25 Book Recommendations

Reddit is destroying third party apps, Twitter is write-only, bluesky and mastodon feel empty, here are some book recommendations

I like reading books, here are some books I recommend, they are in a range of genres but roughly overlap with my audience’s interests of technology, information security or hacking and work or productivity. I read on a Kindle Oasis and my iPad mini, I don’t tend to read physical books or audiobooks, so I can’t speak for those formats. I originally tweeted this list but realised I would be using up peoples daily tweets so deleted for this format. I’ve also skipped the typical textbook recommendations for more popsci/easy to engage with list.

1. Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers Andy Greenberg

   • This book is essentially cyber security x true crime x noire detective story, I think it’s still a good read even if you’re familiar with the stories already with the detective style

2. Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon Kim Zetter

   • Gets kinda slow at the end, but a great look at stuxnet and the investigation from security researchers around it, if you feel like you know the story, skip it

3. This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race Nicole Perlroth

   • Good overall overview of hacking as a job and the 0day market, even if you’re familiar with hacking I think this book offers a lot in fleshing out what companies like Zerodium actually do

4. Not with a Bug, But with a Sticker: Attacks on Machine Learning Systems and What To Do About Them Ram Shankar Siva Kumar, Hyrum Anderson

   • Overview of machine learning security, good choice if AI/ML is of interest to you and your in security or if you’re a machine learning engineer who wants to know a bit more about security

5. Write Useful Books: A modern approach to designing and refining recommendable nonfiction Rob Fitzpatrick

   • Niche recommendation but if you’ve ever thought “I’d like to write a book one day” do yourself a favour and read this first, honestly I’d read it to get better at writing full stop!

6. $100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No Alex Hormozi

   • Another niche one, but if you want to or currently run your own business, this is a great book to help teach you how to sell stuff

7. Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky

   • Take back control of your life, time wasting apps and work don’t deserve your limited attention, instead do things you actually want and need to do

8. Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential Tiago Forte

   • A note storage and retrieval book looks at how to turn your notes into a second brain of sorts

9. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking Susan Cain

   • This book will make you feel proud of being introverted in a world that doesn’t appreciate you

10. The E-myth Revisited Michael E. Gerber

    • Another book on running a business, I think this one is really good if you’re doing a solo business like pen testing

11. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World Cal Newport

    • Wow deep work? How original. Yeah I know. It’s still a really good book that any tech professional should read

12. We Are Bellingcat: Global Crime, Online Sleuths, and the Bold Future of News Eliot Higgins

    • A history of OSInt investigative journalism website Bellingcat, from starting out as a single person reading Twitter, to MH17 being shot down and chemical weapons in Syria, must read for anyone interested in OSInt

13. Flash Crash: A Trading Savant, a Global Manhunt, and the Most Mysterious Market Crash in History Liam Vaughan

    • Oops we crashed the economy with a trading bot

14. How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking – for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers Sönke Ahrens

    • No idea where to start with note taking? This is the book to start with, however I recommend reading maybe half of the book until you understand the method then reading building a second brain

15. So You've Been Publicly Shamed Jon Ronson

    • Required reading for all internet denizens, how Twitter can ruin your life and how to prevent it

16. Computational Fairy Tales and Best Practices of Spell Design Jeremy Kubica

    • A fun take on computer science and programming that uses stories to explain concepts like traversing a binary tree, I’m not sure I’d actually recommend it for kids, but I think it’s neat

17. The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography Simon Singh

    • Cryptography is fundamentally the history of security, and this book looks at the historical craft of code making and code breaking

18. If It's Smart, It's Vulnerable Mikko Hypponen

    • Must we connect everything to the internet?

19. Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic

    • If you ever deal with data in your job this is a must read, it doesn’t just say here’s how you make a graph but how to make effective data visualisations that people will engage with

20. The Tangled Web: A Guide to Securing Modern Web Applications Michal Zalewski

    • The book on how the web works from the browser to the server, must read for anyone doing web hacking

21. Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America William Sommer

    • How did a 4chan post make it to the capitol building? This is a really interesting look at QAnon and how it evolved from random 4chan post to cult to Donald Trump

22. How To Make The Best Coffee At Home James Hoffmann

    • Look sometimes you want to read a textbook on everything web hacking, and sometimes you just want to know how to make good coffee

23. The Greatest Hoax on Earth: Catching Truth, While We Can Alan C. Logan

    • The only scam Frank Abagnale actually kept up was convincing people that he was a master conman

24. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less Greg McKeown

    • Focus on what really matters. Stop trying to do everything. Do less, but do it better.

25. How I Rob Banks: And Other Such Places FC Barker

    • I wish I had pentesting stories this good

Boom, that’s all folks, hopefully you’ve seen something in this list that has interested you, do you have a book to add? Let me know, you can actually leave a comment on the list with the button below.

Until next time

Katie :)