do so by studying what happened to open source.
Recommended by Ben Goldacre
“@crabjam @AlistairMcCay yeah, secretive behaviour about the gas network locations i can understand. but amazing that there's no book on gas infrstructure. i know gases are different but the fact that national grid gas pipes are only 18 inches wide blows my mind.” (from X)
by Barbara O'Neal·You?
by Barbara O'Neal·You?
An Amazon Charts, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller. From the author of The Art of Inheriting Secrets comes an emotional new tale of two sisters, an ocean of lies, and a search for the truth. Her sister has been dead for fifteen years when she sees her on the TV news… Josie Bianci was killed years ago on a train during a terrorist attack. Gone forever. It’s what her sister, Kit, an ER doctor in Santa Cruz, has always believed. Yet all it takes is a few heart-wrenching seconds to upend Kit’s world. Live coverage of a club fire in Auckland has captured the image of a woman stumbling through the smoke and debris. Her resemblance to Josie is unbelievable. And unmistakable. With it comes a flood of emotions―grief, loss, and anger―that Kit finally has a chance to put to rest: by finding the sister who’s been living a lie. After arriving in New Zealand, Kit begins her journey with the memories of the past: of days spent on the beach with Josie. Of a lost teenage boy who’d become part of their family. And of a trauma that has haunted Kit and Josie their entire lives. Now, if two sisters are to reunite, it can only be by unearthing long-buried secrets and facing a devastating truth that has kept them apart far too long. To regain their relationship, they may have to lose everything.
Recommended by Ben Goldacre
“@laurie_winkless @Kat_Arney @rosegeorge3 that is good. and the engineering challenges for pumping lumpy stuff are fascinating. i did enjoy your book!” (from X)
by Barbara Davis·You?
by Barbara Davis·You?
An Amazon Charts bestseller. A novel of secrets, memory, family, and forgiveness by the bestselling author of When Never Comes. Lizzy Moon never wanted Moon Girl Farm. Eight years ago, she left the land that nine generations of gifted healers had tended, determined to distance herself from the whispers about her family’s strange legacy. But when her beloved grandmother Althea dies, Lizzy must return and face the tragedy still hanging over the farm’s withered lavender fields: the unsolved murders of two young girls, and the cruel accusations that followed Althea to her grave. Lizzy wants nothing more than to sell the farm and return to her life in New York, until she discovers a journal Althea left for her―a Book of Remembrances meant to help Lizzy embrace her own special gifts. When she reconnects with Andrew Greyson, one of the few in town who believed in Althea’s innocence, she resolves to clear her grandmother’s name. But to do so, she’ll have to decide if she can accept her legacy and whether to follow in the footsteps of all the Moon women who came before her.
Recommended by Ben Goldacre
“Oh wow Twitter say this huge hack was done through a coordinated social engineering attack. Hugely recommend Kevin Mitnick's book on this: The Art of Deception. Also a great example of (openly disclosed) ghost writing making a technical topic very readable https://t.co/ZHnn0piWmH” (from X)
by Kevin Mitnick·You?
Real-world advice on how to be invisible online from "the FBI's most wanted hacker" (Wired). Be online without leaving a trace. Your every step online is being tracked and stored, and your identity literally stolen. Big companies and big governments want to know and exploit what you do, and privacy is a luxury few can afford or understand. In this explosive yet practical book, Kevin Mitnick uses true-life stories to show exactly what is happening without your knowledge, teaching you "the art of invisibility" -- online and real-world tactics to protect you and your family, using easy step-by-step instructions. Reading this book, you will learn everything from password protection and smart Wi-Fi usage to advanced techniques designed to maximize your anonymity. Kevin Mitnick knows exactly how vulnerabilities can be exploited and just what to do to prevent that from happening. The world's most famous -- and formerly the US government's most wanted -- computer hacker, he has hacked into some of the country's most powerful and seemingly impenetrable agencies and companies, and at one point was on a three-year run from the FBI. Now Mitnick is reformed and widely regarded as the expert on the subject of computer security. Invisibility isn't just for superheroes; privacy is a power you deserve and need in the age of Big Brother and Big Data. "Who better than Mitnick -- internationally wanted hacker turned Fortune 500 security consultant -- to teach you how to keep your data safe?" --Esquire
Recommended by Ben Goldacre
“Best book this year. A magnificent explainer in the tradition of the best pop science. Short, clear, explains the technical reality of how the world of trade etc actually works, and how Brexit fantasists have misrepresented / misunderstood it. Awesome. https://t.co/pSF9768jOG” (from X)
'Admirably brief and necessarily brutal... Highly recommended.' — NICK COHEN, THE SPECTATOR 'Compact and easily digestible. I’d encourage anyone who is confused, fascinated or frustrated by Brexit to read this book – you’ll be far wiser by the end of it.' — CAROLINE LUCAS MP 'I would strongly recommend Ian Dunt’s excellent guide. Dunt has taken the extraordinary step of asking a set of experts what they think. I learnt a lot.' — PHILIP COLLINS, PROSPECT Britain’s departure from the European Union is riddled with myth and misinformation — yet the risks are very real. Brexit could diminish the UK’s power, throw its legal system into turmoil, and lower the standard of living of 65m citizens. In this revised bestseller, Ian Dunt explains why leaving the world’s largest trading bloc will leave Britain poorer and key industries like finance and pharma struggling to operate. He argues that Brexit is unlikely to cause a big economic implosion, but will instead act like a slow puncture in the UK's national prosperity and global influence. Based on extensive interviews with trade and legal experts, Brexit: What the Hell Happens Now? is a searching exploration of Brexit shorn of the wishful thinking of its supporters in the British media and Parliament. EXTRACT What is the European project? Britain has always been deeply ignorant of the motivation behind the European project. The most common British response to European politicians is indifference, followed by frustration, followed by mockery. But without understanding Europe, you can’t effectively negotiate with Europe. Ultimately, the European Union arose out of the ashes of the Second World War. In 1951, to prevent future disputes over resources, six nations agreed to trade freely in steel and coal. In 1957, the nations of the Coal and Steel Community (France, West Germany, Italy, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg) signed the Treaty of Rome, founding the European Economic Community, which created a bigger common market and a customs union. Over time this common market attracted more nations and became the European Union. For years Britain stood outside this club. In 1951, Prime Minister Clement Attlee declined an invitation to join the Coal and Steel Community, dismissing it as ‘six nations, four of whom we had to rescue from the other two.’ Britain also spurned the European Economic Community in 1958. While the European states looked to each other for peace and prosperity, the UK, with its still large empire and its special relationship with the United States, gazed overseas. Britain and the Continent were divided not just by geography, but by conflict. A great deal of the British psyche derives from the fact that we have not been invaded for centuries. We went through incredible suffering during the world wars, but it fell from the sky. It did not march down the streets in jackboots. On the mainland, that trauma was and is personal: the social memory of a neighbour’s betrayal, death camps, and tyranny. The EU is considered a barrier to conflict and carries an emotional weight we struggle to understand. Our MPs underestimate the resolve of Europe to preserve political unity. Extracted from Brexit: What the Hell Happens Now? by Ian Dunt (Canbury Press) Table of Contents Introduction What was that? What did we vote for? What is Article 50? What is the European project? What is the single market? What are the politics of the European Union? What about freedom of movement? What about the economy? Norway Switzerland Turkey Canada The World Trade Organisation How can we keep the UK together? Scotland Ireland What are we going to do? What do the Brexit ministers want? How talented are they? What tools do they have? What is the context? The economy The City of London Immigration The parliamentary battle Making a new country The time problem What happens after Brexit? Postscript List of experts Acknowledgements References
Recommended by Ben Goldacre
“@szbalint it's such a great book, i've always said @rossjanderson should release it in chunks as pop science books. the massive textbook shape doesn't do its accessibility, readability and content justice!” (from X)
Now that there's software in everything, how can you make anything secure? Understand how to engineer dependable systems with this newly updated classic In Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems, Third Edition Cambridge University professor Ross Anderson updates his classic textbook and teaches readers how to design, implement, and test systems to withstand both error and attack. This book became a best-seller in 2001 and helped establish the discipline of security engineering. By the second edition in 2008, underground dark markets had let the bad guys specialize and scale up; attacks were increasingly on users rather than on technology. The book repeated its success by showing how security engineers can focus on usability. Now the third edition brings it up to date for 2020. As people now go online from phones more than laptops, most servers are in the cloud, online advertising drives the Internet and social networks have taken over much human interaction, many patterns of crime and abuse are the same, but the methods have evolved. Ross Anderson explores what security engineering means in 2020, including: How the basic elements of cryptography, protocols, and access control translate to the new world of phones, cloud services, social media and the Internet of ThingsWho the attackers are – from nation states and business competitors through criminal gangs to stalkers and playground bulliesWhat they do – from phishing and carding through SIM swapping and software exploits to DDoS and fake newsSecurity psychology, from privacy through ease-of-use to deceptionThe economics of security and dependability – why companies build vulnerable systems and governments look the other wayHow dozens of industries went online – well or badlyHow to manage security and safety engineering in a world of agile development – from reliability engineering to DevSecOpsThe third edition of Security Engineering ends with a grand challenge: sustainable security. As we build ever more software and connectivity into safety-critical durable goods like cars and medical devices, how do we design systems we can maintain and defend for decades? Or will everything in the world need monthly software upgrades, and become unsafe once they stop?