Non-biased approach for beginners...
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I found this book to be pretty easy to get into, with a lot of things I didn't know about (I'm a newbie). I can see it as limiting to someone who's been doing their own research on-line, but for those that don't have the unlimited access and want to learn a little for low cost, this it a good book.
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Fact checking needed
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The book needed more fact checking, as there were several inaccuracies when discussing aspects of the computer underground. Lacking in details of true underground information. It appeared that the author finished his resaearch 5 years ago and never bothered to update it before finally publishing.
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Good for newbies, but not for the well-seasoned.
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"Steal This Computer Book" is a good introduction to the existence of the dark side of computing, but there's not a whole lot here for the advanced user. Some chapters just seem to be lists of reference material (URLs, mostly); others provide some in-depth info on specific topics. If you're looking for a "how-to" guide, this is not the book for you. The final chapter, "Hostile Java Applets," contains the entire code of three such applets, but has no explanation of how they work -- if you don't already know Java, this chapter will do almost nothing for you. It has the feel of an author who has some basic knowledge of the subject, and has read some other books or articles on the topic, but then went and found some things and just pasted them into his book. The section on phreaking is the same way. My advice? Buy this book, read it all the way through and copy down all the URLs, and then return it. Even advanced users (like, I daresay, myself) will have gained some additional perspective on certain matters, though a good amount of the material needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Newbies certainly should read this book, to gain at least a basic groundwork of knowledge (if not understanding) about the topics presented herein.
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Good, but needs more 'geek' detail
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I found this book to be worth my money, and a little more. It explained basic security on the net and takes a nice cynical look at the gov. on the net. But, this book lacks some details, big ones actually, such as details on L0phtCrack, Tripwire and other such 'security' programs. I would recommend this book to a novice looking for a place to start. For inter.-advanced users I would suggest something else.
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Not Bad for newbies
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If you're a newbies in hacking, this book cover almost everything but it's not in detail.
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