Viruses Books

great book, kids stayed interested, It was fun to read to my group.. Im sure it will be a favorite!

The "germ book" is the one my toddler asks for over and over again the most. It's a fun book, with lots of opportunities for fun voices and hand gesturing. And guess what? Now she likes to wash her hands! And please rest assured: your kid won't become an obsessive-compulsive germophobe after looking at this book. The author's goal is NOT to scare kids into washing their hands every 10 minutes, but simply to get them to wash up before eating. Watch for the germs to go "swirling, whirling down the drain" with your child, and she will look forward to keeping clean and have fun while doing it.
In all, it's a fun, educational book. The dialog is rythmic, repetitve, and memorable, which even a 2 year-old can appreciate.

As another reviewer suggests, this is a great book to get children to do what you want them to. Never mind that it entails lying to children, treating germs as vicious invaders who look like hammers and do things they don't in reality (for instance, causing headaches). Insulting and manipulative. It's books like this that cause people to become obsessive-compulsive.

Wow! Some people really don't like teaching kids to wash their hands. First of all, most parents or teachers know that no book is a stand-alone for any given topic. Of course more discussion is necessary. Secondly, anyone who has spent time in a room full of little kids can see that they touch every available surface, wipe their nose, and put their fingers in their mouths. Trying to keep them from getting the bug that everyone else has is practically impossible, but washing hands frequently does help. And realize, people do go to the hospital as a result of some of these bugs.

My children (4-1/2 years and 20 months) enjoyed this book. My preschooler liked the pattern and emotion of the story, and my toddler liked the photographs. I can't say it made them want to wash hands any more, but at least it introduced them to the idea that we need to wash the germs off. I must add that I didn't really like the idea of one germ, the worst germ, staying on the girl's hands after she washed them, but it didn't seem to bother my kids. I would have liked to have added in the story how soap helps the water wash the germs off, since my preschooler will rinse her hands with water but sometimes puts up a fight about soap.

This book really helped our Daughter learn about germs and the importance of hand washing. Very good for young children to relate to.

My new iBook G4 is already gunked up, so I am finding the book a treasure trove of help! The book's beginning pages I found long and redundant; I just wanted to get on with the degunking. The most important message for me at the start was to degunk in the order the book outlines. It has taught me much about what unnecessary items (for me) come loaded onto the Mac at purchase, i.e., foreign languages & fonts I can't use. As a long-time Mac user, I feel qualified to highly recommend the book for its orderly presentation, user friendliness and practical matters. In fact, I'll try to go through it again over time to see what else might have sneaked into my Mac.
M. Thoelecke

I liked the first edition and there is a lot more to find in this book. In fact I would say that this book has easily doubled in size. New topics include Dashboard and Spotlight. But the original material about killing spam, optimizing your applications, getting the garbage off your drive and many others remain. There is even material about cleaning up your iPod.

An excellent resource for any full-time Macintosh user.

"Degunking Your Mac" is an excellent book for beginning to intermediate users who want to tune-up and clean up their Macintosh. The book is well organized, but not dense. Miss Ballew takes time to discuss topics in clear and non-technical language with a dash of wit. The result is a computer book that novices should find interesting and fun, instead of scary, jargony, and off-putting.

My two favorite chapters in "Degunking Your Mac" are chapters 9 (Fonts) and 19 (Automator). Anyone who has used a Mac has encountered issues with fonts, and chapter 9 had excellent solutions for these common headaches. Chapter 19 is the best beginner's introduction to Automator I've read in a book so far. It is a brief chapter, but introduces Apple's new automation utility in clear English.

"Degunking Your Mac" is a clear and solid manual for beginning and intermediate users. My only quibble with the book is that it may have little new information to an Advanced Macintosh user.

The source of "gunk" is the way users use their Mac--not the machinery itself. But, a lot of Mac users don't think their machines have gunk. Author Joli Ballew has done an outstanding job of putting together a book that shows you how to keep your Mac running at tip-top speed as long as possible and to make you more productive along the way.

Ballew begins by helping you to determine whether your Mac is really gunked up. Next, the author introduces a proven 12-step program to degunking success--a program that can really and truly get your Mac performing like new again. Then, she explains how to get rid of- or degunking files that shouldn't be in your Mac. The author continues by showing you how to locate and get rid of unwanted applications, including beta applications, unnecessary programs and unnecessary Mac OS X applications. In addition, the author next covers Tiger's new Spotlight feature, including how you can use it to organize data and create Smart folders. She also focuses on getting you working more efficiently by personalizing what you access every day. The author next shows you how to degunk the Dashboard. Next, the author shows you how to degunk new features, so that they don't drive you crazy. Then, she shows you how to manage or eliminate your font gunk. Ballew continues with a discussion of how to degunk your iPod. Next, the author shows you how to prevent spam first, keep what you do get under control, and formulate a plan for reducing or eliminating spam altogether. Then, she covers e-mail housecleaning in more detail, and how to clean up and organize your legitimate mail with spam that gets through your defenses. In addition, Ballew continues by discussing how you can degunk the startup process and optimize the hard drive, so that your Mac runs as efficiently as possible. Next, she explores Software Update; as well as, available software upgrades. Then, she introduces you to the different types of hardware you can acquire to beef up your system. The author then shows you what tools are available to help you maintain your Mac and what tools can be used to search for, find, and fix errors with hard disks, permissions, and similar issues. She then shows you how important it is to secure your Mac and what built-in and third-party utilities and software are available to you. Next, she covers how to back up data, with emphasis on creating a backup strategy and sticking to it. Finally, she shows you how to get started with Automator.

With the preceding in mind, the author has done an excellent job of showing you how to follow the basic steps outlined in this book on a regular basis, with the results of giving yourself an insurance policy and saving yourself from encountering aggravation down the road. So, the belief here is that degunking your Mac will make your time on your computer more efficient, more productive, and maybe even more enjoyable.

OS 10.4 seeks to be all things to all men, thus it contains many MB of no possible use to most users. It needs to include a purging program to remove trash. Fonts in foreign languages, translations (how many people in the US want to convert classical Chinese to simplified Chinesw), printer drivers for printers that the user doesn't have consume a great deal of space. This book needs to be far more aggressive.

I love Wallace Wang's Steal This Computer Book 3. In this book, Wang takes his best-selling knowledge and writing style and focuses it on a new subject- sharing files.

I learned a lot in the opening section. I have been familiar with peer-to-peer (P2P) networking since the advent of Napster, but I was not aware that such a wide variety of sources existed for finding and sharing files. Wang points out web sites, FTP sites, instant messaging and chat rooms and more where you can share files.

Even better than that, he doesn't just list sites, but rather provides in-depth analysis of many, explaining what is good or bad about the different resources and pitfalls to watch out for. He also includes many graphic illustrations which help you understand the information better.

This book sheds light on a number of "fringe" file sharing tools and resources. The mainstream is familiar with the likes of Kazaa and Morpheus, but Wang delves into many more tools. He points out some of the things to watch out for when using some of the shadier tools and networks as well.

The RIAA and MPAA may not like it, but in some way, shape or form, file sharing is here to stay and this book will help you find what you need and use file sharing securely.

(...)

Whether it's music, programs, games, books or other files it seems that everyone is downloading something over the Internet these days. If you want to know how to find the files you want and download them safely then you will be interested in this book.

The author covers a wide array of places to find files including newsgroups, websites, Instant Messenger, Internet Relay Chat, FTP, and networks that are designed specifically for file sharing such as Gnutella, FastTrack, and eDonkey. One of the most interesting parts for the average computer user is the one with information on how to remain anonymous when sharing files. Of course, this section also includes information on the problems of file sharing - viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, adware, and even warez.

I've traded files and worked on the Internet for years and I still learned a few tips in this book. The author includes lots of illustrations and specific web sites where you can download the programs he mentions as well as several alternative ones. Mr. Wang even provides a complete analysis of each program's advantages and disadvantages. One of the things I really like is the fact that he includes information on programs you should be careful downloading and using including Fast Track clients that come loaded with spyware like Kazaa and iMesh.

If you don't like AIM he even covers Private Internet Messenger products like Meet Gate, P2P Instant Messenger, and Pal Talk. The breadth of coverage is impressive, the writing and organization excellent. Steal This File-Sharing Book is highly recommended to anyone who shares files over the Internet.

Almost 90% of the information I found in this book can be found online in a matter of minutes from any major news source. All the concepts presented are basic in design and offer no technical explanation on how to do anything. The only positive points I saw in this book was it's website references. There are hundreds of websites listed with further information and software on every topic of file sharing and other copyright enigmas. It's decent for a beginner in file sharing to understand the basics. For everyone else, it makes for good reference material to find the information you were hoping to get from the book.

I got almost nothing out of this book. I've been file-sharing for about two months. The worst is that the book is totally out of date; it has almost nothing about bittorrent which has taken over the file-sharing world.

I would only get this book for someone who is new not just to file-sharing, but to the internet in general. Even then it is only good as an introduction to general concepts; there is little useful detailed technical information.

Wang's other book (Steal This Computer Book) explored the "dark underbelly" of the 'Net and this book in effect picks up where the other book leaves off. You can debate whether or not file sharing is legal and ethical, but no one can deny it is here to stay. Not only does Wang explain where to find files (at places like file sharing networks, newsgroups, chat rooms, etc.), he also describes ways to stay anonymous while doing so. There are also chapters on file formats, sharing music, movies, TV shows, even software, video games and the most popular item, pornography.

I find it interesting speaking of porn that porn producers seem to have found ways to deal with this issue and yet the "establishment" still feels the best way to fight it is through legal action. The book's last two chapters describe the future of file sharing and how the entertainment industries continue to fight back. They may try copy protection schemes, but it seems there's always someone who finds a way to defeat those schemes.

Regardless of how you feel about this issue, this is a well-written and informative book, written in the same spirit of Steal This Computer Book.

Found this book at the library while searching for helpful books for my science project... yeh, i'm a high-school student..
and seriously, this book does have a lot of information...
but, the book kinda really drags, and it's boring, and really,
i didn't need to know about who found this little detail and who examined this thing at what time where and blah. it was full of trivial infos people don't really need.

This is a must read for anyone interested in science, and is especially inspiring towards anyone interested in pursuing biomedical research. Only a scientist like Robert Gallo could have been resilent enough to continue great discoveries (eg. IL2( , inspite of being relentlessly besieged by nay sayers, a zealous journalist, and one politician. Gallo shows that despite all odds ,one may still rise like a phoenix from ashes. Bravo! Ex Libris!

Virus Hunting provides an interesting understanding into the scientific quest in the study of tumor cell biology. It lays the foundation of the most complex of viral, epidemiological parthenogenesis, that of Human Retro virology, HIV-AIDS. The lab tech procedures used at NCI at the time: mass tissue cell growth cultures, assay developments, etc., continue to hold significant disease applicability, and contributes to future disease models investigations and research and development.

Since, virology is an esoteric discipline; the book was designed to reach wide audiences, presenting a more personal account. For HIV-AIDS research purposes, a plethora of academic references can be found in reknown science journals.


The book describes, in addition, an extraordinary life story, tragedy as the source of creative scientific inspiration, culminating ultimately to discovery. Some readers may miss these subtle nuances.

Great ideas originate from contentious, unorthodox individuals who defy and cut across the grain, remembering and giving gratitude to the critics and pretenders; however, vapid for they are as modern muses. When I read the book, I think of that rambunctious ass, Amadeaus and those scowling would be, Scalieries epitomizing those less accomplished.

The rating was lowered solely on the grounds of poor mechanics.

Dr. Robert Gallo has written a very interesting and informative book describing his career and how the HIV virus was discovered. In the final chapter he refutes the criticisms of Dr. Duesberg, who later wrote "Inventing the AIDS Virus". Dr. Gallo's arguments sound very convincing; however he does not provide a single reference. He makes many statements such as "this has been found", "studies have shown", etc. but never provides references. This makes it impossible to verify his claims or read the original source data. It is suspicious that Dr. Gallo does not disclose his scientific sources. Dr. Duesberg on the other hand, in his book refuting Gallo's arguments, provides 856 footnotes referring to publications in the most highly respected scientific and medical journals. In conclusion, it is a very difficult scientific problem to understand HIV, AIDS, and if there is a relationship or not. By not providing footnotes Dr. Gallo has made it more difficult for the serious inquirer.

This is a good book for scientific study and evaluation of
viral strains-their etiology and treatment approaches. The
research of cancer-causing retroviruses is discussed in humans.
These viral strains may be carried from chickens to people.
The retrovirus in chicken sarcoma and oncogenes when incorporated
into the genetic code of a virus quickly convert normal cells
to cancerous ones. Retroviruses can mutate. The work contains
a good description of the development of the Elisa blood testing
technique. This work would be perfect for a school project in
science or medicine.

In this loosely veiled autobiography, Emecheta sets out to tell the story of Adah, a young Nigerian woman who experiences great loss in her native country as a child and then as an adult in England, where she and her husband emigrate to shortly after the birth of their second child. They leave behind a constricted and often tormented family hierarchy in an upper-class Nigeria to become "second class citizens" and develop a new pattern, no longer underneath the eyes of opinionated and powerful parents, but instead amid neighbors and fellow immigrants from Nigeria. This novel is more about how immigrants either survive on their own gritty strength and intelligence or fall based on their inability to adapt to a new culture and to internally combat the prejudice they experience.

Although readers may balk at how long Adah stays with her abusive husband, they will enjoy watching her overcome difficulties and will appreciate her sense of humor. After the birth of her third child, her husband neglects to send her flowers or cards, or even bring her the nightgown she requests. For the birth of her fourth child, this intrepid woman arranges for flowers to be delivered over a couple of days, cards, gifts, and to keep an energetic and confident spirit alive throughout all.

Gritty, realistic, and very human. Tells a true autobiographical story of a remarkable Nigerian woman who surpassed gender, race, and tribal roles in Nigeria and England to recover her dreams "the presence" and utilize her talents.

A story of an African American female's struggle for acceptance, this book is much like any other novel concerning women's oppression. If you enjoy reading about the horrible events that took place during the middle 1900's, then read the book. If you do not enjoy reading another book about women's suffrage, and do not want to feel guilty for something which you would never allow or endorse, then stay away.

You can never go wrong with Buchi Emechete. Her books are multi-layered and beautiful. She is a masterful storyteller and presents the complexity of tribal versus modern life from a feminine view. If you love writing with a feminist bend, you will enjoy her works. A+++

"Second Class Citizen" is the story of Adah, a resourceful, intelligent girl from Nigeria who comes to Great Britain shortly after Nigeria gained independence in 1960. Going to Great Britain was a dream she pursued with determination against the wishes of the family of her husband, who had departed for Great Britain before her, and against the traditional role which her native culture saw fit for women. Adah is not so much disappointed with what she finds in Great Britain (surprisingly, since she expected to find the "kingdom of heaven" there) but with the lack of change in her husband who neither can nor wants to question his traditional ways. On top of that he is lazy, bad tempered, and spoilt. He does not care for his wife, he cares for the money she brings home so that he can slouch on the couch and otherwise follow his whims.

Adah brings an interesting aspect to racism: You are only a victim if you think of yourself as a victim. For her part, she never accepts that she is regarded as a "second class citizen" because she is black or because she is a woman. Her husband, on the other hand, wants to fit in and actually tries to conform to the society's racist view of him. He has lost his sense of dignity, but Adah has not. She draws great strength from her determination to lead a better life, to get an education, to give a better life to her children, and to become a writer.

The style in which the novel is narrated is very plain and simple, just in line with Adah's sraightforward, practically minded character. It is quite unemotional and creates a certain distance between Adah and the reader. Beneath Adah's tough surface, however, one can sense the pain she feels at not being loved by her husband "for what she was and not just because she could work and hand over her money like a docile child."

"Second Class Citizen" is an impressive portrait of human dignity under pressure, and of the the sheer will of an individual to persist and to be what she knows she can be.

After a limited nuclear explosion of a cruise ship, as well as, the appearance of a disease in the United States that paralyzes the victim leading to a deformity of the hands and feet (similar to a donkey and called The Pinocchio Syndrome), the rating of the US President is at an all time low. As high ranking US officials start contracting the disease, a crisis develops and the Presidency appears threatened. Colin Goss, an ultraconservative, feels that Mideast terrorists are to blame and would think nothing of wiping out a billion people. His popularity is soaring as the President's is crashing. Investigating the disease is reporter Karen Embry. As she investigates she begins to uncover a vast conspiracy with millions of lives at stake.
There appears to be a dumbing down of thrillers by first time authors and this one is one of the dumbest I have read in quite some time. Nonetheless, it is quite entertaining. The disease described in the story is quite silly and the reason the disease is spread is even sillier. With better material, David Zeman may be a writer to watch. However, in this case, I would skip this debut effort. Rating: C.

A book that reads well and keeps our attention till the end.At first,I thought that the writing style was a little more than average at best,but the description of the sea and its waves towards the end of the book is absolutely splendid.The author should develop his obvious ability for beautiful descriptions that he has only shown at the end of his book

A country at the edge of a collective hysteria caused by terrorist attacks, a weak government, a peculiar disease which paralize the nervious system of the victims to the death and a power behind the throne that manipulate the destiny of millions of people around the world make this novel addictive to the end of the story.
Even though the trama is predictible in some segments of the novel, its becomes interesting because the topicality of the subjects; international terrorism, mortal diseases which appear and disappear misteriously in certain areas of the world, the decimation of the population in conflicting areas, the yearning of some politicians to reform the constitution of United States and the civil rights of the citizenship to implant a New World Order make the reader reflect if what he/she is reading is pure fiction or just a novel with and explicit message. Choose by yourself, it is simple.

I understand that this is a debut novel for David Zeman and as such it is probably not very bad. Still I found a lot of weaknesses in the plot. Many turns are totally lacking any logic to it, which is annoying. It is quite predictable: you know what will happen in the end of the first half of the novel, which is not a great characteristic for the thriller. Also, in my opinion, David Zeman is just not very good writer. But, again, it is his first novel. The novel is a mix of political conspiracy and biological warfare. There are some fresh twists there and that's why I give it three stars (in the end something made me to finish this book).

This is one of the best thrillers I have read this year. The story grabs you on the first page and you have to keep reading to see how everything turns out. This book has an intriguing plot and such a frightning concept that you have to wonder if this scenario could really happen. Evil politicians, real life characters and a nail biting pace keeps you up late trying to finish as soon as possible. I like this one and hope to see more from Mr. Zeman.

This is one of the primary books used at UC Berkeley. Text is very thorough, great details and citations.

For non-experts in the subject (such as this reviewer), this book gives a fascinating overview of organisms that have challenged humankind's domination of this planet. Although the book is targeted toward students and biologists, anyone who has a keen interest in virology will gain much from its perusal. Packed with diagrams, and containing hundreds of references, readers should have no problems in assimilating the information in the book, even though it is quite sizable. I only read chapters 1, 2, 5, 6, and 13 (due only to time constraints and not because the other chapters were deemed unimportant) so my review will be confined to listing some of the interesting facts and helpful features of the book.

These include: 1. The discussion on the history of virology, especially the discussion on D'Herelle's dream and Koch's postulates. The early years of virology are impressive given that viruses could not be seen at the time due to the lack of suitable microscopes. 2. The actual number of species of viruses is 1550, with 2404 tentative species. 3. The methods by which the different viruses were identified experimentally, such as cell cultures and recombinant DNA technology. 4. The methods for measuring the infectivity of viruses. 5. The method of fluctuation analysis for measuring spontaneous mutation rates in viruses. The difference in spontaneous mutation rates between DNA and RNA viruses is astonishing. The authors point out the ability of RNA viruses to exist as "quasi-species", being capable of very rapid adaptation because of the high spontaneous mutation rate. 6. The simple replication abilities of RNA viruses, which although very error prone, results in very rapid evolutionary response. 7. In plant viruses, the existence of genome segments that are frequently packaged in distinct virions, which results in the need for several viruses to co-infect in order to transmit infectivity. 8. Viral RNA genomes are very rich and contain nearly every structural variation possible. 9. The role of horizontal gene transfer in producing the antigenic shifts that produce new pandemic strains of influenza. 10. The ability of cells to counteract virus infections by using gene silencing or the interferon system. Some viruses have evolved mechanisms for evading these defenses. 11. The replication strategies for DNA viruses, and the mechanisms that have evolved to evade host defenses. 12. Viral DNA replication is initiated by using proteins as primers. 13. The ability of viruses to evade host defenses by withdrawing into a latent state. Only a few proteins are expressed when the virus is in this latent state. The authors encourage the reader to pursue research into the mechanisms that are behind the initiation and release from latency, since at the time of writing these mechanisms are not well understood. 14. Gene therapy, certainly the most fascinating of all topics in virology and genetic engineering. 15. The role of self-inactivating (SIN) vectors in enhancing the safety of viral vectors.

I read the chapter on prions and i found it to be really good and up to date. of course it requires you to know a little background knowledge but if you're reading this book you probably already fill out that category. definitely not for the layman...

As an undergraduate taking a course in virology, I found this book the only book I ever needed. It has all the information that you need and more. I just hope that they will continue to come out with a newer edition since this book is out of date and the field of virology has grown since this edition.

I am an undergraduate student taking a course in virology, and i find this book extremely difficult to learn from. As a reference source for a particular virus it may be of use, but use of this book as a learning tool is foolish. Yes, this book is written by experts concerning a particular field, but it seems that the authors target audience is also...experts. In introducing fundamental concepts of virology, the text constantly uses examples to a particular virus. From this particular virus, it then makes reference of a mechanism of this virus. How can one make a reference to a mechanism, when one has not yet even been exposed to the virus family themselves? Its almost like talking about the stats of a certain sports figure, and then as a foot note make reference upon how the game is played.

The book is riddled with sloppy prose that has not seen the attention of a careful editor. Throughout the book, most figures are annoying. They are screen or window captures. The authors chose the quick and dirty way of doing this and then pasting them into the text. But the resolution of the resultant printed images makes the contents out of focus. Yes, perhaps if you squint hard enought and interpolate, you can deduce the text. But this is what I mean. Annoying.

The chapters do offer amusing fictional plots that give tactics on both intruder and defender. Part of the appeal of the book is that these roles can switch. There are enough technical details supplied in the text to make the tactics credible to a computer person.

The discussion on the limitations of MD5 to a crafted collisions attack is well done. Very sneaky. Though still quite speculative, as the text rightfully points out.

The Strike Back chapter describes Armpit - a tool written as a "human detector". It is run as a daemon on a server. It permits access to resources only if the client browser can interpret Flash. This is seen as tantamount to implying that there is a human at the client, and not an automated attack tool, since most instances of the latter cannot do Flash. But this just begs the question. Surely if Armpit becomes common, it gives incentive for future attack tools to be able to run Flash? The narrative gives no technical reason why a cracker cannot take this logical countermeasure.

More importantly, the book fails to recognise that Armpit is a challenge response method. Those of you familiar with antispam ideas should realise this immediately. Plus, Mailblocks has a patent on challenge response. It would have been useful for the book to discuss whether this patent (or any others) could make any infringement claims against the company that wrote Armpit.

It is fair to say that most of the current strategies for network defense are passive, in that they involve setting up elaborate security shields to thwart or redirect intruders. The reason for this no doubt is that network administrators and IT departments do not want to face the legal consequences if they do as the authors of this book advocate, namely launching an attack on an intruder (human or otherwise) that will effectively disable it or at least frustrate it to a large degree. Interestingly though, the legal framework surrounding "aggressive" network self-defense is far from being clear. It would seem that existing laws on the books dealing with harassment and public nuisance would in fact support a large degree of "strike-back" network defense. The authors of this book seem to agree on this legal right, but the initial discussions in the book do illustrate the severe consequences that could arise if a security administrator were to take up the strike-back philosophy.

The weapons of aggressive self-defense include the PDA, which is discussed in the first chapter of the book, and which are described as being "easy to infect" by the author of the chapter. After bragging how he was able to compromise other people's PDA via the exchange of games, he discovered that his own PDA had been compromised by a key logger. He then describes how he found out exactly how he was infected, called naturally "computer forensics." To carry out the `reverse engineering' requires a debugger, a disassembler, and a hex editor. His discussion will be fascinating reading, especially those readers (such as this reviewer) who are not committed hackers or security specialists, but who need a good understanding of the issues in order to attempt to emulate them in more sophisticated, distributed computing environments. To get down to the assembly language after possibly many years of high-level programming is intoxicating to say the least. The author's analysis leads him to the conclusion that a backdoor FTP server running on port 69 (instead of the usual port 21). His plan was then to find out who installed the FTP server and then launch a reverse attack. The attack consisted of two phases, with the first one preventing the attacker from having access to his information and trick the attacker into downloading a file of his choice. The manner in which the author communicates convinces the reader that he knows what he is talking about. In order to know for sure one would have to go through the attack procedures as he organizes them. Unfortunately he author lost his job over his escapades, when instead he should have been rewarded for his ingenuity and skill. He was acting properly in taking action against an attack originally targeted to his machine.

The next chapter discusses an attack scenario in a common place these days: the cybercafe. The goal of the chapter is convince the reader to be wary of wireless hotspots that can easily be compromised. The author describes a scenario that actually began with criminal intent, and occurring in a WLAN environment, consisted of tricking users into logging into a person's own laptop. The author describes in detail what this person had to create and install on his laptop in order to pull off this deception, becoming the notorious "man-in-the-middle." He did this in order to obtain the credit card numbers of the customers who unwittingly logged into his machine instead of the correct access point. His scam was discovered and he was rightly arrested after he had run up over $10,000 in charges. But interestingly, his man-in-the-middle scam was detected by the WLAN administrator, and when this individual took it on himself to perform the investigation he attacked the scammer's machine and in the process broke some many laws that the evidence he collected was ruled inadmissible. The credit card companies sued the administrator since he nullified the federal case against the original scammer. Even though he won the case against him, his culpability is a grey area for sure, and this case reflects some of the ambiguities in digital law at the present time (both criminal and civil).

There are many more attack scenarios discussed in the book, all of which serve as tutorials in the many different tools that are have been exploited by both invaders and attackers. These include cache snooping, port knocking, TCPDump, Knoppix STD, Ethereal, Squid, honeypots, Sudo, cookie tracking, Trojan horses, keyloggers, Netcat, Nmap, PatriotBox, Traceroute, ping sweeping, IPSec rule injection, MD5 hashing, Stripwire, passive strike-back, and mass vulnerability scans. There is ample material here to educate oneself on how attacks can be accomplished and how therefore to defend systems against them. By far the most interesting part of the book though is the second one, since it goes into more of the conceptual background behind what the authors call `active defense.' They define this as an "action sequence performed between the time an attack is detected and the time it is known to be finished, in an automated or non-automated fashion, to mitigate a threat against a particular asset." This definition is one that is used in their model of network defense, which they call ADAM (Active Defense Algorithm and Model). The different steps to be taken, and the legal and ethical ramifications of ADAM are discussed in great detail. An interesting part of this discussion concerns the `scoring chart' that is used to compare the risk of a materializing threat with the risk of an active defense action. In addition, the calculation of risk is interesting in that it is similar to what is done in some areas of financial engineering.

The title of this book says "Agressive." A better word might be "Vigilante."

I live in the west. Vigilante's came about because the law enforcement of the time was to weak to handle the problems. I don't know but that this is the situation out on the internet. I understand that CoolWebSearch is written/distributed from Russia. Who is going to go tell them that I don't want their stuff on my machine?

This book presents a series of "fictional" incidents where people being attacked strike back using technological means. Most of the time the police get involved at the end, usually finding the wrong man. None the less, the stories do an excellent job of describing how "aggressive" network defenders might attempt to strike back at attackers. These stories are certainly a more interesting approach than the typical computer manual.

The second part of the manual gets more technical and describes in greater depth the tools and techniques that the defenders in the fictional stories use.

The whole book brings up a series of moral questions. Where do you just build walls and defenses vs. where do you go out and counter-attack the attackers? Where are you counter-attacking illegally, with the potential to get caught yourself? It's quite a book and perhaps a sign of the coming times.

Most computer security books focus on how to defend a computer system or network from outside attack: that's the basic difference between them and Neil R. Wylder's Aggressive Network Self-Defense: I'm Mad As Hell, And I'm Not Gonna Take It Anymore! The focus here is on the technical, legal and financial ramifications of a 'strike-back' and 'active defense' program which promotes doing more than just defense. Chapters cover 'cyber dogfights' between hackers and defender/attackers, offers up tales of revenge and following the trail of an attacker, accounts of fights at different network levels, and stories of problem-solving in network attacks. Both fictional and many real-life scenarios are covered, with plenty of technical computer detail. A lively, satisfying book for all levels of computer user, but particularly administrators who want to do more than just defend.

Continuing in the new theme of fiction and technical how-to, Aggressive Network Self-Defense brings together several authors to provide a wide range of material. Syngress' niche in this space seems to be breaking new ground -- and for the most part, it works. While you don't get as in-depth a treatment as a typical technical book gives you, there is an added dimension: namely, a more realistic scenario of how these tools fit together in a real, live series of actions.

Not being a big fan of most fiction (I tend to prefer history), it's hard to say definitively good or bad things about the quality of the writing. What I can say is that it's infinitely less irritating, and far more realistic, than Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon or Gibson's Neuromancer. No over-the-top smearing of adjectives to describe the mundane, and no unrealistic sequences of events. Then again, there's no character development and no real story progression, so it's not great fiction.

As a series of hacker vignettes, the book works just fine, and very well for the purposes at hand. Basically, what the authors want you to get from the book is two-fold: First, they want you to debate the issues around "strike back" attack methodologies. Several of the authors are open advocates of what are legal grey areas and open moral questions in the field of network security. Secondly, they want you to see how it's done, what you do when you actually use a tool to achieve a goal. Most books that do this, like Hacking Exposed, cover far more tools, but they usually do so without showing you each tool's use in a real-world scenario.

I won't bore you with a lengthy, detailed overview of the first part of the book. Like I said, it's a series of part fiction, part tutorial series of short stories. In them, you'll see tools like Metasploit, virus creation, some nmap, sniffers, and keystroke loggers, all in action, being used as an operator would use them, and achieving real goals. This is more valuable than a basic manual, and the stories themselves act as a nice setting. While not great fiction writers, the authors are decent enough at the job, and they write the technical material clearly.

The second part of the book is interesting. It makes up about a fifth of the book in volume, but a lot more in technical weight. The book bills this section as "The technologies and concepts behind network strike-back," and that's an accurate summary. It's a series of four unique perspectives and technical chapters that complement the rest of the book quite well.

The first introduces ADAM, the "Active Defense Algorithm and Model," which develops a methodology for network administrators to actively defend their networks against attacks. It's quite interesting, and brings together a number of risk models in an uncommon take. The authors are academic researchers from the University of Idaho, so it's a lot more academic than the previous material in Aggressive Network Self-Defense, but it formalizes a lot of the thinking that was present in the writing of the stories and techniques.

The second is Tim Mullen's classic "Defending your right to defend." This is the original position paper shared by Mullen with the information security community in 2002 or so. Here, Mullen makes a compelling case for actually striking back at worm infected hosts. After all, the position holds, someone should do something about them to help clean up the Internet. While it's a position I disagreed with at the time and still do, Mullen's writing is articulate and an important read. It really helps you understand a lot of the thinking that went into the book itself.

Dan Kaminsky wrote the next chapter, "MD5 to be considered harmful someday." Largely considered to be a follow-on to Joux and Wang's one-way hash function research, what it shows is how practical such an attack can be. Kaminsky never fails to come up with interesting ideas he puts into practice, and he adds another level of depth to this book.

Finally, Aggressive Network Self-Defense ends with an interesting paper, "When the tables turn: Passive strike-back." Like any good paper, it has a clear and thoughtful motivation, and really demonstrates the principles at play, namely building network resources that don't simply lure the attacker in, they trip her up. There are so many ways to do this, the authors show us, and ultimately it's almost fun. A good way to end the book.

An over-arching concern with the book that I have is the question of ethics. Mullen, in the foreword, states that he hopes the book stirs a debate about the ethics of the actions in the book. However, the book itself falls short in this area. Instead, sometimes the characters get busted, and sometimes they don't, but just because they didn't get caught doesn't mean some ethical lines weren't crossed. All too often the authors leave the ethical debate up in the air. While I prefer this to overt preaching or questions, the style leaves me wondering if this goal was achieved.

So, where do I stand on Aggressive Network Self-Defense? In the end, I like it, more so than a book like Hacking Exposed or other "hacking how-to" types. The style of presentation doesn't lend itself all that well to exploring a very wide number of tools, but it does give you a deeper context to see how they assemble into something larger. For many people I expect it will be a page turner, and I think the format has some utility, as shown here.

i got this book for my then-3yo daughter, who asked a ton about how germs work and how our bodies fight them. it was "kinda" enough for her, but then we got cell wars, and that is really a fantastic book. where this book can be hand-wavy, that one is much more detailed and really left her feeling like she understood what was happening in her body. she's 4 now and still rattles off information from cell wars, but we haven't read this book but once or twice since we got the other.

Germs Make Me Sick by Melvin Berger is one of the best books I've seen to educate primary grade children about viruses and bacteria and how they can make you sick -- and how you can make yourself well again. Sometimes, your Doctor will have to send a swab or a drop of your blood to a lab to see just the right way to make you well if your illness is caused by a bacteria or protect you from some diseases caused by a virus.

I am amazed at how well this scientific information is presented for young readers, and the follow-up with a section on The Rules for Good Health make this a must buy for parents.

Every illustration in this book is a cartoon, and in many of the illustrations a cat, dog, lion, or some other animal will make some kind of random comment. This was pretty funny, but not quite as funny as the cartoons in another Lets-Read-and-Find-Out Science book called Digging Up Dinosaurs.

According to this book, the sticky saliva in your mouth catches germs and prevents them from going inside your body to cause further damage. I didn't know that. Hope all the information is correct.

From all this fuss about "germ theory" is it just that: a theory. Pasteruians want us to believe that disease is caused by invisible tiny animals, well that's a religion if I ever hear of one. And you're welcome to believe that if you want.

I want my children to believe the biblical account of disease: it is caused by sin. Whenever my kids get sick I just tell them that they should be ashamed of themselves and their filthy, sinful thoughts. If they were really sincere in their prayers they wouldn't need their supposed "medicine".

I can't believe that such materialist science indoctrination texts are readily available in schools. What's next? handing out guns at the door?

My children, now 19 and 17, loved this book. I guess they were about 6 and 4 when I got it. Whenever they were sick, we read this book and a Sesame Street book called "It's No Fun to be Sick." Reading these books became a comforting ritual, as well as an easy way to learn some basic science.

This novel is likely to intrigue those fortunate enough to have read it. As the back cover advert explains: "When an intelligent virus and an intelligent machine conspire to seize North America's largest city, then threaten to spread world chaos, the only person who can save humanity is the woman who started it all."

Okay, and that would be Julie Crane, who we first see out in the wilds with her boyfriend Daniel and her preteen daughter Angel. Soon events conspire to lure Julie back to the city, where she's considered a murderess for having spread, 12 years before, the "Darwin" virus (she didn't), a perfect exemplar of the law of unintended consequences. This opening sequence, although beautifully written, somehow feels rather rushed. You may well think this is a sequel (it isn't), as past events are tossed off in a sentence or two, and you'll maybe go a little buggy trying to remember who all these people are--especially since you don't ever get to meet many of them.

But when the story gets going, and divides into multiple points of view, things jell into a neat noir thriller as Julie tries to keep her head above water, and outwit her minders (some of them want to use her; others want to abuse her).

The characters Julie meets in the city are compelling. They're all flawed, some more than others, and there are no clear heroes, no clear villians (even the worst of them have a redeeming quality or two).

Ms. Munteanu's a fine wordsmith, and keeps this part of the tale moving along beautifully, but when she segues on into the resolution she bogs down. You'll be amazed when, presumably after everything has been wrapped up, there are still 50 or so more pages before you. There should have been perhaps half that many. All in all, however, this is a fine novel and one I can recommend.

Full disclosure: The author, an "Amazon Friend," asked me to review this book, and I am happy to do so.

An intelligent virus and an intelligent machine conspire to sieve North America's largest city, then spread world chaos - and the only woman who can save humanity is the one who began the virus. Her return to the city she once fled will lead to a different kind of revolution in this involving story of change, perfect for any collection appealing to avid science fiction readers.

I followed Angel's family through Nina's descriptive imagery, finding myself grasping for information just as the main characters did. And, just as they, I was never sure till the end! I loved the distinctive person / machine linking story lines and though I admittedly was forced to slide over some jargon, I fully enjoyed the plot to the end. Read it!!

I received an interesting sci-fi novel for review awhile back... Darwin's Paradox by Nina Munteanu. I loved the color and flavor of the writing, although it took me awhile before I could really figure out what the background story was. Still, an enjoyable read with plenty of areas for thought and imagination.

The main plotline revolves around Julie Crane. According to the history as written, she's the person who started the spread of Darwin's disease. It was meant to be a beneficial virus that would work in conjunction with humans to improve them. But it didn't quite work out that way, and millions died as a result. She was also accused of the murder of a government official, so she took off with her husband and child to live in the wilderness and avoid those who were after her. Unfortunately, she doesn't stay hidden forever, and she's eventually lured back to the city to address the virus' effect on the artificial intelligence entities that run everything. Unless she can kill the AI and the virus, it's thought that the city is doomed to destruction. But Julie has some other ideas and issues she needs to address, including trying to clear her name from all the false charges she's had against her.

Overall, I liked the book. I'm a pushover for a good near-earth cybernovel, and this falls into that realm. The only thing that bugged me was that it look quite awhile before you really understood what Darwin's disease was, why it was considered a failure, and how Julie figured into the mix. Had that been explained a bit more clearly to start, I think I would have spent less time questioning the plot and more time getting immersed in it. Still, having said all that, it's a great work for a first-time novelist (if Amazon's listings are correct). I wouldn't hesitate to pick up another one of Munteanu's books when and if it comes out...

Munteanu is clearly a writer with big ideas. And those Big Ideas make up the things that are both best and worst about Darwin's Paradox. The future North American world is extremely well developed-- the novel certainly succeeds well at world building. Actually, I felt that there was not quite enough of this aspect in the book. I had a little bit of the feeling that sections had been cut for length, and that I was missing some of the environmental backstory. Whether or not this is actually true, I could have used a little more of the excellent development of the world itself.

The ideas explored in the novel are also very interesting-- utopian planning, scientific engineering gone wrong, the relationship between man and machine-- rich and fertile subjects. No less interesting for the fact that many have already explored these grounds. Again, the fact that Munteanu has thought these things through is very evident. The thinking is quite solid, and I was both interested in and entertained by her various themes.

The characters were less strong. I had particular issues with Julie, who too often seemed a cypher. She drove the plot. She acted, but I did not have the same belief in her motivations as a person as I did the other characters. I am not sure that I could put my finger on what precisely did not work, but she was in all ways just a little bit too much. Angel (Julie's daughter) is a much more notable success. She was one of the bright spots for me.

It may be that the characters suffered from the tension between the Big Ideas and the more traditional romantic thriller plot. I found Munteanu's voice most authentic talking through the big hard stuff. I was not so interested in the romantic and dramatic subplots, and found that they often felt a little bit thrown in on top. The book could have stood (and stood better, IMO) without most of them. I had the feeling that as readers we were not trusted to like the book for its world building alone. Too bad, since I certainly would have done.

In any case, a really interesting first novel. None of the flaws would be likely to keep me from reading a second. Three and a half stars.