Proxies Books
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Worst book in the seriesReview Date: 2008-07-24
The SQL Injection Adventures of PawnReview Date: 2007-06-14
The prior books were interesting because they introduced the reader to new ideas or new angles on old ideas, then moved on without belaboring them. If you wanted more details, there were often URLs provided. The last two tied the stories together with the intriguing Knuth character. But the folks running the project chose to switch to a new format, with fewer characters and stories, not to mention fewer authors, and fewer ways to split the profits.
After three books with the same (proven) formula, it's understandable the authors would want to try something new. Alas, it's a disaster.
Welcome to "How to Own a Shadow," aka "The SQL Injection Adventures of Pawn." Pawn is one of the new characters in this volume, and is the first StN character I hoped would get shot to death by the cops in a mini-mall parking lot. Yes, he's that irritating. Particularly after reading 40 pages about his childhood as a high-functioning autistic (or something like that), and around 100 pages of him performing SQL injection attacks. Most of which is totally unrelated to Knuth. Note to the authors: SQL injection is interesting, but if you want to write a book about it, just write a book about it. I even gave you a title, what more do you want? You can even recycle much of this book, like you recycled part of the last one here.
Oh, you noticed the real subtitle of the book, "The Chase for Knuth." First, one chases _after_ fugitives, and hunts or searches _for_ them. Not that it matters, because there's not much chasing or hunting going on in this book. There isn't much Knuth, either. We see him in the first hundred pages, which is mostly about his son analyzing poker software. That's the last we see of either of them. Because, really, this is "The Biography of Pawn." We do get 50 pages of Knuth at the end of the book, but don't get excited: it's all from the last book, added as obvious filler.
Speaking of filler, there's a 17 page advertorial thrown in for BiDiBLAH, which is commercial software by SensePost. Oddly enough, they're listed as technical advisors for the book. I'm sure it's a fine app, but the authors have forgotten about Knuth again, since it has nothing to do with the story. If it had been relevant, it might have been a less obnoxious addition.
Not everything is bad. There's a brief bit about RFID, which of course turns into how to use RFID for SQL attacks. We get to meet Knuth's supposedly dead wife, and a charming shrew she is. All in all, though, this book isn't worth reading unless you're a truly devoted fan of the series, or SQL. I'm still a fan of the previous books, and I hope the authors can recapture what made them so intriguing for their next book. I won't be buying that one until I'm sure it's not Book Two of the Pawn Saga, however.
Author "review"Review Date: 2007-04-12
I will, however, address a few reviews posted here. First and foremost, I am a huge fan of the Stealing series, and the authors that worked on each of the three previous books. But based on customer reviews and our own feelings on the matter, the authors unanimously agreed that boosting the story value of the book was a priority. After all, even security geeks deserve a good plot and decent characters if they take the time to read technical fiction. Books of this genre should also teach. By all fair reviews, this book does both. If you're interested in straight fiction, or straight tech, you'll find this book to only be half-good. If you're willing to be entertained, and are looking to learn something cool about hackers and how they operate, this is the book for you. And there I go, drifting into a review.
So let me address one other complaint: the lack of a "real" ending. Well, that's our fault. There's more to the series, and we know how it's going to end, but we adamantly refused to slip another deadline, so the book went to print with a cliffhanger ending. Now we're not out to sell more books or make your life miserable by leaving you hanging, but this book had to either wrap up where it did, or it would have been scrapped by the publisher, who had no real choice in the matter. As authors, we missed our deadlines, but we did it in order to improve the final product. I'm personally proud of the end result, and the reviews show that we have good reason to be proud.
So to long-time Stealing readers, this book is different because we grew in our craft, and our EXTREMELY capable story editor (Scott Pinzon) held us to the standard of mainstream fiction. Will we make the New York Times best-seller list because of our efforts? No. But this book isn't for those readers. It's for those in and around technology that have read one to many straight technical books.
So we would love to hear what you think. Post a review if you'd like, or if you just want to chat about the book, head over to the "book talk" section of my web site's forums (you know where to find it- Google is your friend). I'd love to hear from you.
j0hnny
One of the better installments when it comes to plot and pacing...Review Date: 2007-04-05
There's basically two story-lines here... The first involves Robert Knoll Jr. and his father, and is a continuation from the last book. All the police surveillance and investigations are taking a toll on Junior's life, so he decides to act on his father's cryptic message to head down to Mexico with nothing much more than the clothes on his back (and a large amount of cash). He is contacted by people who work for his father, and is taken down to Costa Rica where Senior runs an on-line poker site. Everything that Junior wants is provided (top of the line, too), and he starts doing some programming and network intel for his father. But he really doesn't have a clue as to what Senior is really up to...
The second story-line involves an autistic kid by the name of Paul Wilson. As he grows up, he starts gaining an interest in computer hacking and solving puzzles involving gaining access to various network sites. He's befriended by an on-line entity known as Rafa who is amazed at how Paul can pick up concepts almost immediately. It helps that he has a photographic memory and is wired such that these types of problems engage him. Rafa starts paying him for "research assignments", and Paul is thinking that he's actually doing legit security work. That, coupled with his intense interest in the martial arts, pretty much absorbs all his time. But he starts to understand a bit of what's really going on when he starts to hack a mysterious local business in order to help out a woman in his dojo. She has an ulterior motive for wanting to use his phenomenal hacking skills, but it may get them both arrested or killed.
From a plot pacing standpoint, I was pleasantly surprised. The other books tended to be a bit more "vignette" in nature, so the overall story suffered. At least here, the plot and technology actually supported each other. Again, it's not New York Times best-seller action-adventure, but it works for this type of approach. Paul seemed to be a bit over-the-top in his skills, but that element was supported by his autism. It stretched credibility at times, but not so much that you started to laugh (or at least I didn't). My biggest disappointment is that there was no plot resolution to either story-line, so it's a given that you'll need to read the next one to see how it turns out. The plotlines are converging, and the next book *should* be pretty good. Still, I would have liked a bit more payoff at the end.
Regardless, this is an interesting book about hacking techniques (complete with code) all wrapped up in an action/adventure plot. I'll be interested to see how they merge the story and carry it on in the next installment...
Entertaining way to learnReview Date: 2007-04-04
There was a cliffhanger ending, and now I'm really looking forward to the next one.

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Wonderfully Refreshing Science FictionReview Date: 2008-09-10
The setup is as follows: two key technologies, a device that can transmit data instantaneously and a brain-computer interface combine to create robots that human beings remotely pilot as if they where in their bodies. The continued advancement of this technology begins to tear basic social fabrics as the line between physical and virtual blurs.
Long And Dull In The Extreme!Review Date: 2004-04-11
Mixed up plot and bad scienceReview Date: 2003-10-20
In another section, one of her "proxy" androids scans an area for "magnetic fields from capacitance sensors". Huh? For one thing, capacitance sensors won't give off a magnetic field, for another, magnetic fields fall off quite rapidly and cannot be sensed from much of a distance without rather complicated sensors. The fact that the book is mid-21st century doesn't remove her obligation to at least describe how the science might work.
These mistakes alone wouldn't merit a 2-star review, but the plot of the book is an utter mess. Sure, you can confuse the reader for the first few pages, if things start to clear up after that. But her use of "proxy jargon" and attempts to rehash events from viewpoints of various proxies really makes no sense at all. And it isn't just proxy jargon, she even has characters using chat slang such as "imho" (In My Humble Opinion" in speech. This is going to confuse a LOT of people. The characters simply don't make up for the plot mess, either, they are utterly 2-dimensional actors, reciting lines to try to help out the story, and not much else.
I normally have no problem suspending disbelief while reading science fiction, but this book just reads like a high school creative writing project, nothing more.
Old Wine in New BottlesReview Date: 2000-05-20
Carli D'Auber is the intrepid heroine who everybody's after, and not always in their own bodies, either (hence the title); the mad scientist and her team are hideously kinky, while Carli's friends are seriously flaky. The multiple point of view plot will leave you dizzy (I doubt even Mixon could have explained it the day she turned it in to her publisher, let alone today), and grasping at loose ends. But no matter. You'll be entertained all the way.
Proxies is a wonderful example of Modern Cyberpunk!Review Date: 1999-11-20

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Poorly substantied tripeReview Date: 2001-05-23
A One-of-a-Kind EffortReview Date: 1999-04-23
A much-needed, but over-reaching, critiqueReview Date: 2000-03-18
One of the premises of this book is that MBPS is rampantly over-identified, and is in fact used as a tool for the continued subjugation of women. I am surprised at this claim, since in my experience social workers, physicians, psychologists, child protection workers, judges, and other professionals display either complete ignorance of the disorder or, if they know what it is, a high degree of denial and reluctance to acknowledge it. This is far from the picture painted by the authors of a Salem-witch-trial frenzy.
The simple fact is that there are people out there who, for various reasons, either invent or exaggerate their children's symptoms OR induce those symptoms. The question is WHY this happens. Sometimes it happens because the parent is seeking material gain. And sometimes it happens because of more complex motives, because in some way the parent is seeking the less tangible rewards of the sick role -- BY PROXY. This latter type of motive is what is involved in MBPS. Notice that there is a wealth of philosophical and sociological questions one could pose here that would also accord with the authors' basic assumptions: What features of modern society might be exerting pressure on mothers to fabricate illness in their children? What does this say about the availability of social supports for women in societies like the US? What pathologies of relationships might be involved here?
I greatly value the kind of analysis presented in this book. There is no question that, especially in the area of psychological disorder, societal forces play a huge role in the construction and identification of pathology. (I highly recommend, in this connection, Arthur Kleinman's book _Social Origins of Distress and Disease_. Nevertheless, I think that it is important to remember that when MBPS is alleged, it is USUALLY alleged by mental health or child welfare professionals who are highly well-intentioned and, above all, careful in their assessments. It is not a matter of judgmental social workers going of half-cocked blaming mothers for their childrens' illnesses. MBPS is a diagnosis that is made only after a lot of hand-wringing and searching for other possibilities.
In my opinion, there is at least as much philosophical interest in the question of what makes so many women fabricate illness in their children as there is in the question of society's interest in creating such a disorder. But this book is a valuable entry in what I hope will be a continuing conversation among philosophers, sociologists, social workers, physicians, and other thinkers.
I would very much like to sign my name to this review, but because of the work that I do and where I do it, I can't. But I'll keep watching these reviews to see if anyone has a comment on what I've said!

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Its GreatReview Date: 1999-02-03
Good study guideReview Date: 1999-02-03
Terrible editing/proof reading - skip this one!Review Date: 1999-01-12
Folks experienced in Proxy will wonder why Sybex slipped so badly, intermediate users will find it a challenge to spot the errors and correct them, the inexperienced will feel lost, bewildered & frustrated.
Skip this book, wait for the second edition, or use it as a 2nd or 3rd book to expand on another book on the same topic. Don't depend on *this* one for "Test Success".
On the other hand, Sybex has also published their MCSE Proxy Server 2.0 Study Guide, which is excellent.

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Sad but TRUE Review Date: 2008-02-07
OutdatedReview Date: 2003-07-07
This is not an accepted diagnosis by any medical body...not the AMA or the American Psychiatric Assoc.
Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome: Misunderstood Child AbuseReview Date: 2000-06-01

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An important work from an acknowledged expert in the field.Review Date: 1999-07-03
A wonderful law enforcement field guideReview Date: 2004-05-24
Over-priced and Out Dated!Review Date: 2003-07-06
Child abuse can not be diagnosied by warning signs and attention-seeking behavior can only be diagnosed by a qualified professional once a crime has been established by medical fact.

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for begginer, it only explains basic elements in PBX, and basic terms of VoIP with AsteriskReview Date: 2007-03-08
This book give an intruduction to the basics elements in PBX,
and when talking abount VoIP, it just make reference to Asterisk Configurations
and about security, please this book only make reference to some basic of security isues
Practical VoIP SecurityReview Date: 2007-01-11

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DisappointingReview Date: 2008-04-15
I wonder if he's really into these deviant acts or if he just gets off on being subversive. He really doesn't make a strong point. He just sounds like someone who had severe childhood trauma and has absolutely no capacity for empathy or compassion. I don't think he's evil or even necessarily dangerous. He just needed more love as a kid and not the kind that includes penetration.
FRESH BLOODReview Date: 2006-01-20

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Too much useless informationReview Date: 2001-04-12
Good book to use for a study guide!Review Date: 2000-05-10
Worst Sybex book I've ever encounteredReview Date: 2001-02-17
Not as good as other SybexReview Date: 2000-09-05
Also, some of the sample questions at the end of the chapter were not sample 'exam' questions - they were essay/short answer.
Piece of CakeReview Date: 2000-10-29
If you have half a brain you will pass in your sleep. I never would have though that I could score so high -- 962!

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Not completeReview Date: 2001-06-01
PoorReview Date: 2000-12-31
I blew the proxy server exam away with a score in the 900s. This book gave me no help, though. (By the way, I had never used IIS before I started studying for the test, let alone take the test.)
It is very poorly organized, horribly written, hard to follow, does not cover the objectives in any way, and the review questions are horrible.
Excellent Book.Review Date: 2001-12-27
Save Some Time for Yourself, Too.Review Date: 2001-01-05
MCSE, A+, Network+, i-Net+
Hey people, maybe it�s YOU!Review Date: 2001-07-03
I had no intention of reviewing this book, since I passed my Proxy test back in the summer of '98, but after reading these absurd reviews I felt compelled to defend the book. Some people have made the effort to defend the book by stating that IIS is something that should be taken/mastered first. What a crock. I've never taken an IIS test and I never will. I couldn't possibly care less about being a web master, or web server baby sitter. I'm a network engineer, and using a proxy server to manage traffic flows is part of what I do. If you don't understand TCP/IP, don't bother. If you are naïve enough to assume that the world begins and ends with Microsoft Windows NT, don't bother. Take another elective.
I took the Proxy test to complete my MCSE because I thought it would be an extremely easy test, and all I would need to pass is the Exam Cram and Exam Prep books, with about a week of study time, and boy was I right. I had used MS Proxy 1.0 at a previous job, but had never touched Proxy 2, and wouldn't any time soon. With no experience with the software (which is to say that I never saw MS Proxy 2.0, ever.) and no practice test software to fall back on I used nothing but the Exam Cram and Exam Prep books and walked in and blew away the test. This is one of the BEST Exam Cram books I've ever used, and to be frank it wasn't a big deal since the MS Proxy Server 2.0 test is far and away the easiest certification test I've ever taken, to include the Citrix CCA exams and the CompTIA Network+. If you used this book and didn't pass the test, odds are that the book wasn't the problem and you should consider a new career field in the housekeeping or fast food preparation industries.
Exam Cram rocked, as usual.
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Now forget all that because the excellent story format of the first three books has been dumped. The whole book now is written by just three guys and they're not very good writers. Knuth the shadowy arch villian escapes the clutches of the NSA only set up seedy poker website and spend his time sampling the local prostitutes. We meet a new character pawn, who is a naieve ninja(literally) hacker extrodinaire, the only way he could be more awesome would be if he was a pirate as well as a ninja. How someone could be such an accomplished hacker and so freaking naieve I have no idea, you'd think the person who spends his whole day breaking into other peoples computers would be a little bit more paranoid about his interpersonal interactions instead of just trusting every person who tries to exploit him.
To top it all off, nothing happens in this book, we introduce 3 new characters and that is it. Nothing else of consequence.
I can only assume the authors got greedy and decided that they didn't want to cut anyone else in on this book so they could take all the money for themselves. They also seems to have decided that 1 book wouldn't give them enough money so they artificially elongated it and turn it into 2 books, hey maybe it's a triology who knows, this could be the next Star Wars, they can all be George Lucas.
Basically if you loved the other 3 books steer clear of this one, it stinks.