Customer Reviews

The Happy Hacker: A Guide to (Mostly) Harmless Computer Hacking

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(43)

 

 

This book sucks, it is really, really bad. As a computer security expert, I can assure you that only the most blatantly incompetent idiots would leave their systems in a situation whereby some of the lame ploys outlined in the book could work. Even telnet "hack my box" banners pale by comparison.

Furthermore, the "knowledge" the author presents is superficical at best and outright flawed sometimes; clearly she (or whoever her equally incompetent shadow writer may be) has no understanding whatsoever of the underlying workings of UNIX System V and even the windows "hacks" presented are little more than trivial. This woman is a DOS user, and you can smell the stink of a dos untermenschen a mile off.

I bought this book in a state of panic, thinking that some irresponsible idiot had opened pandora's box and was encouraging innocent kids to run riot with potentially dangerous info. I was wrong, and now I sleep nights knowing that there are morons out there that bought this trash. If that is the average intellect of hackers out there these days, then there is no reason to be worried.

The author says she was at the centre of a hacking war, I think she was probably the victim of self-delusion.

It's hard to be rational or objective when you realize you've been ...; best to keep this short and sour.

The author plays to a juvenile and no-brain crowd; reminds me of an Ed Wood movie. Entertaining on its own level, but I expected some technical insight. Save your money.

Too bad there is not zero or minus stars. This book deserves it.

..of time, money, trees and ink. If you believe that a very basic Windows 95/98 knowledge coupled with an even more limited knowledge of a few Unix shell commands equates to hacking, then by all means buy spend the thirty bucks and join the author in her fantasy world. You deserve each other.

On the positive side, someone has finally managed to write a book more ridiculous than "Secrets of a Super Hacker". Way to go.

For those interested in "hacking", try books from O'Reily & Associates, and pick up a copy of _The New Hacker's Dictionary_ by Eric S. Raymond, and remember: Friends Don't Let Friends Read The Happy Hacker!

On page 67 she writes, "I make my living asking dumb questions." This is probably the most accurate line in the whole book.

What can I say? I'm surprised this book made it to print. I'm even more surprised that the author can call herself a "Security Expert" and "White-Hat Hacker" with a straight face.

Carolyn Meinel has the audacity to equate hacking with everything from altering your Windows start up screen to display (and I quote) "elite haxor graphics" to using telnet and writing email. Her writing style is severely lacking, unless you count spelling and grammatical errors (approx. 1 per page) and her apparent inability to articulate a coherent thought as style. Aside from that, technical errors, numerous contradictions and a general lack of knowledge abound. She's most obviously not the "expert" she claims.

Even if you were able to read past the grammatical errors, spelling errors (can't elite hacker types use spellcheck?), inconsistancies and technical inaccuracies, you'd learn just enough to get a knock on the door from the FBI, possible jail time and the ridicule of real hackers everywhere.

To sum it up, if you're an AOL warrior and need a step by step guide to changing your Windows background, or a spammer who wants outdated and incomplete tips on forging email, but can't be bothered to look it up on the Web, this book is for you.

If you're truly interested in hacking and computer security, however, stay away from this book. You'll be sorely disappointed. Instead consider picking up _The_New_Hacker's_Dictionary_ by Eric S. Raymond, _The_Hacker_Crackdown_ by Bruce Sterling, and consider books on Unix, Linux, TCP/IP, networking, C/C++, Perl, HTML, or JavaScript, because what you want is *not* in _The_Happy_Hacker_.

This has got to be the worst book in my library. There isn't any hard information. You do get a whole lot of hints and teasers but little in the way of a clear explanation. Spend your money elsewhere. Not only is Bellovin and Cheswick's Firewall's and Internet Security so much better, you'll also be spared from suffering through very juvenile writing.

The book is an excellent book in my opinion. Tho some things are quite stupid such as how to press "ESC" when it asks for your windows passord - but other ends of the book reveal complete port mapping, download links, references to sites and other books to purchease. For anyone wanting to start but has no clue where to start - and whants a fast start into the underground world - This book is for you!

TechnoGecko

This is one of the best computer boox I have ever read.To those of you who do not like the book,I want to say one thing.You can hack legally.OK?

I am not a computer wizard by any stretch of the imagination. I am a nice girl with secret dreams of hackerdom, and as such, I found this book educational and enjoyable. After reading halfway through it, I've already learned many useful things about computers, and discovered some nifty tricks to impress my less technologically literate friends. No, it didn't teach me anything really complex, or anything I couldn't have found on the Internet, but that's alright. It was useful to have all the information available in one, easily understandable and locatable source, and nice to have it in a form that I could read during lunch or in bed. Although it's definitely aimed at newbies like me, it isn't nearly as simplistic or stupid as other reviewers have made it out to be (I have to wonder whether they've actually read it . . .). Carolyn Meinel's _The Happy Hacker_ is both a good instructor and a good read.

Have you ever read one of those books that just leaves you feeling ill? After the first five pages of this monstrosity I was already on my mad-dash for the toilet. This is -not- a 'guide to hacking' as the title may imply, it is a series of inaccurate, typo-ridden, paranoid, rants. Any information that could possibly have been useful is out of date and widely available on the net for free anyways. The entire book is one big play off of the media's 'hacker hysteria', and definetly not worth the thirty bucks you could be spending on something useful, such as an informative (and often inexpensive, atleast compared to 'The Happy Hacker') Linux manual.

This is a most unusual book, in that it's written in the tone and spirit of computer books from the mid-70's hobbyist days. To those who take offense that it's not some kind of flaming-skull testosterone rant, just go away. You've probably OCR'd the book and converted it to Acrobat by now. I'm giving it 5 stars because it's useful and entertaining, and presents a viewpoint almost never seen in this macho arena. Someone has to teach the old-school basics, and I'm glad it's Carolyn.