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Pearl Harbor Dot Com
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Author: Winn Schwartau
List Price: $9.99
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0962870064
Publisher: Inter-Pact Pr (01 January, 2002)
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Sales Rank: 347,873
Average Customer Rating: 4.2 out of 5
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Customer ReviewsRating: 2 out of 5
Oh no another non-technical computer "cyberthriller"
I borrowed my friends copy of this book, and I'm glad I did because it's not worth the 9 bucks. There is a reason that none of the pages are available for preview... if they were you wouldn't buy this book. If you look at the past reviews they are all by "normal people" and not "computer geeks". This is simply because these books are non-technical cyberbabble with no basis on reality. If you want a book that resonates with the quality of the movie "The Net" or "Fear dot com" then spend the nine bucks and jump on the bandwagon for some cyberposing. You're better off waiting until it comes out as a movie on lifetime... but hopefully that wont be in OUR lifetime.
Rating: 5 out of 5
PsyOps Instructor
This book is, in every way, a winner. It is not only a gripping read and great fun, but it is a truly well-written scenario for an information warfare attack against the U.S. Economy.Several years ago, in his bestselling novel Debt of Honor, Tom Clancy scratched the surface of economic information warfare. In Pearl Harbor.com, Winn Schwartau takes the reader through a weeks-long attack against the national information infrastructure. However, the book is not only a thirller. It is throught-provoking in a number of ways, exploring the true psyche of the hacker community; the dependance that Western Civilization now has on Computers; and the spectre of "what if we had to live without it." This book is must-reading for anyone who has anything to do with information security, homeland defense, or economic security. Schwartau's latest book is not only a thriller, but is a wake-up call that clearly shows the dangers of ignoring our critical information systems.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Big on concept, small on execution
As a work of literature, this book is unsatisfying. It rides entirely on its plot, which is dramatic but uncomplicated. The characters are either forgettable or feel generated from stock materials. The language is often awkward. Schwartau attempts to encompass some broad elements, such as the interactions between government, individual politics, and public policy. Ultimately these topics are only as interesting as the individuals motivating them, and Schwartau's characters were not believable enough to make me buy into (or care about) the political maneuvering being described. The period of denouement was exciting and fun, but I found the ultimate resolution almost entirely unbelievable. The remedy just plain wouldn't work, and at some level that's the point of the book. I think he shied away from the apocalyptic ending he had planned, and the result -- at least for me -- meant that the plot ended with a wimper, and that was most of what this book had going for it. The real protagonist of this story is the internet, and the author definitely knows his computer vulnerabilities. This could work as a teaching story; but that just isn't interesting enough for 500+ pages of fiction. I think this work would have benefited from some aggressive editing. If you are a layman technologist, want some lightweight introduction to computer security, you might enjoy this book. In particular, for anyone unaware of the risks that accompany the benefits of our online, interconnected civilization, this book could be a very interesting read. As for me, I found it thin and overlong.
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