Book Description
Under Andy Grove's leadership, Intel has become the world's largest chip maker and one of the most admired companies in the world. In
Only the Paranoid Survive, Grove reveals his strategy of focusing on a new way of measuring the nightmare moment every leader dreads--when massive change occurs and a company must, virtually overnight, adapt or fall by the wayside.
Grove calls such a moment a Strategic Inflection Point, which can be set off by almost anything: mega-competition, a change in regulations, or a seemingly modest change in technology. When a Strategic Inflection Point hits, the ordinary rules of business go out the window. Yet, managed right, a Strategic Inflection Point can be an opportunity to win in the marketplace and emerge stronger than ever.
Grove underscores his message by examining his own record of success and failure, including how he navigated the events of the Pentium flaw, which threatened Intel's reputation in 1994, and how he has dealt with the explosions in growth of the Internet. The work of a lifetime,
Only the Paranoid Survive is a classic of managerial and leadership skills.
The Currency Paperback edition of
Only the Paranoid Survive includes a new chapter about the impact of strategic inflection points on individual careers--how to predict them and how to benefit from them.
Customer Reviews:
Great Insight Into a Business Leader's World.......2007-10-20
This book covers the history of Intel, some great stories, his management approach and even the daily regime of a business warrior. I highly recommend. And another thing I like - it is relatively short.
Enriching Personal Real-Life Account by Someone Who Had Managed a Mega-Size Corporation!!! .......2007-03-20
The real value of this book is that it is written by someone, Andrew Grove, who has actual experiences and managed a start-up right up to a mega successful corporation. There are tons of management and marketing books written by people, based on case-studies and analysis, but lack actual experiences managing or working in a corporation.
The main concept of this book is on strategic inflection point, which is a time in the life of the business when its fundamentals are about to change. This change can either infer an opportunity to rise to new heights or signal the beginning of the end. Hence, this book is about the impact of changing rules, guidelines to assist in identifying those situations and about finding your way through those uncharted territories. This book serves to raise our awareness of going through cataclysmic changes and to provide a framework in which to deal with them.
This book uses Porter's competitive analysis strategy in terms of the 6 forces as a base. The 6 forces are
1. Power, vigor and competence of existing competitors
2. Power, vigor and competence of complementors
3. Power, vigor and competence of customers
4. Power, vigor and competence of suppliers
5. Power, vigor and competence of potential competitors
6. Power, vigor and competence of substitutes
Once a very large change happens in one or several of these 6 forces, a "10X" force is in effect. Very often the transition from a normal business environment to that of a "10X" business environment is very gradual and thus, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact time in which the "10X" force came about. Strategic inflection point comes about when this balance of forces shifts from the normal environment to that of the new "10X" environment and it is difficult to pinpoint its exact occurrence.
The circumstances that help to identify this strategic inflection point are
1. Presence of troubling sense that something is different such as changes in customers' attitudes, entrant of new competitors, etc.
2. Growing dissonance or misalignment between corporate statements and operation actions.
3. Emergence of new framework or actions.
4. New set of corporate statements is generated.
Andrew gave an analogy of working your way though a strategic inflection point to be just like venturing into the valley of death, the perilous transition between the old and the new environments. It is difficult to know the right moment to execute the appropriate actions. Since timing is everything, it is attractive to undertake these changes when the company is in a healthy financial state. This means "acting when not everything is known, when the data aren't in.", merely relying on "instinct and personal judgments" (Chapt 2). Hence it is a matter of training your instincts to pick up a different set of signals.
The only way we know whether a change signals a strategic inflection point is through the process of clarification that comes from broad and intensive debate. This debate should involve technical discussions, marketing discussions and considerations of strategic repercussions (how will it affect our business if we make a dramatic move; how will it affect if we don't?). The more complex the issues are, the more levels of management should be involved because people from different levels of management bring completely different points of view and expertise. The debate should involve people from outside the company, customers and partners with different areas of expertise and interests. When dealing with emerging trends, you may very well have to go against rational extrapolation of data and rely instead on anecdotal observations and your instincts. (chapter 6). Constructively debating tough issues and getting somewhere is only possible when people can speak their minds without fear of punishment.
Andrew offers a few guidelines to discern "signal" from "noise"
1. Is your key competitor about to change? Suggested using the "silver bullet test": If you had just one bullet, whom among your many competitors would you save it for? When the answer to this question stops being as crystal clear, it is time to sit up and pay special attention.
2. Is your key complementor about to change? Does the company that in the past years mattered the most to your business seem less important today? Does it look like another company is about to eclipse them? If so, it may be a sign of shifting industry dynamics.
3. Does it seem that people who for years had been very competent have suddenly gotten decoupled from what really matters? If key aspects of the business shift around us, the very process that got us where we were might retard your ability to recognize the new trends.
Generally you cannot judge the significance of the strategic inflection point by the quality of the first version or release of the product. You will need to draw on your experiences to discern its possible impacts.
Strategic dissonance is the divergence between actions and statements; saying one thing and doing another. Strategic dissonance is an automatic reaction to a strategic inflection point that probing for it is perhaps the best test of one.
Clarity of direction, which includes describing what we are going after, as well as, describing what we will not be going after, is exceedingly important at the late stage of a strategic transformation. This book defines strategic plans as statements of what we intend to do, whereas strategic actions as steps we have already taken or are taking. Strategic plans are abstract and are usually couched in language meant for the company's management. Strategic actions matter because they immediately affect people's lives. The most effective way to transform a company is through a series of incremental changes that are consistent with a clearly articulated end result.
This book mentions the "Taillight" approach - some companies may profitably wait for others to test the limits of technological possibilities or market acceptance and then commit to following, catching up and passing them.
A question that often comes up at times of strategic transformation is whether you should pursue a highly focused approach, betting everything on one strategic goal or should you hedge. It takes every erg of energy in your organization to do a good job pursuing one strategic aim, especially in the face of aggressive and competent competition. It is hard to lead the organization out of the valley of death without a clear and simple strategic direction. Demoralized organizations are unlikely to be able to deal with multiple objectives. Thus, hedging is expensive and dilutes commitment, and is not recommended.
"Most companies don't die because they are wrong; most die because they don't commit themselves... The greatest danger is in standing still" (Chapter 8).
The leader needs to show interest in the elements leading to the strategic direction, by getting involved in details that are appropriate to the new direction and by withdrawing attention, energy and involvement from those things that do not fit. At times like this, the calendar is the most important strategic tools in communication. Andrew emphasizes that communicating strategic change in an interactive exposed fashion is important and necessary such as corporate email announcements and meetings, etc.
Companies that successfully navigate through strategic inflection points tend to have a good dialectic between bottom-up and top-down actions. Bottom-up actions come from the ranks of middle managers, who by the nature of their jobs are exposed to the first whiffs of the winds of change, who are located at the peripheral of the action where change is first perceived and who catch on early. But by the nature of their work, they can only affect things locally. Their actions must meet halfway the actions generated by senior management. While those managers are isolated from the winds of change, but once they commit themselves to a new direction, they can affect the strategy of the entire organization. The best results seem to prevail when bottom-up and top-down actions are equally strong. When the top management lets go a little, the bottom-up actions will drive towards chaos by experimenting, by pursuing different product strategies, by generally pulling the company in a multiplicity of directions. After such creative chaos reigns and a direction becomes clear, it is up to senior management to reign in chaos. A pendulum-like swing between the 2 types of actions is the best way to work your way through a strategic transformation. What is needed is a balanced interaction between the middle managers, with their deep knowledge but narrow focus and senior management, whose larger perspective could set a context.
An organization that has a culture that can deal with these 2 phases - debate (chaos reign) and a determined march (chaos reined in) is a powerful, adaptive organization. Such an organization has 2 important attributes:
1. It tolerates and even encourages debates. These debates are vigorous, devoted to exploring issues, indifferent to rank and include individuals of varied backgrounds.
2. It is capable of making and accepting clear decisions, with the entire organization then supporting the decision.
This book emphasizes on the concepts by reliving a few of Intel's crisis; the mid-80s shift from memory to microprocessors business, RISC vs CISC architecture and during the fall of 1994 the floating point bug associated with Intel's flagship device; the Pentium processor. The magnitude of this crisis is so significant in that a tiny flaw in the microprocessor's floating point unit could mushroom into half a billion dollars' worth of damage in less than 6 weeks. This was later narrowed down to 2 key factors. First the success of Intel's merchandising "Intel Inside" program, which has projected a strong Intel image right to the end-user, became a double-edge sword in that end users directly contact Intel for a replacement microprocessor. In a normal incidence, it is likely to be the computer manufacturers who will perform the recall and replacement. But Intel's identity is so strong with the end-users that they became the ones asking for a recall and replacement. Second, the other factor is attributed to Intel's sheer size. Intel had become gigantic in the eyes of the computer buyers. And thus the huge cost in replacement.
This book also relates the transition of the computer industry in the 80s vertical alignment to that in the 90s; the horizontal alignment. This came about with the appearance of the microprocessor and then the personal computer. The "10X" force came about when the technology permitted the integration of several chips into one single chip and this same microprocessor enabled the production of all kinds of personal computers. As the microprocessor became the basic building block, economics of mass production worked its charm giving extremely cost-effective PCs. Over time, this changed the entire structure of the industry and a new horizontal industry emerged. As a result of this trend, companies previously successful in the vertical alignment, but who failed to adapt or recognize this "10X" force failed and no longer existed today. Examples are Wang and Cray. At the same time, this change also spelled opportunities for new entrants such as Dell and Compaq. Thus when an industry goes through a strategic inflection point, the practitioners of the old industry may have trouble, while on the other hand, this new environment provides opportunities for new entrants into this industry.
The key characteristics of horizontal industries is that they live and die by mass production and mass marketing, bringing cost-effective solutions and more specialization, i.e the best in class for that particular market segment such as TV monitors, memory, storage devices, etc.
The new rules of the horizontal industry are
1. Do not differentiate without a difference. Do not introduce improvements whose only purpose is to give you an advantage over your competitor without giving your customer a substantial advantage. Example is a "better PC" departed from the mainstream standard and hence giving rise to software incompatibility.
2. Grab opportunity when there is a technology break or change coming along.
3. Price for what the market will bear. Price for volume. Work like the devil on your costs so that it becomes profitable. This leads to economies of scale whereby by being a large-volume supplier, you can spread and recoup those costs. In contrast, cost-based pricing will often lead you into a niche position.
To be a leader or survivor in a horizontal and commoditized industry, this book provides some food for thought. A prime example is Intel exiting the commoditized memory industry in which they were once in the lead, until the entrance of the Japanese manufacturers.
Rhetoric and boring!.......2007-01-11
This book is rhetoric and boring with a few examples of successful and unsuccessful ventures so I started reading about Grove and his background.
The influence of communism in his early years seems to have put Grove in the paranoia groove. The culture of paranoia is clearly seen in Intel's business today- slow decision making, trust issues with employees and even customers!
Hire and fire culture has made the remaining employees work the system to `survive' rather than innovate and thrive.
Compare and contrast this Apple or for that matter even AMD and you will realize these companies are more in tune with their customers and employees (and hence their stock holders) in terms of basic trust.
We are not in a communist environment anymore. By being paranoid Grove's Intel has proved, you can only survive and barely at that.
Only for business managers?.......2006-08-28
Contrary to popular opinion on this website, I found this book to be boring, repetitive and badly written. It was so boring I struggled to finish it during a journey where I had little else to do. This book summarizes a few events that were significant to Intel and offers advice on how similar business changes should be handled. Being an engineer, and not a manager, I found this to be vague and rambling. However I do agree with the book's title - Only the Paranoid survive. I think this outlook is useful for everyone, and not just business types.
Lengthy Writing.......2006-01-27
I picked up this book after seeing some good reviews about it.
The whole book is about "Strategic Reflection Point".
I was disappointed that Andy Grove didn't try to explain SRP in a more concrete manner. After finishing the book, I still have very vague & abstract knowledge on SRP.
Nevertheless, Andy Grove is still one of the best CEOs I admired.
Book Description
This straightforward, practical, and complete guide to mastering the powerful and complex OpenBSD operating system, is for the experienced UNIX user who wants to add OpenBSD to his or her repertoire. The author assumes a knowledge of basic UNIX commands, design, and permissions. The book takes you through the intricacies of the platform and teaches how to manage your system, offering friendly explanations, background information, troubleshooting suggestions, and copious examples throughout.
Customer Reviews:
If your are a Unix novice to an expert , get this book..........2007-06-27
I had been working with Unix and Linux flavors for sometime, and this book has been a blessing for me. I need a book that was willing to detail every aspect of the OpenBSD ( at least the most relevant), kernel, workarounds, etc. And it does its job. Many Thanks,ed
Best of luck with this purchase.......2007-05-10
I purchased this book from Amazon on March 4th, 2007. Two months and five days later, after two conversations with Amazon employees who assured me that I would receive the book, they still have not shipped it.
It appears that Amazon simply does not have the book. I phoned the publisher, No Starch Press, and they don't have a copy either. A PDF is available for download, but that's all.
At this writing, the Amazon listing still says that the book "usually" ships in one to two weeks. Amazon is apparently selling a product that it does not have to sell.
If you want this book, you might do better to buy one of the used ones.
The OpenBSD bible ... a must-have for security freaks.......2007-01-05
I'm no security freak, but I love the OpenBSD concept: security above all. When I took a course in Unix operating systems, I was introduced to OpenBSD, and recommended to purchase this text. Albeit outdated (it covers version 3.2, and OpenBSD is now at 4.0), the book offers an overview of all the basics, including 3 whole chapters on the pf firewall.
Because of its general nature, the author, Lucas, does not solely focus on pf, but instead adds flair to an extremely hostile operating system environment. I don't recall ever working with a more difficult system from scratch. Lucas really helped in getting me through some of the more cryptic areas of installation and configuration. The book itself is quite basic, so if you need something specific, like a korn shell book, look elsewhere. His style also makes the book itself a fun read, I must admit, because of his colorful presentation.
I've had this book for more than a year now.
This may be the most fun textbook-with-no-pictures I've ever read.
The Only Reference Book.......2006-06-01
Realy I bought the book, I didn't have any OpenBSD contact and I bought the OpenBSD CDs to try it and play, and the book arrived before the OpenBSD's CDs and I begun to read, and learned me how to install OpenBSD, When the CDs arrived realy was very easy to install and get my first steeps in this OS.
Great.......2005-06-13
So many computer books today are 800 pages of word bloat. Michael not only keeps the writing lively, but in K&R fashion, he gives a lot of information in a succint way. Highly recommended and an easy read. Also note, he gives a complete picture of openbsd from A-Z Not too tedious and not too broad. I have not found a linux book this nice.
Customer Reviews:
A Book of Timeless Wisdom.......2007-09-06
Throughout the ages the "paranoid style" has been used to arouse public indignation and to attack established institutions and/or entrenched traditions that have grown ineffectual. Usually, the darkest and most abhorrent aspects of the accuser's personality are projected onto the hated enemy. Moreover, the true menace is sometimes seen as a malaise that lurks in a nation's midst rather than as something that exists outside its borders. And these chimeras tend to be the shadow projections of the idealistic personality (that is deeply concerned with the moral decay of the society around them) rather than realistic assessments of the true dangers that exist in the objective world. It gives the paranoid the illusion of control since there is little or nothing they can do about world opinion outside his or her borders, although they often imagine this to be so. As a consequence, many foreign policy initiatives are doomed to failure because a distorted picture of the world is being refracted through what amounts to a narrow, insular prism. That is, instead of viewing startling political developments throughout the world as complex historical processes that are unfolding for entirely legitimate reasons they might be seen as betrayals or acts of deliberate defiance. Especially when the vital interests of the observer are threatened.
Then too, Americans have often seen any failure as the work of people within our own government who allowed such things to happen. For if some of our own people are to blame for our weakness, then we do not have to deny "the myth of American Omnipotence."
This is an ideal time to read Hofstadter's book. It was written in the 1950s and 60s, so you get an excellent feel for postwar America (after the bomb) and the advent of the Cold War. Hofstadter's account of the McCarthy Era and Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign (of 1964) is quite instructive. An astute reader will notice many parallels with today. But he also discusses earlier periods of our history when the paranoid style was in its infancy, and yet was destined to become the genesis of the "liberal-conservative" split that is with us to this day.
One fascinating period was the 1890s, the era of Populist William Jennings Bryan and the "Free Silver Movement," which went down in defeat to William McKinley in the presidential election of 1896. Prior to McKinley's victory there was also public outrage over Spain's oppression of Cuba. And although McKinley did not advocate war with Spain, nor did Republican business leaders that had financed his campaign, he was swept into the Spanish-American War by the spirit of the times. Having filled up the continent with Westward expansion and the dream of "Manifest Destiny," many Americans felt a sudden lack of opportunity and purpose. But after Admiral Dewey's sudden victory in Manila Bay Americans began to grapple with their "Duty and Destiny" in an increasingly imperialistic world that they thought was filled with decadent and dangerous foreign powers.
There is no way to summarize the exquisite detail in Hofstadter's book. One must read it and ponder its many lessons. For the sum of its parts are greater than the whole. Good history always makes us realize that there really is nothing new under the sun, and yet, there most certainly IS! Mark Twain said it best when he joked: "History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes."
Politics as pathology.......2006-11-08
This book is as relevant now as it was when it was first written. An excellent blend of accuracy and eloquence.
Differentiating Conservatism from Fringe Lunacy.......2001-12-06
During the fifties, and up to the time of his death in the sixties, Richard Hofstadter was one of America's most renowned historians with two Pulitzer Prizes to his credit. He was at his intellectual peak when, as one of America's eminent authorities of his country's political ideologies, he tackled the developing phenomenon of the early sixties' right wing extremism under the guise of conservatism. He differentiates between the traditional American conservatism espoused by the likes of President Herbert Hoover and Senator Robert Taft alongside the venom of Robert Welch's John Birch Society, in which, as the group's idea man, Welch referred to Dwight D. Eisenhower as a "dedicated and conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy."
Hoftstadter delineates how fringe rightist elements took over the Republican Party and rallied behind the banner of Arizona's Senator Barry M. Goldwater, resulting in one of the party's most calamitous losses in the 1964 presidential election against incumbent Democratic president, Lyndon B. Johnson.
The work has a timely ring as an historical analytical measuring rod in comprehending the activities of current right wing movements, such as the Christian Right behind the banners of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and its link to the militant anti-abortion movement, alongside earlier rightist political philosophies and their vigorous adherents such as Welch and television commentator Dan Smoot.
Devastating, yes; clairvoyant, no.......2001-04-28
Granted that Prof. Hofstadter's evaluation of the "pseudo-conservatism" of the Goldwater campaign is rather patronizing, and that, too optimistically, he predicted that the paranoid style was condemned to permanent minority status. Otherwise, the book is a prescient and devastating analysis of the breathless mindset on display, mainly from the Right, over the last ten years or so. Just last November right-wing commentators as bright and well-educated as George F. Will were fulminating against Gore's "slow-motion coup" in Florida, and lesser conservatives were passing the word that President Clinton was about to seize dictatorial powers. The fact that the most conservative president since Reagan--maybe since the Roaring 20s--is currently sitting in the Oval Office, courtesy of a hypocritical decision by a quintet of conservative Supreme Court justices, means nothing to the conservatives immersed in the paranoid style. THEY didn't subvert the system; they saved the U.S. from the liberals, the liberals, the liberals.
Back in 1964, Prof. Hofstadter noted that people who think like this tend to imitate the massive conspiracies they imagine threatening themselves. Writing in an era that still resembled the stereotypical 1950s more than the stereotypical 1960s, Hofstadter did not forsee the current power of the paranoid style. But the title essay of his book nails it right to the wall. Reading it, I feared for my country.
The perennial work in the field of American paranoia.......2000-04-26
Though wacky folks here and there may be offended by Hofstadter, social and political scientists recognize this work as the perennial analysis of American paranoia as a social phenomenon.
Book Description
The stakes have just been raised for psychologist Alan Gregory: His friend and fellow therapist Hannah Grant has died at the office, mysteriously and suddenly. The police are baffled, leaving another apparent homicide unsolved in Boulder, Colorado. Only Alan has the means to decipher Hannah's clues, a quest that will take him to Las Vegas and lead him to question the integrity of those closest to him.
The clock is ticking as Alan tracks one of Hannah's most elusive patients; has she been kidnapped, or is she a runaway? The answers to both cases may be locked in the mind of a patient he has been treating for a schizoid personality disorder. In a maze of dilemmas that could cost him his career, or his life, Alan takes a bold risk that will have readers racing to the stunning conclusion of Missing Persons.
Smart and fast-paced, Missing Persons showcases the rapid-fire dialogue and taut story lines that have made Stephen White the bestselling author that he is today.
Download Description
"The stakes have just been raised for psychologist Alan Gregory: His friend and fellow therapist Hannah Grant has died at the office, mysteriously and suddenly. The police are baffled, leaving another apparent homicide unsolved in Boulder, Colorado. Only Alan has the means to decipher Hannah's clues, a quest that will take him to Las Vegas and lead him to question the integrity of those closest to him. The clock is ticking as Alan tracks one of Hannah's most elusive patients; has she been kidnapped, or is she a runaway? The answers to both cases may be locked in the mind of a patient he has been treating for a schizoid personality disorder. In a maze of dilemmas that could cost him his career, or his life, Alan takes a bold risk that will have readers racing to the stunning conclusion of Missing Persons. Smart and fast-paced, Missing Persons showcases the rapid-fire dialogue and taut story lines that have made Stephen White the bestselling author that he is today."
Customer Reviews:
Another One I Couldn't Put Down..........2007-10-12
Stephen White continues to please with Missing Persons. It starts with a bang when Alan and Diane find a coworker's body in her office and doesn't let up. As the story progresses, more people disappear without a trace. When Diane goes missing in Las Vegas, it is her husband Raoul to the rescue. Maybe that is one reason I like these novels so much. The main character doesn't have to always be the hero. His supporting characters are multi dimensional with lives and feelings of their own.
Onto his next novel, Kill Me!
Pretty Bad.......2007-05-10
Funny thing: my guilty pleasure is pop fiction stuff like Stephen White or Patterson or whoever the trendy pop writer is. I love a quick read, a non-thinker, a throw-disbelief-out-the-window experience.
But Missing Persons fails to reach even such banal reading expectations.
The first word that comes to mind is lazy. After having picked up Missing Persons, I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I have read many of White's other novels. That said, this is a weak one, and one that hobbles on an all-too-familiar crutch in a sad attempt to propel a story:
Jon Benet Ramsey.
Just freakin say it! Or type it! Do you have any idea how insulting it is to the reader to continually refer to such a commonly known historic episode and try to dance around it without saying it? Give me a break!
I'm going to write a novel based upon the murder of a former pro football player's wife and her supposed lover. The former baller husband is then going to flee in a dramatic slow-speed chase scene in a white Bronco. And it is going to take place in Los Angeles! What do you mean that you've heard all this before? My story parallels the OJ story! But it is a little bit different! It really is different! (Sheesh!)
I can't believe I'm doing this, but in all honestly, tonight I threw this book into the garbage bin, after reading only up to page 173 (paperback version). The continual and overt references to the JonBenet thing were so insipid that I couldn't stomach it anymore.
I read a lot. I read everything that I read from beginning to end. Not this time. What a joke. This is the perfect example of jumping the shark. If I ever buy another Stephen White novel, I'm the fool for it.
Disappointed for certain.
Solid Thriller.......2006-11-19
Another Dr. Alan Gregory mystery. Intersting plot twists. A growing pile of missing persons. What I enjoy most about Mr. White's novels are the psychiatric pathologies of his "clients" and this one has some good pathology. There is probably too much hand wringing about ethics for my blood but A GOOD, QUICK READ!!
Not As Good As The Rest.......2006-11-05
I was a little disappointed with this book. It was just ok. I'm used to so much more with Stephen White's Dr. Alan Gregory novels. I'm not going to write a plot summary since Amazon and other reviewers have already did that. I didn't feel the connection with the story or the characters. There was a lot going on with this book and Mr. White didn't take the time to let you know any of them. I also got tired of the patient confidentiality concept. Yes it's there but you don't need to keep hashing it over and over and over again. I thought it was a quick read though and it was enjoyable to the point that it moves the Dr. Gregory series along. I'm hoping that the next book in the series is worth it. I would highly recommend this to anyone reading the series. But don't make it your first Stephen White book you read or you may not get to really feel the series.
Okay, So Maybe It Isn't White's Best Effort..........2006-08-02
Maybe I should read the books in the Alan Gregory Series in sequential order instead of skipping around? I missed two books between The Best Revenge (#11) and Kill Me (#14), so I thought I should backtrack -- and at least read Missing Persons (#13), $9.98 AMAZON -- to pick up hints on the natural progression of the series. This novel featured a dead colleague, a missing colleague, and a missing teen. A worthy premise really. White could've fleshed it out quite nicely. However, I came away unimpressed with this dull and humdrum thirteenth installment.
I'm probably being too hard on White, but Missing Persons had all the right elements to be a success. From the first page it had a strong hook, plus sympathetic characters entangled in strange plights. But I didn't enjoy the indirect approach that the author employed here. Instead of sending Dr. Gregory to Las Vegas to hunt for his colleague, Alan remains in Colorado while an intermediary conducts the search in Nevada. Call me crazy, but I enjoy it more when the hero is actually engaged in the action instead of observing from the sidelines.
Something I did enjoy about Missing Persons was the manner in which Stephen invoked memories of the winding Jonbenet Ramsey case (and the media circus around it) in the early chapters, without mentioning her name. Mallory Miller is the missing teen in this case, and she's positioned as a contemporary of that murdered girl. Eight years ago the two little friends had engaged in sleepovers, and lived within blocks of each other. This ruse was ingenious -- I admit -- to build a parallel fictional crime on top of a real life Boulder, Colorado case.
Setting that factor aside, White stacks misdirection atop misdirection and a simple missing persons case evolves into a web of deceit that ensnares at least four others. I think Missing Persons might have turned out all the better if White had concentrated solely on Mallory Miller and what happened to his colleagues Diane & Hannah instead of dragging in a passel of mildly engaging characters (Virginia Danna, Jenifer Donald, Howard Horton, U.P. North, Darrel Olsen, Nora Santangelo, Jaris Slocum, Tico) that turn out to be pointless detours. White should tighten his focus on series regulars.
In White's defense, certain characters rang truer than others. The one interlude with "real life" Las Vegas columnist Norm Clarke in a casino lounge (where Raoul is trying to ferret out Diane's whereabouts) could have been expanded into a longer chapter. Since White is an expert on Colorado and not Nevada, I bought this introduction of a "trusted source" as a guide serving to help someone else find his bearings in an unfamiliar locale. So where exactly does White fall down? I'd say it starts with Mallory's parents, who strike me as cardboard cutout characters.
Now perhaps there are mentally ill people like Rachel Miller fixated on weddings. And perhaps there are business execs like Bill Miller that benefit from blackmailing others in order to hide certain family situations. But I didn't buy it. Rachel is alternately portrayed as a fruitcake, and a reliable person that can get her daughter out of a dangerous situation. Bill is alternately portrayed as a saintly husband, and a person that conspires to murder someone under the guise of self defense. Combined with a nervous Nelly daughter, that's too much neurosis in one family.
Good has a better connotation than "mediocre," so I'd say this was a good novel. Overall, I think Missing Persons was mushy compared to White's other endeavors. It lacked ample suspense, a cohesive center, and was extremely over analyzed. The ending seemed artificial and gratuitous. I didn't buy it for a second that father and husband Alan Gregory would turn himself in to the Colorado Psychological Association for ethical violations. And that ploy (monitored supervision of his practice by a respected psychologist) doesn't dovetail with the events laid out in White's follow-up Kill Me (#14) either.
Book Description
Hot on the heels of the wildly successful The Hypochondriac’s Pocket Guide to Horrible Diseases You Probably Already Have comes The Paranoid’s Pocket Guide to Mental Disorders You Can Just Feel Coming On, Dennis DiClaudio’s hilarious look at fifty disturbingly familiar maladies you just know are buried deep in your psyche. This inspired new collection profiles the most nerve-wracking, harebrained, loopy, life-threatening and totally out-there mental disorders you could imagine—and some you could never imagine.
With complete descriptions of the symptoms, diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, and treatment for psychosis, this book could convince even the most rational readers that something—or someone—is out to get them. From the slightly odd
Stendhal Syndrome (the fear of artwork) to the mentally debilitating
Athazagagoraphobia (the feeling that you’ve forgotten something important) and the downright bizarre
Windigo Psychosis (the belief that you are a wild and ravenous monster), The Paranoid’s Pocket Guide to Mental Illnesses You Can Just Feel Coming On is a fascinating compendium of psychological illnesses for all of us to fret and agonize over.
Customer Reviews:
entertaining and educational.......2007-04-23
I didn't read this cover to cover, but thought it was pretty entertaining and also educational. I think it would be a fun informal supplement to an abnormal psych class. The descriptions are vivid and funny, and that makes it easy to remember them. Instead of an abstract, stark, clinical description of symptoms, you get the "gist" of the disorder.
good book but not for 10 dollars.......2007-04-12
this book is fun reading, the fact that it is not written by an MD makes it lacking, if it goes on sale for 5 bucks take it, otherwise hold off.
Five stars.......2007-03-25
This is an excellent addition to the DiClaudio's "Hypochondriac's Guide..." This book is significantly larger than its predecessor (at least three times longer!), yet maintains that same biting sense of medical humor without. A warning - if you're like me, you'll find at least three or four mental disorders in this book that you very well could have. Of course, it's always good to have a reason to give for your erratic behavior. If you could handle the grossness of the previous book, you'll probably be mostly unswayed by the unnerving disorders in this one. Use this book to diagnose all your friends! :)
Amazon.com
Massive change is hitting corporate America at a furious and escalating pace, writes Andrew Grove in
Only the Paranoid Survive, and businesses that strive hard to keep abreast of the transition will be the only ones that prevail. And Grove should know. As chief executive of Intel, he wrestled with one of the business world's great challenges in 1994 when a flaw in his company's new cornerstone product -- the Pentium processor -- grew into a front-page controversy that seriously threatened its future.
Book Description
Under Andy Grove's leadership, Intel has become the world's largest chipmaker, the fifth-most-admired company in America, and the seventh-most-profitable company among the Fortune 500. You don't achieve rankings like these unless you have mastered a rare understanding of the art of business and an unusual way with its practice.
Few CEOs can claim this level of consistent record-breaking success. Grove attributes much of this success to the philosophy and strategy he reveals in Only the Paranoid Survive--a book that is unique in leadership annals for offering a bold new business measure, and for taking the reader deep inside the workings of a major corporation. Grove's contribution to business thinking concerns a new way of measuring the nightmare moment every leader dreads--the moment when massive change occurs and all bets are off. The success you had the day before is gone, destroyed by unforeseen changes that hit like a stage-six rapid. Grove calls such moments Strategic Inflection Points, and he has lived through several. When SlPs hit, all rules of business shift fast, furiously, and forever. SlPs can be set off by almost anything--megacompetition, an arcane change in regulations, or a seemingly modest change in technology.
Yet in the watchful leader's hand, SlPs can be an ace. Managed right, a company can turn a SIP into a positive force to win in the marketplace and emerge stronger than ever.
To achieve that level of mastery over change, you must know its properties inside and out. Grove addresses questions such as these: What are the stages of these tidal waves? What sources do you turn to in order to foresee dangers before trouble announces itself? When threats abound, how do you deal with your emotions, your calendar, your career--as well as with your most loyal managers and customers, who may cling to tradition?
No stranger to risk, Grove examines his own record of success and failure, including the drama of how he navigated the events of the Pentium flaw, which threatened Intel in a major way, and how he is dealing with the SIP brought on by the Internet. The work of a lifetime of reflection, Only the Paranoid Survive is a contemporary classic of leadership skills.
Download Description
The founder of Intel, Andrew Grove is one of the great business leaders of our time--and 1997 "Time" magazine Man of the Year. Under Andrew Grove's leadership, Intel has become the world's largest chip maker and one of the most admired companies in the world.
Customer Reviews:
Waste Of Time.......2005-11-25
This is by far the worst business book I have read in recent years. It is hard to believe that Andy Grove actually thought that this material was worth putting into a book. As other reviews have said, this book at most should have been a short article in Business Week...but even then it would require some actual content to make it worth reading. The best part of the book is the quotes on the cover from Steve Jobs et al. It makes me wonder if they even read the book.
save several valuable hours of your life- skip this book.......2005-10-19
Maybe I haven't read enough "management" books (though I do have an MBA), but if this is considered "great" for this genre- WOW. This entire book could have been summed up in a couple pages without losing any major points, but I guess you can't have a bestseller that way! One reviewer said it was too technical. Are you living in a cave? I found it condescendingly written- absurdly simple and dumbed down. Granted, it's over a decade old, but I doubt everyone was really that much stupider ten years ago.
All Fear the Status Quo.......2000-07-20
Andy Grove has verbalized the mindset that we must all develop to survive in the 21st Century. While his idea of constantly looking over your shoulder has always been applicable, the speed of the Internet economy requires that we do it much more frequently and penalizes us much more quickly if we do not.
Grove does a great job of showing how one man's crises is another's opporuntity and uses the term strategic inflection points to describe these periods of 10x change.
This book is a good reminder for anyone who thinks that what made them successful to this point is any guarantee that they will be successful in the future.
Nothing new here.......2000-07-07
This is something that any first year business student could have written. It is a fast read but it provides no new insights.
Want to be a great manager - Go to West Point.......1999-12-02
I was very dissapointed by this book as a lesson in management. The lessons learned are basic management and military strategy that every CEO should now. i.e. Basic lessons from the book: include understanding the nature of the battlefield (6 forces that affect business), recognizing change (strategic intelligence), listening to the troops in the field, making sure you're not insulated from the bad news, seperate the noise from real intelligence, have the courage to make changes, issue clear orders, re-evaluate and adjust as conditions change, be prepared to replace the top management (not for incompetence, but to get fresh perspectives (change the old guard and the old ways of doing things), Realize that your company runs on the quality of middle management (i,e NCO and junior officers in the military). Give them clear goals and empower them to act. I have a lot of respect for Andy Grove, and the insights into his business was great, but if you want a good management book, read a military strategy manual. There's nothing new here.
Book Description
North Korea remains one of the least understood nations on earth; a nuclear enabled "Hermit Kingdom" ravaged by economic mismanagement and reliant on illegal weapons sales, smuggling and counterfeiting for most of its foreign reserves while undergoing a prolonged famine and propped up by aid donations. Not a normal country in any sense of the word, its nuclear weapons program makes it a country whose actions could have global ramifications. This book demystifies North Korea through revealing the daily life of its citizens; the political and economic history of the nation; the reasoning behind the country's combative way of engaging the world and the tentative economic reform process now being undertaken. The prospect of a nuclear North Korea preferring brinksmanship to engagement and negotiation, makes understanding Pyongyang's guiding principles, motives and possible future increasingly important.
Customer Reviews:
An Important Dispassionate Work on a Highly Emotive Subject.......2006-10-30
Mr. French has done us all a great service by writing a dispassionate analysis of recent history in the DPRK. Few places in the world bear witness to the intersection of so many disparate national interests and international concerns. The complexity of the subject is often obscured by emotive reporting that rehashes the prevailing neo-Con world view.
As Mr. French clearly demonstrates throughout his well written book, any of the few remaining misguided apologists for the Pyongyang regime have no factual standing for their views. However, the "demonization" of Kim Jong Il and his regime has simply worked to paint the Bush administration into a corner by removing any flexibility in its dealings with Pyongyang. The DPRK has survived against the odds for more than 60 years and has acquired a new lease on life through its ham-fisted entry into the nuclear club. This fact is something that will not change no matter how much anger and alarm the White House and the Western media can generate. It is not a question of doing something reactively in a knee-jerk manner, which seems to be the order of the day.
Now is the time for dispassionate analysis to find a way to break through the diplomatic log-jam that has kept the Korean peninsula in suspension since 1953. This requires the emotional reserve to understand how the DPRK sees the threats posed by the post-WWII world. Mr. French's book is worth the price of admission for the knowledge that it conveys to the reader on that score.
It seems to me that other reviewers have overstated the shortcomings of Mr. French's book. Certainly someone who is serious about understanding the dilemma on the Korean peninsula will need to go through the entire literature available on this topic and sort through a wide range of views. While Mr. French's book is one of many that are mandatory reading, it is, admittedly, not a complete view (as if there is such a book on any subject).
I have only given his book four stars because of my pedantic bias for research in local language materials. However, while Mr. French's book is based on non-Korean language sources, this does not detract in the least from its usefulness.
Some good, some bad.......2006-06-21
I found the first half of the book, the part dealing with conditions in North Korea, quite informative. The second half dealing with North Korea's relations with other countries is problematic. While it does appear that Mr. French places more blame on the United States then many other commentators, this is not a problem once you realize this is his bias, what is a problem is the factual mistakes he makes.
Some of these mistakes are quite inconsequential such as attributing remarks leading up to the Iraq War to Scott McClellan when Ari Fleischer was the Press Secretary at the time. This does lead one to wonder what other mistakes are made especially as French makes some serious ones. For example, he spends a couple of pages talking about the implication of former President Carter being an envoy of President Clinton to Pyongyang even though it is a matter of record that the Clinton Administration did not want Carter to go and he specifically went as a private citizen. Also French wonders if North Korea really violated any international agreements since he states they resigned from the NPT. This again is false as they never officially resigned as there is a 90 day cooling off period after this intention is announced before it becomes official, North Korea returned to the NPT before this period ran out.
The book also has a problem with sourcing, and it is often not clear why French makes some of the assertions he does. For example he repeats a well known tale of the North Korea Red Cross delegation accusing the ROK government of having people drive aimlessly to make it look as if there are more cars in that country then there really were. Most commentators dismiss this accusation as North Korean paranoia, French presents it as a true fact with no documentation to support the assertion.
There are also problems of chronology when talking about the various nuclear crisis. Most of the book is presented in chronological order except for these sections. He jumps all around and it appears to me as if French does not have a clear understanding of the order in which these events occured.
I would recommend for people to read the second half of this book with a grain of salt and then read other books that deal with the same subject.
Some good, some bad.......2005-04-08
I'm a budding student of North Korea ("Pyongyangologist"). So I snapped up a copy of this book when it came out. Thus far, I'm not terribly impressed with it. Why is that? Well, I think that French seems rather biased against the US (if not actually for the DPRK). I'll give three examples:
First, he accuses the US during the 1992-1994 crisis over Yongbyon of "extreme belligerence." This really makes me wonder if French bothers to read the stuff put out by the KCNA (Korean Central News Agency, the DPRK's "press") and by other mouthpieces of the regime. The North Koreans routinely refer to the US as "fascists," "imperialists," "war mongers," etc. Since the crisis resumed in 2002, the regime has put out a line of propaganda posters that show such engaging themes as a Korean People's Army soldier smashing the Capitol dome with a karate chop, a DPRK missile doing the same, and --my personal favorite-- an American soldier impaled on DPRK bayonets. Furthermore, during the 1992-1994 crisis, the DPRK was the country that said any form of sanctions against it would be "an act of war." Who's being extremely belligerent here? Granted President Bush did call the DPRK a member of the Axis of Evil, but that's just a pebble compared to the mountain of hateful, vitriolic propaganda that pours out of Pyongyang aimed at the US.
Second, I was disturbed by the way the author characterized an infamous event at Panmunjon in 1976, the so-called "Axe Murders."
Essentially what happened was this. One fine day, two American officers led a work party into the DMZ near the truce village to cut some branches from a tree that was blocking their view into the DPRK. They were not armed. A group of KPA guards accosted them and demanded that they stop. Perhaps unwisely, the senior American refused to do so (although he was within his rights to refuse). Whereupon the North Korean commander shouted, "Kill the foreigners." This is exactly what the North Koreans did. They beat both of the American officers to death with axe handles and anything else that was handy (photos of this incident are available online).
Mr. French refers to this cold-blooded, supremely brutal, and unprovoked pair of murders as "a confrontation" that "led to the deaths" of the two American officers. Using that sort of formulation, one could describe September 11 as "a confrontation that led to the deaths of 3,000 American civilians" It's a classic example of doing violence to the English language.
Third, there is the incredible excuse the author offers for the North Koreans to violate the spirit (if not the letter of the 1994 Agreed Framework as well as a separate promise to South Korea). This was the decision by the DPRK to embark on a clandestine highly enriched uranium production program some time in the late 1990s. Mr. French attributes this action as the result of North Korean frustration over delays in implementation of components of the Agreed Framework. Supposedly, the North Koreans started the HEU program in order to force the US back to the negotiating table and honor its promises.
That interpretation of facts simply defies common sense. Granted, the North Koreans had some reason to be unhappy with the delays in the delivery of fuel oil and the lagging effort to build the light-water reactors promised to them (although they did get some of what they were promised and might have gotten it all had they played fair with the US). But if all they wanted to do was force the US back to the table, why didn't they simply announce that if the US didn't start talking with them by a certain date, the Agreed Framework would be suspended or ended outright? Why would they embark on the HEU program, which they had no way of knowing the US would discover as the means to force the US back to the table?
Mr. French, it makes no sense. I'll say it again. It makes NO sense. I respectfully suggest to you that the North Koreans became disenchanted with the Agreed Framework, but they continued to play along to extract concessions while trying to pull "a fast one" on the US and the international community by developing a bomb through the HEU route. In other words, by the late 1990s, they were acting in bad faith.
So the bottom line on "the Paranoid Peninsula" for me at least is that while it probably has some useful information, I'd treat the analysis with a substantial amount of skepticism.
Book Description
Combining the insights of a gifted research scientist with vivid tales that are usually the realm of the novelist, Dr. Ronald Siegel lets his readers experience the suspicion, terror, and rage that possess the mind of the paranoid. This is the first book to investigate the actual experience of paranoia and to demonstrate that under the right conditions -- drugs or deprivation, for example -- anyone can be driven into that state. And indeed, eight million Americans already have been.
The paranoid inhabits a different realm of being, one that tilts the world ever so slightly. The senses detect these differences and sound mental alarms. Delusions and hallucinations feed on each other, flourishing with amazing speed. The paranoid becomes locked in a new mode of thinking -- viewing life as from a cell.
In a dozen case studies, Dr. Siegel follows his patients into the shadow lands where paranoia flourishes -- drug addiction, prison, organized crime, and terrorism. He introduces us to mild cases where there is only a vague sense that something is out there stalking, to those with apocalyptic visions so intense that they shake the foundations of an entire community. We meet the old woman who hears her teeth whispering, the beautiful ballet dancer who falls in love with a shadow, and the cocaine addict for whom the invasion of imaginary bugs was strong enough to kill. This intrepid journey through the mind's dark corridors ends with a reflective coda exploring the suicide of Ernest Hemingway, and there is no better guide than Dr. Ronald Siegel.
Customer Reviews:
Well, the cover art is really great!.......2007-08-12
I am a big fan of case study books when it comes to topics like depression, paranoia and schizophrenia having suffered from the first like a lot of people and having a very close friend that suffers from the last.
Maybe it's the fact that I've read many of these types of books that makes me feel like Whispers just wasn't that great.
This book was short but could have been much shorter. I'm no stranger to long books and the length is not something I consider when seeking out new things to read but reading Whispers over the course of a work week made it feel as if it dragged on.
The writing style is interesting, not dull at all but at times I got the feeling that the author wrote this book to stroke his own ego for being so willing to put himself into potential dangerous situations to learn about the individuals more than to tell a story or to explore and explain with words the world of paranoia that some people live in.
Maybe I just expected the wrong thing when I picked this up? I can accept that but in my opinion there are many other books about this subject that are more rewarding to read regardless of if you are looking for clinical date and cold hard facts OR shock value.
Yeah, right *rolls eyes*.......2006-03-10
12 case studies, into 12 paranoid people. However, it doesn't take the most critical of thinkers to realize that Siegel may be embellishing the facts a little.
Don't take my word for it read the book, and you may find some of his stories to be a little far fetched. Like the last story of the book (Paranoid Express) in which Siegel locks himself in a train cart, snorts cocaine, pisses in his pants, and suffers blistering heat, for three days, just to experience what Mario N. goes through in his final days before being arrested. The unbelievable part, is that the police go along with Siegel's little experiment. They bring him food, change audio tapes, and deliver messages in the same way they did with Mario N. for three days. I don't think there is a federal government alive who would go to such great lengths to accommodate a professor who wanted to get coked up to prove that a murderer was paranoid at the time.
Don't get me wrong "Whispers" is an interesting read and a page turner, but they way Siegel ties his cases together like the game "six degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon", is a little worrisome. You have this little nagging feeling in the back of your brain that says "if he went to such great lengths to embellish how the 12 paranoids were connected or what he did to understand their pain", then maybe he embellished their cases as well.
If that doesn't bother you, then by all means get the book.
A real page-turner. Not boring at all..........2005-06-26
This book is so exciting that it is hard to believe it is non-fiction at times. The author covers many different cases with literary mastery usually reserved for fiction writers. There are stories of Hitler's brain in a jar, crazy cokehead hallucinations, psycho killers and more. This is not your standard acedemic (read boring) case study. I read this book from cover to cover in about a week, very hard to put down. It is written for the layman, but in a way that it is excessible to anyone (including professionals in the field). I would recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in abnormal psychology.
Notes From The Underground.......2002-10-01
Paranoia starts with a whisper on the other side of the door. You stop and you hear movement and whispers on the other side of the door. Your hair stands on end.
This is the trigger. Everything else is amplification. The car that parks at midnight outside your window and the car doors opening and closing and the footsteps enter the building and go upstairs into the apartment directly above you!
And the footsteps above you follow you wherever you go. To the washroom, the kitchen, the living room. The footsteps above follow you.
In the morning you hear voices outside and you are certain that you will be jumped and killed by the people waiting for you to come out.
SO YOU CRINGE ON THE FLOOR BY THE WINDOW LISTENING TO THE VOICES AND THE FOOTSTEPS STALKING YOU, DARING YOU TO COME OUT!
AND YOU HIDE AND TREMBLE.
This is paranoia. This is what this book talks about. I have been there.
Journey Into Paranoia.......2001-10-29
"Whispers: The Voices of Paranoia" is hands-down one of the best books that I have ever read. Dr. Ronald Siegel, Ph.D., a forensic psychopharmacologist, is an incredible writer and an even better story-teller. His journey into the paranoid mind is enlightening, vivid, and dangerous. As Dr. Siegel unfolds each case study, the reader is thrown into the suspense, analyzing and foreshadowing the devious behavioral manifestations of the paranoid mind. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in psychiatry, clinical neuropsychology, forensic psychology, or simply a good, non-fiction suspense trip.
You will finish this book in less than a week. I simply could not put it down and have since gone on to order all of Dr. Siegel's books.
Amazon.com
The New World Order, CIA drug rings, UFOs in New Mexico, the JFK assassination, the Elders of Zion--all are the products of politically disaffected and culturally suspicious minds, writes Daniel Pipes, author of The Hidden Hand: Middle East Fears of Conspiracy. Here he examines the nature of conspiracy theories and asks, "What makes otherwise intelligent people believe in phony phenomena?" and "Why is antisemitism so often its central feature?" Pipes usefully lays out a few hypotheses about conspiracy theories, and distinguishes them from actual conspiracies (which are real, of course). Although the book could benefit from some organizational improvement, it contains many astute observations. Readers interested in its subject will find it worth examining.
Customer Reviews:
establishment historian.......2007-10-05
I saw the History's Mysteries video that features snippets of the author, I can only question whom is it that he is working for? I consider him an establishment historian. I personally believe in a conspiracy because I believe the Bible, you may not, but that is where I am coming from. in the bible Revelation chapter 13 shows how there is a world wide conspiracy to establish a world-wide government that is very anti-Christian. Do you suppose this will come about over night? Have an open mind and look into the matter. Ask yourself why do we have groups like the CFR, Bilderbergers, and Trilateral Commision? Why are they around? Who needs them? Do "we the people"? You don't have to agree with my ideas, but check things out for yourself. Do yourself a favor and don't waste your money or time on this book.
Informative (and inevitably funny at times).......2007-05-04
I would recommend this book for anyone who is curious about the role that "conspiracism" (the belief in conspiracy theories) plays in modern society. Before reading it, though, I would track down a copy of Richard Hofstadter's essay "The Paranoid Style in American Politics," which is where the term "Paranoid Style" in the book's subtitle comes from. After reading Hofstadter's essay, you will have a better background to understand Pipes' contribution to the topic.
Gee, conspiracies don't happen in America.......2006-09-07
This work is interesting to a degree, but each case has to be looked at individually. Conspiracies are everywhere- the last 3 major shootings Columbine, DC Sniper & The recent Phoenix shootings were all conspiracies! Not lone nuts.TWTC the first one in '93 was a conspiracy OK City was a conspiracy & so was 911. Dos that mean a missile hit the pentagon, or explosives were planted um... no. If you can't find a conspiracy in the JFK Assassination after seeing the Z Film, reading Crossfire,or farewell To Justice, or Murder In Dealey Plaza stick yer head back up yer rear end where it belongs.The opposite of a rabid conspiracy theorist is an ardent debunker with an agenda, and there is no way the latter should have anymore credibilty than the former.
CONSPIRACY. No such thing according to this author. Let's remove it from the Dictionary.......2006-08-19
This book is incredible! This author "poo-poos" any idea of Conspiracy as if it's in our deep inner mind. Just notice he equates it with "Paranoid". Does he think Bin Laden and his gang "conspired"? Well if you read one of Mr. Pipes other books, he certainly believes that, so I guess we can say he's paranoid. Conspiracies most likely are natural and normal, an abscence of conspiracy would be contrary to how individuals, nations and institutions work. Mr. Pipes ought to know that well. He's a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, an organization which was founded by J.P. Morgan and has ties to the Federal Reserve Bank, which is a private bank: not Federal but a cabal of private bankers serving their own best interests. You can't join the CFR on your own--you must be invited! It's a club of the elite, by the elite for the elite. Every high ranking member of the Bush Admin is CFR: Hayden, Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Powell, Paulson, Snow, etc, etc, also so is Ms. Clinton and many other ruling Democrats. Is this a coincidence, hardly! Compare Mr. Pipes book to Tim Carney's "The Big Ripoff", recently hosted on CSPAN book reviews and available on Amzaon. Tim gets close to the target by seeing the symptoms. Mr. Pipes writing of this book is highly suspect. One has to question his motives. It's like the Big Bad Wolf writing a book: How to Raise Chickens in a Hen House and Keep Them Safe. You would be better reading G. Edward Griffin's book: Creature from Jekyll Island-a second look at the Federal Reserve.
So So.......2006-07-29
The book seems interesting but I really wonder what his motivations are to discredit ALL theories of any conspiracies. The assumption is made that there arent any Conspiracy FACTS, just theories. The author needs to do some reading before painting anybody that doesnt believe the spoonfeeding the media tosses out to us as a nut. Interesting but Suspect.
Book Description
OpenPGP is the most widely used email encryption standard in the world. It is based on PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) as originally developed by Phil Zimmermann. The OpenPGP protocol defines standard formats for encrypted messages, signatures, and certificates for exchanging public keys.
PGP & GPG is an easy-to read, informal tutorial for implementing electronic privacy on the cheap using the standard tools of the email privacy field - commercial PGP and non-commercial GnuPG (GPG). The book shows how to integrate these OpenPGP implementations into the most common email clients and how to use PGP and GPG in daily email correspondence to both send and receive encrypted email.
The PGP & GPG book is written for the moderately skilled computer user who is unfamiliar with public key cryptography but who is nevertheless interested in guarding their email privacy. Lucas's trademark informal and relaxed tone makes public key cryptography as simple and clear as possible, so that any reasonably savvy computer user can understand it.
Customer Reviews:
Good as an introduction, but nothing more.......2007-06-03
This is a concise introduction to email encryption for people who don't care about prime numbers. It nicely covers all real-life topics users of PGP and GPG are likely to be interested in. Two problems: First, there is a substantial number of typos, as if the book had never been proofread. There is a significant error in chapter 4 -- if you follow the instructions for generating new keys using the command-line (Unix) version of GPG, you will end up with un-usable keys (without subkeys). Accept all default values and you will have no problems. Second, since the book covers several specific versions of PGP and GPG, the user of any specific version will only use 50% of the book at best (and the book is a slim one to start with). As a result, this book should be considered as a basic introduction only, to be read once and never looked at again.
An excellent way to protect your information........2007-02-19
This book is an excellent reference of cryptography. It combines PGP and GPG, two very interesting software to information security.
The essential guide to Open PGP for email.......2006-10-16
Pretty Good Privacy and Phil Zimmerman are computer counterculture legends. By putting secure communication into the hands of anyone with a computer, Zimmerman both launched a revolution and stirred the ire of the U.S. government. After suffering under -- and prevailing over -- severe FBI harassment and malicious prosecution, Zimmerman and his open PGP encryption tool have demolished government attempts to control cryptography. After sixteen years, PGP still has no equal as an enabler of private communication.
This book focuses on the use of PGP as an email encryption tool, although PGP can be used as a general purpose file encryption utility as well. After summarizing the history of PGP and the Open PGP standard, author Michael Lucas clearly and concisely describes how public key encryption with Open PGP can secure routine email messages. This is a how-to guide that gives you the essential understanding you need to quickly make practical use of PGP and its non-commercial cousin Gnu Privacy Guard (GPG).
Lucas' exposition explains PGP better than any previously published treatment -- either in print or online -- I've read. If you need to encrypt, you need to encrypt with PGP. Which means you need this book.
Great book for intro to PGP and related crypto.......2006-10-15
Excellent beginning tutorial on PGP and related technologies. Author writes well, clearly, and with just enough humor (not over done). I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in PGP, GnuPGP, or any of the related technologies.
I'm a 10-year crypto hobbyist, and although I didn't learn much new, I wish I had this book when I started out. And it will be the book I recommend to friends and family interested in email and file crypto.
THE PARANOID'S BIBLE!!.......2006-09-24
Are you using PGP yet? If you're not, then this book is for you! Author Michael W Lucas, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that will show you enough about the ideas behind encryption and digital signatures that you'll be able to make intelligent choices about which of the available options you should use in any given circumstance .
Lucas, begins by covering the basic ideas behind encryption. Then, the author shows you the basic ideas underlying OpenPGP. Next, he guides you through the installation of the PGP desktop client. The author continues by walking you through the installation of GnuPG on both Windows and Unix like systems. He then discusses how OpenPGP keys are connected to one another, identity verification, and keysigning. Then, the author takes you through the managing of the Web of Trust with PGP software. Next, he shows you how to manage the Web of Trust with GnuPG. The author continues by discussing how to integrate OpenPGP into your email and some of the issues that can arise with email usage and PGP. He also discusses how to use PGP software with e-mail. Then, the author covers integrating GnuPG with various e-mail clients. Finally, he shows you how to deal with some of the things that can go wrong with OpenPGP, how to use OpenPGP as part of a group of people, and how to use some other significant features in GnuPG and PGP.
In this most excellent book, the author demonstrates how to integrate encryption and digital signatures with popular e-mail clients so that you can easily exchange secure e-mail with others. More importantly, he shows you how to install the PGP and the GPG encryption packages on Windows and Unix-like operating systems, and how to use them to secure your personal data.
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