Review of "Masters of Deception: The Gang That Ruled Cyberspace"

 

Michelle Slatala and Joshua Quittner write excellently about the first wave of cybercrime in their book “Masters of Deception: The Gang That Ruled Cyberspace.” But the best parts of the book are not the parts about technical details involved in crime, but the parts about places and people. For example, they write “Just like Paul’s neighborhood, Elmhurst over the years saw one generation of immigrants supplanted by another. This is the natural rhythm of New York City, where waves of newcomers wash in, and up, and out as the strivers move through the city on their way to suburbs and assimilation” (30). While the story about cybercrime is interesting, the tapestry the authors paint about New York City and the environment that shapes the main individuals featured in the book is the most fascinating aspect of the work. Slatala and Quittner write a compelling story about individuals in ordinary circumstances finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances. More detail about the external environment of the featured individuals would have made the book more interesting.

Home Safety List: Kitchen, Entrances, and Stairways

Here is an excerpt from the book How to Hire a Nanny: Your Complete Guide to Finding, Hiring, and Retaining a Nanny and Other Household Help by Guy Maddalone.

Excerpts from a Good Book!

 I am publishing these excerpts from a new book I am reading called The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. The book is excellent and reading these pages will be valuable. 

Letting Go of Leaders Does Not Create Change

The main argument of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, 20th Anniversary Edition is that letting go of a poor leader is the best way to make a team function again. Patrick Lencioni, the author, writes "Someone had to be accountable for the mess, and Jeff was the man at the top" (Lencioni 9). However, the person at the top is often not the personal responsible for a team's issues. Problems in fact may be created by people lower down in a chain of command, and the person at the top may not even know what is happening. 

Oxford Latin Desk Dictionary

 In the Oxford Latin Desk Dictionary, James Morwood writes that "In a modern dictionary, the Latin into English section is of the greater importance." This is absolutely true, as reading Latin is the most common way people interact with the language today.

 

Many of the words in Latin are similar to words we use in English today. For example, the Oxford Latin Desk Dictionary has the following entry:

 abacus, ī m counting-board; side-board; square stone on the top of columns.

 An abacus in Latin is exactly the same as an abacus in modern English.

 

Source: Morwood, James, editor. Oxford Latin Desk Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 2005. 

 

 

Democratization

"Insecurity and political values in the Arab World" by Melani Cammet, Ishac Diwan, and Irina Vartanova, deftly argues that feelings of perceived insecurity can reduce support for democracy in Arab countries. This contradicts longstanding assumptions that Islam or Arab culture makes the Arab world authoritarian.

This paper's findings are also in agreement with findings in an article by Mazaheri and Monroe that lower-middle class business owners supported mobilization against incumbent authoritarians in 2011 but opposed democratic activism when instability negatively impacted their businesses. 

Melani Cammett's current research explores development politics and social services provision, identity politics, and politics after conflict.

 The views in the article are the views of the authors and not of Taylor & Francis. 

 Melani Cammett, Ishac Diwan & Irina Vartanova (2020): Insecurity and political values in the Arab world, Democratization, DOI: 10.1080/13510347.2020.1723081. 

 Mazaheri, Nimah, and Steve L. Monroe. "No Arab Bourgeoisue, No Democracy? The Entrepreneurial Middle Class and Democratic Attitudes since the Arab Spring." Comparative Politics 50, no. 4 (2018): 523-550.

Excerpt from Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean

He believed the dog was immortal. "There will always be a Rin Tin Tin," Lee Duncan said, time and time again, to reporters, to visitors, to fan magazines, to neighbors, to family, to friends. At first, this must have sounded absurd––just wishful thinking about the creature that had eased his loneliness and made him famous around the world. And yet, just as Lee believed, there has always been a Rin Tin Tin.