Science and Inquiry discussion

For August 2025, we had a tie for the book selection. You can read whichever book you prefer.

This thread is for one of the winners, Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin D. Mitnick.

Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

Is anyone reading this book?

Just today I started reading this book. While Kevin Mitnick was a teenager, he was skating on the edge of legality. He says that he never hacked into places for personal gain -- he was only trying to challenge himself. I'm sure he annoyed people, but he didn't steal things for personal gain.

Well . . . he did make lots of phone calls for free, so in a sense he was stealing from the phone company. Occasionally he would share his exploits with other hackers. Sometimes the other hackers would then betray him to the authorities.

Neither of the August books appealed to me but I have already started on the September book, The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, and Happiness

My husband asked me what the book was this month for "Science and Inquiry" and when I told him about this one, he wanted to hear about it and I was forced to admit that I wasn't reading it. Now I'm thinking of going to the library and picking it up so I have something to tell him. From the little bit David says above it sounds like it might be interesting, but I'm not a biography fan. Is it very long? Are some sections skimmable? Is skimmable a word? Ha!

Jessica wrote: "My husband asked me what the book was this month for "Science and Inquiry" and when I told him about this one, he wanted to hear about it and I was forced to admit that I wasn't reading it. Now I'm..."

Jessica, I am almost finished with the book. It is an autobiography, more like a memoir. There are a couple of interesting things in the book:
1) I had originally thought that "hacking" meant spending hours on a computer, exploring and illegally modifying code or data. There is some of that in the story. But the more interesting part is what the author calls "social engineering". This is a term used to describe the hundreds of phone conversations with strangers. Using tricks to make a phone call look like it was coming from inside an organization, the author would ask for data transfers and sometimes passwords. Sometimes the person on the other end of the line would get suspicious, but usually he or she would be eager to comply. The author was often surprised by how easy it was.

2) I was surprised that this hacking was really an addiction. The author did not apply hacking techniques for personal gain. The purpose was simply for the challenge. Acquiring data and software was itself like a trophy. But even when he knew that the authorities were on his tail, he could not help himself. He continued hacking to gain information, to cover up his tracks. And when the government prosecuted him, they supplemented his actual crimes with more grievous crimes that were fictitious.

David wrote: "Jessica wrote: "My husband asked me what the book was this month for "Science and Inquiry" and when I told him about this one, he wanted to hear about it and I was forced to admit that I wasn't rea..."

Thanks David. I did find the book at the library so I will peruse it but I don't think I have time to read the whole thing.

I also thought that hacking involved hours spent hitting the keyboard.

I finished reading this book. It is entertaining. But I am really worked up about the amount of emotional pain he caused for his mother and grandmother. Here is my review.