An enjoyable book about the history of one of the most influential hacking communities ever. I learned a lot and am very happy to have read this book.

I always thought I had a good grasp on internet history. Turns out, nope, not even remotely close. If you enjoy the internet in any way or think it’s something special or worth protecting, then read this book.

i’m not going to lie i struggled with this. i’m really interested in the subject matter but the pacing and hodge podge narration ruined this for me and made it extremely difficult to extract much understanding beyond vague ideas (without studying it with an annotated glossary).
the author seems to jump around in a fit of self indulgence between key (and minor!) figures and points in time so there was no clear thread or timeline of CDC itself and instead a fragmentary narrative of a multitude of players. i think he potentially stretched himself too thin and prioritised what he thought was interesting or cool about CDC as opposed to what was objectively relevant: this was genuinely difficult to follow throughout as a result.
i have a vague understanding after reading the whole of this of what CDC stood for and a rough idea of a few key names but beyond that i didn’t get much from it - complete information overload. i think the author could have benefited from his (admittedly decent) research being paired with someone who could prioritise, approach with less bias and with an understanding of how to put together a non fiction book.

A great book about how our modern cybersecurity culture was born by young hacktivists coming to terms with the geopolitical implications of their power.

Research

This is one of those books where one person after another keeps getting introduced before you can finish really getting a handle on what's going on. Probably very interesting for hackers, but not as relevant to the particular information I was looking for.

10/10 No notes on the hacker group name, though

If you are at all curious about hacker culture this is an extensive history of not just the cDc but also the good, bad, and gray ways that hackers influence technology companies, government, and society. I would have preferred a less sensationalist focus on "Psychedelic Warlord," whose identity is an interesting bit of trivia but peripheral to the overall message of the book.

if i could, it would be 4.5⭐️

as someone who grew up on the 2000s internet, i had only heard of CDC as an outsider interested and from family/older friends about their work. this was a really insightful and detailed history of how we got here with the lense of CDC as a catalyst for so many big changes online either directly or indirectly. the narrative feels very much like listening to someone who was there telling you a detailed timeline with great detail.

the reason for the half star off: i really feel like Menn did a disservice without detailing more about gamergate and other actions mentioned in the book. as someone who was very online and engaged in the gaming space, it was horrific to watch with the fallout and i feel that people interested in history like the origins of CDC should have more context for the event and how it launched 4chan into the public eye and further radicalized many on the board. i know detailing the full history of it would have been an extra hour in itself but there are several events i felt were left with little context in a similar way.

overall, i did enjoy this and feel that Menn created an excellent retelling of the early days of infosec. would recommend.