Yes, this is probably an "oldie" to most hackers out there... but just last week I became a self-proclaimed stupendous badass by finishing this 1000 page monster. The book is great and a recommended read to hackers and generally avid readers alike. Some things I found interesting:
The friend who lent me the book noted that it will take a few pages before you get into it... 300 is the count he quoted -- which is about the length of most books I'd normally read. I thought this particular page may have been when Lawrence Waterhouse gets a hummer from a girl (who later turns out to be a German spy) while he's supposed to be operating WWII code-interception equipment.
That was good, but what really got me is a few pages later when Bobby Shaftoe and Lawrence Waterhouse are in a wrecked u-boat trying to free the captains safe from the wreck by the use of explosives (while the ship is teetering on a reef, about to go down).
Strangely enough, I found myself especially looking forward to the military misadventures of Lawrence Waterhouse and Bobby Shaftoe rather than the cat-and-mouse games of Randy Waterhouse and his business ventures. Although Neal Stephenson perfectly cranks up the drama in Randy's world as the stories of Lawrence and Bobby wayne.
The technical details of the book were well thought out and executed. The paperback I read included a cryptography appendix written by the author of "Applied Cryptography", who I think was a technical advisor. They even go through an example of encrypting a message in a deck of cards that you could easily do yourself.
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