A Hacker's Mind

How the Powerful Bend Society's Rules, and How to Bend Them Back

By: Bruce Schneier

Narrated by: Dan John Miller

Legendary cybersecurity expert and New York Times best-selling author Bruce Schneier reveals how using a hacker’s mindset can change how you think about your life and the world.

A hack is any means of subverting a system’s rules in unintended ways. The tax code isn’t computer code, but a series of complex formulas. It has vulnerabilities; we call them “loopholes.” We call exploits “tax avoidance strategies.” And there is an entire industry of “black hat” hackers intent on finding exploitable loopholes in the tax code. We call them accountants and tax attorneys.

In A Hacker’s Mind, Bruce Schneier takes hacking out of the world of computing and uses it to analyze the systems that underpin our society: from tax laws to financial markets to politics. He reveals an array of powerful actors whose hacks bend our economic, political, and legal systems to their advantage, at the expense of everyone else.

Once you learn how to notice hacks, you’ll start seeing them everywhere—and you’ll never look at the world the same way again. Almost all systems have loopholes, and this is by design. Because if you can take advantage of them, the rules no longer apply to you.

Unchecked, these hacks threaten to upend our financial markets, weaken our democracy, and even affect the way we think. And when artificial intelligence starts thinking like a hacker—at inhuman speed and scale—the results could be catastrophic.

But for those who would don the “white hat,” we can understand the hacking mindset and rebuild our economic, political, and legal systems to counter those who would exploit our society. And we can harness artificial intelligence to improve existing systems, predict and defend against hacks, and realize a more equitable world.

©2023 Bruce Schneier (P)2023 Recorded Books

Excellent book for non tech savvy people

Really enjoyed it and finished the book, but if you are up to date with tech you probably do not need ro read thus book.

A new take on an old topic

A Hacker’s Mind

I was initially drawn to A Hacker’s Mind after reading about it in Bruce Schneier’s monthly newsletter. Being a cybersecurity professional I soon realized that the content was all review, and I would gain little value.

I kept at it because my daughter is interested in my craft. I wanted to complete and recommend to her. And, I am now grateful with my own decision. After a few chapters Schneier took me out of familiar ground and into hacking society. All topics were relatable from multiple angles. I could not put it down until I heard the sign off message, “Audible hopes that you have enjoyed this program.”

Kudos to Bruce for his best yet. And, standing ovation to “Dan Hohn Miller” on his narration.

Repetitive. Will Age Fast.

This book is kinda interesting because it relates to topics that are currently happening. The fact that it discussed ChatGPT v3 shows that. But the newness will fade quickly and the anecdotal tales will become uninteresting. There comes a point in the book where you have already heard the same message repeatedly and it gets old fast. There is no promotion of higher level thinking either to help the reader get to a place that promotes the processes that lead to hacks.

All good.

Well, there was a bit of repetition, this was an overall very informative book.
Narration was great.

Kind of boring

Nothing new here. the author is an accomplished individual in Cybersecurity, but this is honestly a boring read. at least for me

Incredible

Amazing!

Loved every second of it!!! I can’t wait to read more from this author!!!

Informational to preachy

Good information on what hacking is in the beginning. Turns into a luddite manifesto in the second half as the author explains that technology should only advance at the speed of bureaucracy. It's kind of funny to listen to in that regard.

Great book.

The content of the book is excellent. The author makes some points about hacking which are offensive to some politically, but are the reality of how people hack systems. I will read more titles by this author, he really is an expert. The narrator is a little too fast for me though, so you may need to slow down the playback.

Good Book

Good book. Definitely worth the time. Not all examples are accurate. I spotted a few. The message is what matters.

Thought-provoking!

Although some of the specifics (AI examples) may become dated, I found the underlying reasoning for *why* hacks exist and *who* tries to control them to be very thought-provoking. It’s not a simple question, and should inspire the questions:
What hacks do I use?
Do I feel good about them?
Is it possible for someone else to use that hack against me?